Netflix show reignites debate about what to call kimchi

A Netflix show has reignited a spicy international debate over kimchi.

When cast members of reality show Super Rich in Korea prepared the traditional Korean dish, the Chinese subtitles called it la bai cai, a Chinese term for spicy cabbage, which did not sit well with some Korean viewers.

South Koreans launched an online petition demanding Netflix change the word from la bai cai to xinqi, the Chinese term for the dish that the South Korean government recommends using.

Netflix did so, prompting a Chinese backlash in response, with some people calling for sanctions on cabbage exports to South Korea, according to Korean media reports.

Kimchi, made from salted and fermented vegetables, typically napa cabbage, is known as South Korea's national dish. In 2013, UNESCO added kimjang, the tradition of making and sharing kimchi, to its intangible cultural heritage list, saying it "reaffirms Korean identity," and that the food "forms an essential part of Korean meals, transcending class and regional differences."

Similar dishes are popular across Asia, including China's pao cai, a broader term for spicy pickled vegetables.

According to the South China Morning Post, Netflix said it initially used la bai cai because the term is more familiar to overseas Chinese speakers.

In 2021, South Korea's culture ministry made xinqi the official new Chinese name for kimchi, in an attempt to draw a clear distinction between Korean kimchi and Chinese pao cai. The reason a Chinese name was needed in the first place is because no Chinese character exists for the pronunciation of "kimchi."

Hyung-Gu Lynn, AECL/KEPCO chair in Korean research at the University of British Columbia, said in an email to CBC that the debate relates to other bilateral contestations between China and South Korea "over a range of historical and cultural issues," from interpretations of borders to ancient history.

He said the online outrage is indicative of the recent emergence of "digital nationalism" and "food nationalism" in the region, which has also stoked debates between Japan and China over the origins of ramen.

This is not the first time kimchi has raised diplomatic tensions.

South Korea also had a dispute with Japan over the dish more than 20 years ago. In 2000, the New York Times reported "growing anger" from some Koreans, who said Japanese food makers were marketing a copycat kimchi. The South Korean government even petitioned international food regulators to establish a standard requiring products using the name kimchi to be prepared using the Korean method.

In 2001, the Codex Alimentarius Commission published a voluntary standard defining kimchi as "a fermented food that uses salted napa cabbages as its main ingredient mixed with seasonings, and goes through a lactic acid production process at a low temperature." 

Meanwhile, in 2020, the International Organization for Standardization posted new regulations for making Sichuan pao cai, which prompted China's state-run Global Times newspaper to claim the regulation as "an international standard for the kimchi industry led by China."