[Kulture Issue] K-food on its way to global mainstream

The globalization of Koreans’ comfort food kimbap was recently introduced in the Washington Post.

Today, we will have a talk about how K-food has made it to the global mainstream with someone who in that article mentioned that the rising popularity of the seaweed rice roll is partly due to the success of a certain K-drama.

We are now connected with Robert Ku, Managing Editor of a major textbook project at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. Hello Mr. Koo!

1) You wrote that the 2022 Korean series “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” worked as a catalyst in spreading the global kimbap boom. How much influence does Korean content have on the rise of Korean food items?

2) Is K-food a thing in the U.S. right now? (Are there any episodes you experienced that clearly show that awareness of K-food has grown?)

3) A couple of years ago in an interview with CNN, you mentioned that spam has undergone a “reputation makeover” as Asian and Asian American chefs reintroduced the canned lunch meat. Tell us more about spam and K-food as well as other food items that now are receiving similar revivals.

4) From a Korean immigrant's point of view, what is it like to experience K-food in the U.S. and what does K-food mean to Koreans living abroad? (connection to Korea, sense of identity, etc.)

5) Some K-foods are localized and modified, which happens with lots of foods once they make it overseas. But what’s your take on that? (Does this have more positive aspects or negative ones, is it inevitable?)

6) Do you think the popularity of K-food will further grow and last long?