• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.158-166
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness, eating experience, and preference of kimchi, and the sensory evaluation of kimchi from Chinese and Korean students residing in Korea. General information (including age, sex, duration of staying, living status) was collected. A questionnaire was used to collect the information on awareness, eating experience, and preference of kimchi and dishes made with kimchi. Sensory evaluations were carried out on a 10 point scale. All subjects (37 Koreans, 43 Chinese) were aware of kimchi, with 98% of the Chinese subjects recognizing kimchi as a Korean traditional food and 65% having eaten kimchi at least once a day. The types of kimchi preferred by Chinese subjects were generally sweet and not over-bearing in seasoning, hotness, or ripeness. The more frequently eaten foods made with kimchi were jjigae, bokkeumbap, bibimbap and kimbap. However, the more preferred dishes made with kimchi were bossam, jeongol, bokkeum, jeon, and ramyeon. The Chinese subjects were especially sensitive to spicy odors ($4.6{\pm}2.2/10$), salted seafood odors ($4.6{\pm}2.3/10$), offodors ($4.4{\pm}2.3/10$) and aftertaste ($5.9{\pm}2.1/10$) compared to Korean subjects. Taken all together, the perception as well as sensory characteristic of kimchi needs to be improved for the globalization of kimchi.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.525-543
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• 2010

This article examines the types and cooking methods for tteok (Korean rice cake) according to its sub-ingredients, as recorded in 18 old literatures of the Joseon dynasty (1392~1909). The sub-ingredients used in tteok during the Joseon dynasty were categorized into flowers, fruits, vegetables, Korean typical medicinal plants, and others. In the early, middle, and late eras of the Joseon dynasty, one, six, and 14 kinds of tteok were prepared using flowers as the sub-ingredient and two, seven, and 32 kinds of tteok were prepared using fruits, respectively. Three, seven, and 38 kinds of Tteok were prepared using vegetables as the sub-ingredient, while there were three, five and 15 kinds tteok prepared using Korean medicinal plants, respectively. One, five, and 13 kinds of tteok were prepared using other ingredients such as fish and seogi mushrooms in the early, middle, and late eras of the Joseon dynasty, respectively. The types of sub-ingredients and the resulting types of tteok increased throughout the Joseon dynasty, indicating that flowers and vegetables were preferred the most among tteok sub-ingredients. Tteoks using flower as the sub-ingredient, whajeon, were mostly jijin-tteok. The types of tteok and cooking methods using other sub-ingredients were discussed in terms of the type of sub-ingredients and their treatment to prepare tteok. The sub-ingredients were mixed with flour, which was the main ingredient for preparing tteok, or ground and shredded to prepare gomul for decorating and stuffing tteok, respectively. It seemed that the appearance and taste of tteok varied, thereby resulting in nutrient supplementation as the kinds of sub-ingredients increased throughout the Joseon dynasty. We expect that the recipes and ingredients as well as the cooking methods recorded in these old articles will contribute to those looking for a healthy life and, furthermore, to the globalization of tteok.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2014

Most microorganisms have been used for foods for such a long period of time with no question posed for their safety. However, the progress of food processing technology has activated international food trades, and the consumers and authorities of import countries have come to question the safety of microorganisms used in foods. At present, the most widely known safety standards are Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Qualified Presumption of Safety (QPS) status by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). GRAS status is not for the safety of microorganisms themselves but for the permissibility of strains or cultures in specific food uses. QPS provides a qualified generic approval to a defined taxonomic unit. The increase of commercialized traditional fermented foods in Korea has spurred the starter development for traditional food fermentations. However, starter development in Korea has been carried out based on the technological properties of microorganisms with no research on developing a standardized tool for safety assessment. In the globalization of traditional Korean fermented foods, technological properties as well as safety of future starters should be guaranteed, and establishment of the safety assessment regulation for microorganisms used for foods is necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2010

This article examines the types of tteok (Korean rice cake) recorded in 21 old literatures of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1909) according to its main ingredients. Tteok varieties of the Joseon dynasty were categorized into jjin-tteok, chin-tteok, jijin-tteok, salmeun-tteok and guun-tteok and their changes in cooking method were discussed from the early to late eras of the Joseon dynasty. These can be summarized as follows. In the early, middle and late eras of the Joseon dynasty, there were 1, 15 and 84 kinds of tteok using non-glutinous rice as the main ingredient, and 6, 24 and 120 kinds using glutinous rice, respectively. Tteok using wheat flour was not found in the early Joseon dynasty, whereas 6 and 32 kinds were found in the middle and late eras, respectively. There were 1, 4 and 5 kinds of tteoks using buckwheat, and 5, 11 and 19 kinds using other ingredients such as yam, barley, elephant's ear, oat, and arrowroot flour, in the early, middle and late eras, respectively. The frequency of the main ingredient increased in the order of glutinous rice>non-glutinous rice>wheat flour>other ingredient>buckwheat flour during the Joseon dynasty and the ratio of tteoks using non-glutinous and glutinous rice flours was 1:1.5. The number and types of tteok were noted to increase abruptly throughout the Joseon dynasty. This may be associated with the commercial industrial development that prevailed in the late Joseon dynasty. Further study will be conducted on their recipes and ingredients recorded in these old literatures to develop a standardized recipe for the globalization of tteok.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.671-679
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• 2010

