Food-related heritage-building, between promotion of cultural identity and tourism value: case of Kimjang in South Korea
'Labeling' of heritage through the 1972 UNESCO Convention presents the management method, and specifies the promise to guarantee the protection of values in anticipation of the impact of the increase in tourists (Gravari-Barbas et Jacquot, 2013:1). Accordingly, we have witnessed thematic, chronological and spatial expansion of cultural and natural heritage (Gravari-Barbas, 1997).
With globalization, traditional food-related culture has also become a subject of preservation, and the state has become an important actor of its transmission. ‘Kimjang, the culture of making and sharing kimchi’ of South Korea was inscribed as an intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO in 2013. In 2017, it was designated as a national intangible cultural property in South Korea under the name "kimchi making". Through the institutionalization of heritage and its guidance, the intangible heritage can be preserved and developed at the same time in accordance with tourism and economy (Kang Jeong-won, 2021: 389). According to the data of the Korea Food Research Institute (2020), there are 117 kimchi-related tourism products, including 2 museums, 41 experience facilities, and 9 festivals: kimjang has become an important heritage/resource at the local and the national level. On the other hand, however, the criteria of the UNESCO intangible heritage guards against the commercialization of the living heritage (the behavior of living social groups). What do these ‘new heritages’ tell us as indicators of global trends in heritage, tourism or sustainable development?
This case study sees tourism as revealing of the interest between the preservation and development of cultural heritage and intends to triangulate the heritage-building, the cultural identity and the role of tourism. This study uses background research, policy analysis, statistics, newspaper articles and interviews in the aim of discussion the importance of an integrated tourism policy for sustainable regional development as well.
Keywords: heritage-building|sustainable development|tourism|food-related heritage|Kimjang
A104287JP