As a matter of fact, food has been a hot topic of TV programs in Korea. Food programs are overflowing in various genres including culture, entertainment and drama. Thus, why did food programs turn up in the media? What is the discourse the food progra...
As a matter of fact, food has been a hot topic of TV programs in Korea. Food programs are overflowing in various genres including culture, entertainment and drama. Thus, why did food programs turn up in the media? What is the discourse the food programs have? This study started with the critical minds. Based on KBS Korean Cuisine and Dining which began from January 2011, the study was set to help understand the formats and narrative structures of TV food programs.
Before discussing this issue in earnest, the study examined three points; one, when food programs came up; two, what their backgrounds were; and three, what the features of food programs of the times were. It was clear that food programs which have been in the business of coming up since the 2000s resulted from Koreans' great interest in health, and that the discourse food programs wish to deliver varied depending on their formats and contents, even though their subjects were alike. On the basis of the outcomes, this study tried to analyze Korean Cuisine and Dining, applying syntagmatic analysis of a semiotic analysis method, the analysis of narrative structures, the culinary triangle of C. Lévi-Strauss and discourse analysis.
The results from the analysis of Korean Cuisine and Dining showed that the program had constant trends in the plot like grounds to select subjects, ingredients offering information, the introduction of representative food cultures, re-emphasis on the meaning of subjects, and also it had its own features like limited narratives, the re-interpretation of stories related to food, the reproductibility of cooking. The analysis of the narrative structures revealed that the narrative structures varied depending on regions, ingredients and the times, with great differences in methods to unfold story introduction and in ways to draw out subjects. The narrative structures were unfolded focusing on regions, ingredients and the times for story introduction, while the subjects were drawn out in a method to highlight Korean sentiment. The key subjects of Korean Cuisine and Dining were divided into the four categories of hometown, the nature, the times, recollection, out of which one that consumed the analysis most was a subject related to hometown which includes nostalgia, yearning, memory, warmth and affection. Episodes related to the nature emphasized affluence and vitality, while ones concerning the times put emphasis on joys and sorrows, origin, customs and tradition. When it came to recollection, the program highlighted modesty and sacrifice. On the ground of the culinary triangle of Claude Levi-Strauss, a French leading social anthropologist, Korean dishes introduced in Korean Cuisine and Dining were classified by the type, which resulted in the fact that boiled dishes(spoiled ones and fermented ones) were introduced most frequently, showing that Korean food culture has its own features that a lot of stews and soups have been developed and most dishes are of hot and spicy taste, and that Korean food has become fused more and more. The analysis of discourses on healing, nostalgia, affection and grudges revealed that the discourses emphasized food culture containing the times and regional cultures, and missing for disappearing Korean sentiment. It was disclosed that Korean Cuisine and Dining did not simply introduce Korean dishes, but also delivered the tradition of Korean food and Korean sentiments such as healing, nostalgia, affection and grudges, which have become forgotten.
Key words: Food programs, Korean sentiment, Semiotics, The culinary triangle of Claude Lévi-Strauss, Narrative structures, Discourses