This study investigated the perception, evaluation, and the possibility for globalizing Korean foods and Yak-sun among different nationalities of foreigners living in Korea. A survey was conducted with 171 foreigners (eastern Asian, southeastern and central Asian, European, and American). The questionnaire was composed of three parts, including perception, evaluation, and the possibility for globalizing Korean foods and Yak-sun. The reason for choosing Korean foods cited by southeastern and central Asians and Americans was "taste", whereas eastern Asians and Europeans chose "culture" and "curiosity", respectively. Americans and Europeans considered "spiciness" as a reason not to choose Korean foods (P<0.001). Regarding the possibility of globalizing Korean foods, eastern Asians and Americans/Europeans/southeast Asians and central Asians responded "Korean dining culture" and "incomprehensive menus", respectively (P<0.05). An "explanation of the menu to foreigners" was regarded as the main suggestion for globalizing Korean food. Most of the respondents understood that Yak-sun is an oriental medicinal food that provides improved health and disease prevention. A number of Europeans and Americans expressed high interest in the conceptualization of Yak-sun (P<0.001). With regard to the priority for developing Yak-sun, eastern Asians, southeastern and central Asians, and Europeans picked out "health status improvement", whereas "improved nutritional status" was manifested in the majority of the American's responses (P<0.001). Therefore, it is crucial that "localization" be applied to Korean foods and Yak-sun to meet the international standard. Furthermore, it is necessary to provide simplified and correct Korean food content information to foreigners.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.710-716
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of Makgeolli (MG) and Makgeolli GiGemi (MGG) on blood flow, serum lipid improvement in vivo, and inhibition of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) in vitro. The activities of serum AST and ALT were increased by ovariectomy. Serum AST levels were decreased to $77.71{\pm}13.97$ and $74.57{\pm}14.90\;unit/ml$ in the OVX-MG50 and OVX-MGG50 groups compared to the OVX-control group ($91.14{\pm}12.02\;unit/ml$). Serum ALT levels were decreased to $34.00{\pm}8.41$ and $30.43{\pm}3.60\;unit/ml$ in OVX-MG50 and OVX-MGG50 groups compared to the OVX-control group ($37.14{\pm}5.40\;unit/ml$). Serum total cholesterol and triglyceride contents decreased in the sham group compared with OVX-control group by ovariectomy. Six weeks feeding of MG and MGG resulted in a decrease to $116.14{\pm}36.02$ and $109.14{\pm}11.55\;mg/dl$ compared to the OVX-control group ($120.43{\pm}8.36\;mg/dl$) in serum total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels were decreased to $52.43{\pm}12.41$ and $47.29{\pm}12.08\;mg/dl$ in the OVX-MG50 and OVX-MGG50 groups compared to the OVX-control group ($58.57{\pm}5.47\;mg/dl$). The level of HDL-cholesterol in the OVX-control group was significantly reduced to $51.29{\pm}20.49\;mg/dl$ compared to the sham group ($72.29{\pm}10.29\;mg/dl$), but it was increased to $70.71{\pm}19.53$ and $62.00{\pm}20.20\;mg/dl$ with MG and MGG supplementation. Furthermore, the effect of the MG group was higher than the MGG group. Microscopic observation showed that whole blood passed smoothly through the micro channels in the MG and MGG supplemented groups. The platelet aggregation ability of the groups treated with MG and MGG was less than that of the OVX-control group. In vitro assay, the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) activity was significantly inhibited by MG and MGG (82.6% and 68.9% inhibition at 0.4 g/ml). These results suggest that the beneficial effects of MG and MGG may be used to improve on the lipid metabolic syndrome of menopausal women. In addition, MG and MGG might improve blood homeostasis mediated activities via antiplatelets and MG and MGG may be used as antihypertensive functional foods and nutraceuticals.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.539-555
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• 2008

