Global Vision of the Korean Food Industry

Korea's global status is changing rapidly, as witnessed by the recent Hallyu (Korean wave) craze. The current status of Korean food's advancement into globalization through the Korean Wave is reviewed and future developments are discussed. The global status of Korean food companies is still weaker than that of global food giants, but the growth potential of these businesses is significant. In particular, recent global demand for vegetable protein resources and their use are driving contributions of Korean food and food technology based on Korea's traditional plant food cooking and fermentation culture, which began with primitive pottery culture. The Korean food industry has much to contribute to the global effort to solve food problems of poor and developing countries that suffer from imbalanced world food distribution. Korea's current ODA programs are introduced and future development directions are discussed.