Bibimbap Patriotism (1)
By Sunny Lee
Korea Times Correspondent
BEIJING ― I once personally offended Steven Bosworth, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea. And it was Canada's fault.
I was in Montreal, Canada ― my favorite city. I went to see the movie ``Black Hawk Down,'' a film based on an American military operation in Somalia in 1993 in which the key event was the downing of a Black Hawk helicopter, symbolizing the failure of American unilateralism amid good intentions.
Before the movie started, a middle-aged man next to me, devouring popcorn, turned to me. After briefly asking me to make sure that I was ``not'' American, he asked: ``Do you know what this movie is about?''
I shrugged.
``This is a movie in which Americans got busted,'' he said, with a vindictive smile on his face.
I felt like something had hit my head really hard. As a Korean, I used to have a hard time differentiating Canadians from Americans. Not anymore.
Upon returning to my university in the U.S., I faithfully reported my ``discovery'' in Canada to a roundtable forum, which was moderated by Prof. Joseph Nye. Bosworth, who was the dean of the Fletcher School of Diplomacy at nearby Tufts University, was present as a guest panel member.
``That's a very insensitive remark disregarding the depths of sorrow Americans are going through,'' Bosworth fumed. He was visibly agitated. It was only a few months after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Seeing his raw sentiment, I regretted raising the matter. I realized it is universal that a messenger who brings bad news is not welcomed. I was shamefaced and remorseful.
Nye remained quiet. He then broke the silence. ``As the sole superpower in the world,'' he said, ``the U.S. often becomes the subject for jealousy from others.''
``But at the same time,'' he continued, ``We might have appeared arrogant in the eyes of others. We should be mindful about not just 'what' we do, but 'how' we do things.''
On that day, both Bosworth and Nye taught me something about the art of communication, without intending to do so. I couldn't articulate what it was then. But on that day, I came to like America more because of Nye, who showed me that the U.S. was a ``reflective" superpower.
Looking back, and based on my later reading of linguist Deborah Tannen, who wrote ``You Just Don't Understand,'' Bosworth's communication can be characterized as being internally oriented, with an emphasis on how the ``self'' was hurt, while Nye's communication had both internal and external components that accommodated the perspective of ``the other'' in asserting the position of the self.
In handling the recent controversy surrounding a Japanese newspaperman's disparaging remark on ``bibimbap,'' a major Korean dish, Koreans did a good job of delivering what I would call a ``Bosworth-style talk.'' They clearly showed that they were hurt and deeply angry.
It was even mysterious for such a seasoned Japanese writer, who has lived in Korea for 30 years, and understands how Koreans tick so well and even wrote a book on the Korean mental landscape, ``Koreans: Who Are You?'' in as early as 1983, could have made such an obvious mistake by pressing the ``wrong button'' with bibimbap, by publicly degrading it.
But I also wonder whether it would have been possible for Koreans to employ a ``Nye-style response'' on this matter. That is, a moment for reflection and the accommodation of the perspective of ``the other.''
Why do they hate bibimbap?
When Kuroda Katsuhiro, Seoul bureau chief of the Japanese right-leaning Sankei newspaper, created controversy for his derogatory remark on bibimbap, Koreans' collective anger erupted in patriotic solidarity, decrying the Japanese man who made the blunder.
But the scene was also watched by the global audience. Did Korea win their hearts and minds? Not necessarily.
This question is cardinal because Korea wants to promote bibimbap globally as part of its ``national branding'' initiatives to boost its international image. But as beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, image is also judged by others.
Korea can promote its international image, but it cannot decide its international footing. Rather, those who are not Koreans will be the judges.
That's the mysterious thing about image engineering ― one's efforts to improve can sometimes produce completely the opposite result, when it is not communicated appropriately.
Once Korea has committed itself to a global image crusade, it should also commit itself to accommodating the views of ``others.'' It is a soft-power approach of gaining the hearts and minds of people.
Bosworth was angry about the insensitive remark, but Nye took it one step further. He was reflecting on what later became the big post-9/11 question ― why do they hate America?
Koreans were rightly angry about the insensitive remark by the Japanese figure, but while they were their wounds, there was not enough reflection on the ``why-do-they-hate-bibimbap'' question in Korea. They should. They should think about what works and what does not work so as to better promote the dish overseas.
So, let me play devil's advocate and offer one example. While I was studying in the U.S., I ate three raw eggs each morning. That was my breakfast. I did it to make more time to study.
One morning, my American roommate finally saw me doing this. And at that very moment, I transformed into a barbarian in front of his eyes. ``Don't you know there is a risk of salmonella bacteria infection from eating raw eggs?'' he asked, worried.
When I saw the full-page bibimbap promotion picture in the New York Times last month (which had actually motivated Kuroda to write the piece at issue), the first thing that came to my mind was my American roommate. Maybe the egg on top of bibimbap needs to be fully cooked in order to appeal to American customers.
I can give you another example from China as well. The most popular ``bouillon'' powder in Korea is beef flavor Dashida by CJ Group, a food and retail giant. But Park Keun-tae, head of CJ Group's Chinese unit this month told me that in China they rolled out a chicken flavored Dashida because that's what Chinese customers prefer. And guess what? It sells like hotcakes.
Korea's effort to ramp up its international branding, including its cuisine, should be more ``customer-oriented.'' It's not how you see it, but should appeal to ``the eyes of the beholder.'' It's just a common and wise international practice.
It's encouraging that Korea wants to promote bibimbap internationally. But as Nye said, we should be mindful about not just ``what'' we do, but ``how'' we do things.
But then, watching the issue from outside Korea, I sense that the key point about the bibimbap controversy, essentially, was not about the food. It was something else. And I will talk about that next time.