• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.471-484
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• 2011

In this study, we attempted to understand the cultural characteristics of Korean food based on a traditional understanding of a Korean novel. To achieve this, food characteristics related to "Gaesung's foods" were analyzed in the representative Korean literary work Mimang. Mimang is a novel, from the latter era of the Chosun Dynasty to the Korean War in the Gaesung area. From that novel, it was discovered that first daily foods in the Gaesung area of the 19th century were various stored fermented foods. The second was the devotion of Gaesung food's cooking process and formal attire. The third was reflected in the economic abundance and the splendor of Gaesung food courts. The fourth was a modern public restaurant in Gaesung, an economic and commercial city. Another historically significant food found in Mimang was Gaesung ginseng.