The Postcolonial Politics of Food: Creating 'Locality' through Local Knowledge

Abstract

In the 21st century, food has become a cultural signifier of ethnicities or regions and an active consumer product in a globalizing world. States or regional governments also support ethnic or regional foods as economic resources. During modernization, the Korean diet came under the scanner of nutritional and medical sciences. Therefore, dietary habits became part of the modernization policy of the state. State-led programs for improvements in dietary life were conducted and campaigns for dietary improvements in which nutritionists emphasized the daily intake of protein and calories were implemented. The western diet, which was considered scientific and nutritious, was introduced as a superior and model diet. Korean food, which was thought of as inferior from scientific and nutritional perspectives, came to be signified in a new way in the new discourses during the process of globalization in the 1990s. In the West, which saw an era of chronic diseases because of over nutrition and obesity, health provided an important context for food discourses and Korean food was re-positioned in a new way by the discourse on health. This paper explores the process of how the indigenous food of Jeju is constructed, the process of how, as slow food in the 21st century, it has become a symbol of health and ecological food. At the same time, this paper seeks to show the ability and know-how of Jeju women, who have cooked everyday, and became involved in the discourse on their local food.