It is well understood that developing new drugs is one of the highest value-added businesses in a country; however, the current governments' spending in pharmaceutical research and development(R&D) is minimal in Korea. This paper suggests that different governmental bodies should take in charge of different stages of the R&D process in order to maximize the use of limited government research funding. First, during the initial phase of the drug development, including clinical trials, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is the most appropriate governmental organization to support the research. For later procedures such as supporting the industries for exporting developed drugs, legislative approvals, and building infrastructure for future clinical trials should be supported by the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy and the Ministry of Health and Welfare along with the Korea Food and Drug Administration(KFDA). The KFDA, which is the main governmental agency approving newly developed drugs in the market, will need to take a crucial responsibility in the initial phase of the pharmaceutical R&D by guiding the industries with timely and proper information. As a first step, it is recommended to set up and operate a center for supporting new drugs, so that the industries can facilitate the development of marketable drugs which meet customers' needs. Later, in order to expedite the process of exporting and getting approvals of the newly developed drugs from foreign countries, it is necessary to develop new approval system, which includes introduction of the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), mandatory validation system, and education program for supporting expertise. Lastly, the KFDA needs to take an active role in developing Korean pharmaceutical industries by communicating with other foreign governments with regards to the globalization of the Korean pharmaceutical industries. For example, as a follow up after the Free Trade Agreement(FTA), active discussion on GLP of Mutual Recognition Agreement(MRA) with the United States of America, should be seriously considered.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.152-160
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to compare conditions of Korean Restaurants in Hong Kong with those of Thai ones, which have already succeeded in globalization, by investigating and analyzing the characteristics of the two parties in Hong Kong, a world-wide international city. For these purposes, we selected 10 Korean restaurants & 10 Thai restaurants in Hong Kong, and visited the selected restaurants during the period from 2007.7.9 to 2007.7.14, to examine indoor spaces and food-related elements were recorded in detail, photographed and analyzed. The results of study is as follows ; we have first found that Korean restaurants did not show any humane properties linked to restaurant concepts and indoor space, did link Korean images through their trade names, and showed decorative culture based on traditional house and dietary-life cultural properties based on traditional Korean Bansang table setting at large. On the other hand, 4 (22.5%) out of the entire cases in Thai restaurants showed religious characteristics with strong Buddhist colors revealed, and all cases showed traditional Thai food cultures, from which we could find out dietary-life cultural properties. Second, whereas there were one case of Korean restaurants in which tradition was main and modernity was assistant, five cases in which tradition and modernity were paralleled in value, and two cases in which modernity was main and tradition was assistant, Thai restaurants had one case where tradition was main and modernity was associative, four cases in which tradition and modernity were paralleled in value, and four cases where modernity was main and tradition was assistant. This means that the Thai restaurants did not insist only on tradition, but showed efforts to transmit luxurious and refined Thai images to people from the world. Third, whereas Korean restaurants had to do with all kinds of menu, were equipped with brazierson their tables uniformly, and showed any differences because they did not use different tableware in accordance with foods, Thai restaurants divided the dinner into the hors d'oeuvre, the main, and the dessert or systemized menu structure by categories in accordance with cooking styles, and tableware selection in accordance with menus, table setting, food materials, and food styling using flowers were consistently expressed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Postharvest Science and Technology of Agricultural Products Conference
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• 2005.09a
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• pp.1-23
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• 2005

Kochujang, a fermented hot pepper soybean paste, is a spicy condiment mixed with red pepper, boiled rice and mold fermented soybean (as koji) which is then fermented for several months. It has unique taste of hot, sweet, salty and savory flavor by all mixed ingredients by fermentation, and is one of most famous Korean traditional foods. The scale of the kochujang industry is about 200 billion won in Korea, and 7.8 million dollars and 4,500 tons in exports. Although it is still not a large part of the food industry in Korea, the scale of soy products will increase because it is a major subsidiary food in our dietary life and has grown from a homemade to a mass produced product. Kochujang has the largest market in the scale of sales among fermented soybean products and has merit because of its domestic base and its ability to grow to an international market due to its unique fermented taste. In order to make kochujang an international food, it Is necessary to study the scientific development of kochujang and the diversity of products using kochujang that are fitted to the taste of people around the world. In addition, participation in various exhibitions and food fairs supported by the government should help to promote kochujang throughout the world. In addition, these should be actively supported by the related businesses. Red pepper, a major ingredient in kochujang, has been widely studied and shown to have a positive effect on the reduction of fat, on the strengthening of the immune system, and on active biological functions. A fermented spice like kochujang has been shown to be beneficial for the body due to the process of fermentation rather than from the red pepper itself. If we prove the various biological functions of kochujang with a particular taste and flavor, it will energize a new market. It is necessary for business to make a continuous effort supported fly the scientific world and by government policy, in order to introduce this traditional food to the world. In the present day, the kochujang market is now on a firm basis and has been activated in the field of its study. Now, it is possible to achieve the birth of a secondary international market by concentrating on these efforts.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.64-73
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• 1999

We performed a study to understand the dietary situation in North Korea and to compare the difference between the North and the South. Two hundred North Korean defectors from the North since 1990 participated in this survey. Information was collected from December, 1997 to February, 1998 by mailing pre-tested questionnaires, which had been confirmed by 10 previous interviewers. The final data from 157 defectors(107 male and 33 female with 17 unidentified gender) were analyzed. We found that (1) North Koreans are lower in height, weight and BMI than South Koreans, (2) The North Korean diet is very simple and monotonous. It is limited to their local and unprocessed foods and dishes, which is far from the trend of globalization and readiness. (3) On the other hand, in the North, the government control on foods diminished because food shortage leads to free market activity where housewives manage their own foodservices, and to accelate their eating-out behaviors. (4) Profound differences between the South and the North in dietary life are noticed by the defectors as English words and Korean words. Efforts to understand and learn about each other is necessary before not too late.