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Monday, August 9, 2010

Which country's food is 'Korean taco'?


The Korean tacos
(This image is sourced from
the Seoul Searcher's blog.)



What is 'Korean Taco'?

It is a kind of tacos as you see the image on the top. There is Korean food such as Kimchi or Kalbi on the tacos.
You can refer to this article: New York Times (Click to see the article!)


Which country's food is Korean taco?

Some people insist it is Korean, Mexican, American, Korean-American, Korean-Mexican, or Mexican-American.

It is Korean-American in my opinion.


Why is it Korean-American?

Oh, I should explain why this taco is American.
Many of you usually think tacos are totally Mexican, don't you? I also thought like you for the first time, but the Seoul Searcher explained to me why it is American.

The world's idea of what a taco is comes from the United States.
Real Mexican tacos don't have hard shells, don't use so much cheese, don't use sour cream, etc..

Mexican tacos and American tacos are different. 'Korean taco' is cooked, based on American style tacos.

It is made by Korean-American, mixing a food of Korean heritage with a food of the location, the United States. It means the 'Korean taco' is fusion cuisine!
I wonder fusion cuisine can really be only one country's dish. Fusion cuisine is the dish of those countries which the mixed food is from, not only one country's. If one's food doesn't exist, the fusion cuisine cannot be made. If there is no Kimchi or Kalbi, 'Kimchi' tacos or 'Kalbi' tacos cannot be made! There is definitely no precedent of Kimchi 'tacos' and Kalbi 'tacos' in Korea, but is there any precedent of 'Kimchi' tacos or 'Kalbi' tacos in the United States? Of course, I agree the idea of tacos is from the United States, but nobody can ignore the influence of Kimchi or Kalbi, the representative Korean food, to the tacos. That's so-called FUSION!
For that reason, I don't say it's Korean or American. It's Korean-American!


What do you think about this?

Is this Korean taco really Korean? Mexican? American? Korean-Mexican? Korean-American? or Mexican-Korean?

There are lots of opinions about this on the Seoul Searcher's blog. Visit and check it! Click here to see the Seoul Searcher's post.


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