Kimchi Diplomacy

This season of Hidden Kitchens was inspired by an issue of the magazine, Public Diplomacy centered on the concept of “gastrodiplomacy,” the idea of sharing a country’s cultural heritage through food, food as a medium of cultural engagement, the use of food as a diplomatic tool to help resolve conflicts and foster connections between nations. Korea it turns out, is one of the nations most involved in branding itself through its food, in using food as a part of it’s “soft power.” The philosophy of the Korean government is to help spread its influence through supporting Korean people to go and open Korean restaurants throughout the world and helping to export and by helping to export and popularize that most ubiquitous of foods—kimchi.