Korean food: Authenticity, exoticism, and cultural omnivorousness in Manhattan’s Koreatown

• In Event: 4367 - Section on Asia and Asian America Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 1. Culture and Identity

Abstract

Based on 135 in-depth interviews, participant observation, and archival research, this paper aims to critically understand and redefine Manhattan Koreatown’s authenticity. This authenticity is often defined and shaped by commercialized Korean food and authentic dining experiences in the marketplace by entrepreneurs, the local government, and the local media. However, by delivering the voices of ordinary people from bottom-up, I argue that Koreatown’s authenticity reflects the collective histories and imaginations of various transnational individual consumers, from Korean nationals to Korean Americans to non-Koreans; and symbolic struggles over how they define authenticity—including who has the right to claim it, and who belongs in this space.

Author

• Jinwon Kim, New York City College of Technology, CUNY