Coolgogi···Internationalising Asian Flavours the Korean Journey

Eat a branding exercise

A cliché for starters – the world is getting smaller. In one fell swoop and with one great invention called the internet – physical and imaginary mysterious social borders have all come crashing down. Everyone on the net wants to be a cool citizen of the world. Lots of folks want to be in, connected and chill axed. They want to eat cool too. Food in many ways is about traditions and culture but no one wants to eat tradition. They want good food, authentic, fast enough, healthy, natural, about life, love and tradition. And they want it el-pronto. They want to eat a convenient and branded food culture.

When the Turkish folks came up with lahmajun – a thin crusted baked bread topped with fresh chopped vegetables, tomatoes, olive oils and minced beef or lamb, not many noticed. But when the Italians rebranded and called it Pizza, with cheese toppings, ham, olives and tomato sauce, etc., they hit pay dirt. The world loved it, but it was the Americans that celebrated the baked thin bread in style. They internationalised it. They sold the joy and culture of a fast slice of pizza – as seen in popular TV shows with celebrities chomping on it at home with families and with funny pizza deliveryman situations. They ‘fast food-ed’ Pizza and came up with pizza chains installed all over the world. Pizza is now an American food. The Italians own the concept; the Americans own the brand and lifestyle. They did the same for hamburgers, which has European origins.

Eating fast food pizzas is an experience, it has been brainwashed into a newer broadband generation –next and eating it is seen as being ‘belonged’, informed and cool, somewhat. But when the west tried to do it with Asian food, it was something many Asians saw as strange. They invented and interpreted Asian flavours with sometimes weird and wonderful results. I shall not dabble into details about chop suey, Californian rolls, General Tso’s chicken, Tikka Masala chicken, mugugaipan, and kim chi pizza. Instead, I will celebrate this increasing food mad world’s love for great food culture. There is no such thing as ‘wrong’ food, only good and bad. So, how do we tell that great Asian food story, and flavour it with ‘cool’ and ‘belong’.

Asian food journeys

Arguably, the most well internationalised Asian cuisine is Japanese. I use the word ‘well’ because they sold their food culture with distinction, pride and consistency. You won’t find a lot of Japanese fast food inventions that has longevity. But instead, mention Japanese food, and a diligent chef, images of him slicing sashimi as he carefully plates it in that recognisable trademark style, come to mind. A bowl of superbly brewed stock with ramen and some well made tempura accompanies that visual. But it is an institutionalised culinary icon in our world.

I can’t quite say the same for the most famous Asian food culture – the Chinese. People all over the world now cool all sorts of misinterpreted and re-interpreted Chinese food. In South East Asia, Indonesian sambal has found its way into Chinese dishes and the masses love it. And in Hong Kong, baked cheese with minced beef has landed on a plate of rice – and it’s nice, trust me on this, bravo to the Hong Kong cafes sprouting up all over Asia. Chinese food is one of the most travelled and re-interpreted cuisines, its concept allows for it and its stories, styles, legends and myths are very well told. Ditto too, for Indian food. England’s national dish is now Chicken Tikka Masala, something the Indian Diaspora warmed the stiff upper lips to, there.

The Thais also had their gastronomic day under the sun in this world. There is a fantastical mystery and charm about their cuisine, which has the exotic and intensely spicy Indo-Chinese accents and yet is calmed by the migrant Teochew culinary influence, from South China. The Thai government, in their bid to internationalise their food, would give monetary incentives to foreign Thai eateries provided they stick to authenticity and traditions in their offerings.

The Korean Spin

Korean culture rose to the world form her comfortable slumber some half a century ago. Koreans were travelling, working in all corners of the globe, and where these soldiers of modern fortune went, they fought on their stomachs and brought along their food and culture. Soon, the world was awash with Korean cars, hand phones, and Ssang Yong everything. Then across Asia and in parts of the west, Korean TV dramas became the rage. They created a series called The Jewel in the Palace – where Korean food was the main actor and actress. Suddenly, everyone became exceedingly aware that kim chi does not totally spell Korean food. They were intrigued, and overnight, especially in Singapore, a slew of new Korean eateries claiming to sell stuff they cooked in the Korea Royal Palace, littered the little nation of 35,000 eateries. Korean food is in, it’s now. K-pop, plastic surgery, good Asian cars all equals and are associated with bulgogi and bibimbap. It was cool. It’s what I call the coolgogi effet, there’s no bull in there tale.

How does one internationalise it? Well, my story is to let it evolve and chill ax. Define if Korean food all about unwaveringly authentic dishes or is it about eating and digesting a food culture. What if Dak Gak Jung (fried spicy chicken wings) had a cool American inspired twist to it. A company in Singapore recently launched 4fingers – a Korean fried chicken wing chain which uses a secret sauce only the founder American-Korean chef supplies from his little outlet in New York. The whole outlet has a New York subway atmosphere. And it’s good. The spicy soy and honey accent in the marinate was honest and Asian. It says ‘Korea to the world’. What it Samgaetang(Korean ginseng chicken soup) could be touted as an all natural replacement for Red bull. The world does not rate it by authenticity, they use the love meter and measure it by how much-i-love-cool-korean-food-culture.

And then there’s Roy Choi, a French trained executive chef Korean-American born in Los Angeles. He ripped his adopted western food heritage apart and set up KogiBBQ, a street food truck he now operates all over LA. He took American by storm and became the rage there. Newsweek calls him the ‘viral eatery’ maven, as his fame and fortune was generated by the thousands who queue for, appreciated his Korean BBQ meat tacos and then went on social networks like twitter and facebook to tell all about his food and whereabouts. He now operates four trucks and up to 2000 people on average anticipate the arrival of his Korean BBQ tacos truck wherever he goes each day.

There are already numerous Korean events and campaigns around the world. And they do make their presence felt in many international food festivals and shows. But the world tomorrow is going to be run by a generation who will call the shots based on what they want their tomorrow to be. Korean food culture has that depth and breadth to move into the future with its heritage intact. Korean food tomorrow is not about eating an authentic dish; it’s about eating a slice of its food heritage. Selling food culture and not just food, is the best advertising message.

Eat the food, digest the culture

So whether it’s a elaborate Bibimbap using fine organic ingredients grown from only one mountain and with winter kim chi or a box of oh-so-light and crispy 4 fingers Korean fried chicken or Roy Choi’s Korean BBQ tacos, don’t eat them and go ‘true blue’, ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Just eat the food and digest the culture. The by-product of joy, the best product Korea can sell to the world.