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Sauerkraut-Kimchi-Jjigae: A Perfect German-Korean Match

Fri, March 17, 12:45 to 2:45pm, Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, Floor: Mezzanine, Norfolk

Abstract

The Korean population in Germany is 30,000 which include Korean students and second generation Korean-Germans who are the children of Korean “guest workers”. The Korean migration to West-Germany started during the mid-1960s and officially lasted until the late 1970s within the framework of bilateral agreements between the two governments regarding two professions: coal-mining and nursing.
Many Koreans suffered from homesickness since they found themselves living and working in an unfamiliar environment where they could hardly speak the language and had to endure racism. Thus, preparing and sharing food among compatriots became an important source of solace. Craving for Korean food, the Koreans experimented with German ingredients. They bought sauerkraut and put whatever they could find to make it more “Korean”. They called it Sauerkraut-kimchi-jjigae. It quickly became popular and many Korean families have now their own recipe. The dish is also popular with second generation Korean-Germans. Invented by their parents it refers not only to an imaginary homeland but also reminds them of their migration history and their identity as Korean-Germans.
Taking the sauerkraut-kimchi-jjigae as an example this paper aims to show the importance of place and locality when it comes to culturally specific food and migration. The invention of a new Korean-German dish is a perfect example for how the transformation of culinary cultures is bound to locality and proves how people adapt to and appropriate the local food culture in the diaspora, depending on their living conditions, needs and culinary habits.

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