Might be a stupid question but genuine question that I’ve been thinking about lately.
For example, take bulgogi. The main ingredient is beef, and the marinade is usually things like soy sauce, garlic, sugar, sesame oil, etc. None of those ingredients are uniquely Korean, and you could probably buy everything you need at a typical American supermarket.
That got me wondering: what actually makes a food “Korean”?
You could make a similar argument for a lot of foods around the world. Pizza uses ingredients that are widely available, tacos use ingredients that are widely available, and so on. Yet we still consider them Italian or Mexican foods.
I’m Korean-American, and this isn’t meant to be a gotcha question. I’m just curious how people think about the distinction between a dish’s ingredients and its cultural identity.
At what point does something become Korean food? Is bulgogi Korean because of where the dish originated, regardless of where the ingredients come from?
I’d be interested to hear how people in this sub think about it.
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