Adaptability and Preference to Korean Food with Foreigners Who Reside in Seoul, Korea

Soojin Park; Dong-Ju Kim; Weon-Sun Shin

doi:10.5720/kjcn.2012.17.6.782

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Park, Kim, and Shin: Adaptability and Preference to Korean Food with Foreigners Who Reside in Seoul, Korea

Original Article

Korean Journal of Community Nutrition

Korean Journal of Community Nutrition 2012; 17(6): 782-794.

Published online: 31 December 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2012.17.6.782

Adaptability and Preference to Korean Food with Foreigners Who Reside in Seoul, Korea

Soojin Park, Dong-Ju Kim¹, Weon-Sun Shin²

Department of Oriental medical Food and Nutrition, Semyung University, Jecheon, Korea.

¹Graduate School of Education, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.

²Department of Food and Nutrition, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Weon-Sun Shin, Food & Nutrition Dept, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 133-791, Korea. Tel: (02) 2220-1204, Fax: (02) 2292-1226, hime@hanyang.ac.kr

Received 16 October 2012 Revised 18 December 2012 Accepted 18 December 2012

(open-access):

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the Korea-resident foreigners's adaptability and preference to Korean foods. The survey was carried out among 144 foreigners living in Seoul, Korea (male 57, female 87; from the East 109, from the West 35). Based on the first impression of Korean food, 'spicy', 'strong taste of seasoning', 'salty' were most common. About 90 percent of the foreigners adapted to Korean food in six months. It took more time to adapt to Korean food for Western people, compared to people from the East. Factors that influenced their adaption to Korean food were shown to be 'efforts by myself' and 'from friends'. Foreigners posited positive attitude toward Korean food according to their answers like 'nutritionally great food' and 'food with interesting ways of eating'. Westerners appeared to be more satisfied with Korean food. 'Too strong seasoning taste' and 'too sweet' were pointed out for further improvements. Beef Bulgogi, (Korean) fruit, Beef Ribs, Pork Ribs, and Grilled Pork Belly in order were foreigners' favorite foods, but Soju, Korean Sausage, Sliced Rice Cake Soup, Radish Kimchi and Vegetable Side Dishes were not. Taken together, the adaptability and preference to Korean foods to foreigners were different according to the gender and cultural background. Target marketing strategy of Korean Foods should be considered for foreign customers.

Keywords: Korea-resident foreigners, food adaptability, food preference, difference between the western and the eastern

Figures and Tables

Table 1

General characteristics of the subjects

Table 2

Anthropometric data of the subjects

1) Means ± SD, ^**: p < 0.01, ^***: p < 0.001, NS: Not Significant

Table 3

The adaptability to Korean food with foreigners who reside in Korea

1) Result by t-test (continuous data of 5-point scale), 2) Mean ± SD, 3) Result by χ²-test, 4) n (%), 5) χ²-value, ^*: p < 0.05, ^**: p < 0.01, ^***: p < 0.001

Table 4

Correlation with length of residence in Korea and period of adaptation on Korean food. Correlation between the length of residence and the period of adaptation to Korean food

1) n (%)

^*: p < 0.05

Table 5

Contributing factors for adaptation to Korean food with foreigners who reside in Korea

1) n (%)

Table 6

Eating habits of foreigners who reside in Korea in post-adaptation to Korean food

1) n (%)

^*: p < 0.05, ^**: p < 0.01, ^***: p < 0.001

Table 7

Preference of Korean food with foreigners who reside in Korea

1) Mean ± SD (Score- 1: very much, 3: average, 5: dislike)

2) Korean fruit: Charmoi (oriental melon), Gam (persimmon), Gyul (tangerine) and so on

^*: p < 0.05, ^**: p < 0.01, ^***: p < 0.001

Table 8

Satisfaction with Korean food and Future aspects for Korean food

1) n (%)

^***: p < 0.001

Table 9

Reason for liking and disliking to Korean food

1) n (%)

2) p-value calculated by χ² test (categorical data)

Table 10

Advises on taste and serving size improvement of Korean food

1) p-value calculated by χ² test (categorical data) ^*: p < 0.05 ^**: p < 0.01

2) n (%)

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