Recognition and Preference to Korean Traditional Food of Chinese at Seoul Residence

This survey was conducted to find out the familiarity and preference of Chinese residing in Korea on Korean food. They were composed of Chinese students studying in Korea and Chinese staffs working at the Chinese Embassy in Seoul. About 65.60% of the respondents liked Korean food while 28.00% disliked it. The reason for liking Korean food was its taste. The frequency of having Korean food a week was 46.80%, which meant Chinese had Korean food quite often. Their interest in Korean food was derived from their own personal taste and food programs of mass communication media. The most familiar food was kimchi (90.40%), followed by bulgogi (89.60%), samketang, chicken stew with ginseng (75.60%) and bibimbap, rice with vegetables (74.80%). The the most favored dish was bulgogi (64.40%), which showed that bulgogi was the most representative dish to them among Korean dishes. The area where Korean food needed innovation, Chinese pointed out, was some changes in cooking. That is, traditional Korean food needs, although maintaining its original tastes, to change its preparation of spices catering to foreigners' taste.