South Koreans, Chinese clash on social media over Chinese-style Kimchi winning international certificate

By Daewoung Kim and Soohyun Mah

 

A member of staff arranges jars of different types of Chinese style pickled vegetables, or Pao Cai, at a specialty supermarket, in Beijing, China December 1, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - China's efforts to win an international certification for Pao Cai, a pickled vegetable dish from Sichuan, is turning into a social media showdown between Chinese and South Korean netizens over the origin of Kimchi, a staple Korean cuisine made of cabbage.

 

Beijing recently won a certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for Pao Cai, an achievement the state-run Global Times reported as "an international standard for the Kimchi industry led by China."

 

South Korean media was fast to dispute such a claim and accuse the bigger neighbour of trying to make Kimchi a type of China-made Pao Cai.

 

The episode triggered anger on South Korean social media.

 

"Its total nonsense, what a thief stealing our culture!" a South Korean netizen wrote on Naver.com, a widely popular web portal.

 

"I read a media story that China now says Kimchi is theirs, and that they are making international standard for it, It's absurd. I'm worried that they might steal Hanbok and other cultural contents, not just Kimchi," said Kim Seol-ha, a 28-year old in Seoul.

 

Some South Korean media even described the episode as China's "bid for world domination," while some social media comments flagged concerns that Beijing was exercising "economic coercison."

 

On China's Twitter-like Weibo, Chinese netizens were claiming Kimchi as their country's own traditional dish, as most of Kimchi consumed in South Korea is made in China.

 

“Well, if you don’t meet the standard, then you’re not kimchi," one wrote on Weibo. "Even the pronunciation of kimchi originated from Chinese, what else is there to say," wrote another.

 

South Korea's agriculture ministry on Sunday released a statement saying mainly that the ISO approved standard does not apply to Kimchi.

 

"It is inappropriate to report (about Pao Cai winning the ISO) without differentiating Kimchi from Pao Cai of China's Sichuan," the statement said.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-12-01

 

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10 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

"Its total nonsense, what a thief stealing our culture!"

They are renowned for it! Lowering themselves by the day!

Whoever invented it, it's vile stuff.

6 minutes ago, Traubert said:

Whoever invented it, it's vile stuff.

At least there's no chance it will give us a novel virus. 

23 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

I read a media story that China now says Kimchi is theirs,

as always,  everything was invented by China, they Never still anything from anybody, Never ...555

 

note: some of the words above may have a sarcasm intent

Sounds like its made from Xi tentacles ???? 

National cuisine can be a major point of pride, and something as well known as kimchi (I think it's great, though it does produce some powerful garlic breath) could certainly become an issue if some interloper claims it. I think it's fair to say if the entire world, save for China and South Korea, were polled as to the origin of kimchi, 99%+ would say South Korea.

 

Years ago I had two friends, one from Greece one from Lebanon, and often we all dined together. I could start a heated argument by asking, "Where did stuffed grape leaves (waraq einab in Arabic, dolma in Greek) first arise?" Both men were insistent that their nation introduced these delightful things to the world. All I would have needed for a Great Power conflict would be to add an Armenian to the group (yalanchi is what Armenians call it).

 

Fortunately, as an American, nobody else in the world is ever going to claim any US creation, such as Velveeta, and upset me. Okay, maybe spicy chicken wings?

A lot to be getting in a pickle about ain't it .. 

2 hours ago, Walker88 said:

Fortunately, as an American, nobody else in the world is ever going to claim any US creation, such as Velveeta, and upset me. Okay, maybe spicy chicken wings?

 

You're forgetting about our U.S. thin version of  "French Fries"??? 

 

Quote

Although french fries were a popular dish in most British Commonwealth countries, the "thin style" french fries have been popularized worldwide in large part by the large American fast food chains such as McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's.^[58] In the United States, the J. R. Simplot Company is credited with successfully commercializing french fries in frozen form during the 1940s. Subsequently, in 1967, Ray Kroc of McDonald's contracted the Simplot company to supply them with frozen fries, replacing fresh-cut potatoes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_fries#Etymology

 

Edited December 1, 20205 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

21 hours ago, Walker88 said:

 I think it's fair to say if the entire world, save for China and South Korea, were polled as to the origin of kimchi, 99%+ would say South Korea.

TBH that often just reflects which country's version of something the rest of the world became familiar with first. For example, people think go is Japanese...

 

There are fairly frequent spats between China and Korea/Japan over shared aspects of their cultures. Given the antiquity and nebulous origin of pickling vegetables in this way, i think this one is actually slightly more ridiculous than most of the others.

 

If this gripe is valid, Egypt, site of the world's earliest evidence of cheesemaking,  has a serious bone to pick with France

23 hours ago, Traubert said:

Whoever invented it, it's vile stuff.

Vile? Do you know how many types of Korean Kimchi there are? I suppose the speck of land you hail from may have "vile" foodstuffs as well. 

Onto ignore for rudeness.