Throughout the developed world, as folks turn out to be extra aware of the meat business’s comparatively massive carbon footprint, there are actions aimed toward decreasing the consumption of animal merchandise, if not changing into outright vegan.
That effort is especially difficult in South Korea, the place meat is related to wealth and well being, and the place tabletop barbecuing is a lifestyle.
“I attempted my finest, even setting a cute picture of pigs as my telephone wallpaper,” mentioned Jung Jin-a, a dedicated animal rights activist who has been struggling to surrender meat for greater than a decade.
She wished to save lots of the planet and the animals. However she wished scorching pork stomach, too.
“The pork and hen are proper in entrance of my eyes and can instantly fulfill my cravings, whereas the values I uphold by refusing meat are invisible,” mentioned Jung, who wrote a guide about her life as an “imperfect vegetarian.”
After Ok-pop and Ok-dramas, Ok-BBQ could be South Korea’s best-known cultural export. The Korean technique of grilling meat is beloved by diners all over the world, and attracts foodie vacationers. Korean meals has risen as one of the widespread cuisines on TikTok and Instagram, in response to a 2023 evaluation of social media tags.
The Oscar-winning movie “Parasite” featured grilled Korean beef with on the spot noodles, fueling a social media frenzy.
At house, it’s a nationwide pastime, whether or not at an after-work gathering or a picnic dinner on a transportable grill.
Meat has at all times been an aspirational meal right here. It was a luxurious throughout South Korea’s emergence from colonization and struggle, however after many years of speedy financial development, meat has now taken over Korean dinner tables.
South Korea’s annual meat consumption per individual exceeded that of rice for the primary time in 2022. It’s now 134 kilos — a lot decrease than the annual American per capita meat consumption of 225 kilos, however up from 69 kilos twenty years in the past.
Now, it’s uncommon to stroll greater than two blocks in central Seoul at 7 p.m. with out inhaling the aroma of grilled meat. This nation of 51 million has greater than 70,000 barbecue eating places.
However some local weather change activists and animal rights advocates are arising with artistic methods to query this ubiquitous carnivore tradition and embrace plant-based consuming.
One of many greatest challenges for aspiring vegetarians and vegans in South Korea is that they don’t know the place to begin.
Meat and seafood seem in some type in almost each meal: small and generally incognito elements like tiny fermented shrimp in kimchi; minced meat in bibimbap; or seafood inventory in scorching tofu soup.
Given the pervasiveness of animal merchandise in dishes, and a ignorance of vegetarian wants, it may be difficult to go meat-free at eating places or when communally eating.
These difficulties have given rise to the “bideong,” or “no-chunk,” strategy to plant-based consuming amongst budding vegetarians in South Korea.
For Jang Kyung-mi, bideong means making her “finest effort to keep away from seen chunks of meat when circumstances don’t permit” consuming vegetarian, particularly when eating out or sharing a meal with omnivores. This strategy has helped her keep away from awkward questions at eating places, like asking whether or not the broth is from seafood or meat inventory.
A strict vegan eating regimen, which was her preliminary objective three years in the past, was exhausting to apply whereas dwelling with a non-vegetarian husband and little one. “We are typically preoccupied with the extremes when going meat-free,” mentioned the 38-year-old, who runs a zero-waste store exterior Seoul. “Nevertheless, a practical eating regimen that we will truly maintain is more practical and significant.”
The “no chunk” way of life is an instance of a big-tent strategy to plant-based consuming, and its accessible nature is fueling a transfer away from a meat-centered eating regimen.
Whereas simply 4 % of South Korean adults establish as vegetarians — lots of them religious Buddhists, who keep away from consuming meat and strong-smelling vegetation as a part of their apply — 12 % say they’re flexitarians who observe a plant-centric eating regimen, in response to a survey final yr by Hankook Analysis, a Seoul-based pollster.
On social media, the hashtag “my veganism diary” has turn out to be widespread, amplifying the voices of these attempting to go meat-free and influencing a brand new technology of plant-centric eaters. On Instagram, South Koreans share their expertise of making an attempt — and generally succeeding, however usually failing — to eat vegan, and encourage others to hitch the problem.
The social media development has been a supply of motivation for South Korean illustrator Kim Bo-sun. She began posting a sequence known as “My Veganism Cartoon” on social media, wherein she playfully depicts the ups and downs in her life as an “aspiring vegan.”
“I began engaged on these cartoons in hopes that it will encourage extra imperfect vegans like myself,” she mentioned. “I feel 100 imperfect aspiring vegans are extra beneficial for our planet than a single good vegan.”
Specialists say this much less puritanical and extra versatile strategy may decrease the boundaries to a plant-based eating regimen. “In an period of pressing local weather danger, convincing folks to chop down meat consumption even simply on a part-time foundation is necessary,” mentioned Oh Choong-hyeon, an environmental science knowledgeable at Dongguk College in Seoul.
South Koreans’ massive urge for food for meat is “neither sustainable nor accountable,” he mentioned.
The nation’s economic system has grown to turn out to be the world’s Thirteenth-largest, and it’s the Tenth-biggest carbon polluter throughout the globe, in response to the World Carbon Atlas. It’s because it stays depending on heavy business resembling petrochemicals, metal and vehicles. The power and industrial sectors are chargeable for two-thirds of complete emissions, adopted by the transport, constructing and agriculture sectors.
The Asian financial powerhouse is likely one of the lowest performers within the Local weather Change Efficiency Index, which assesses the nationwide greenhouse fuel emissions, power combine and local weather coverage of 63 international locations and the European Union.
South Korea’s topography signifies that livestock is commonly raised in crowded manufacturing facility farms, which contributes to air and water air pollution, mentioned Park Jong-moo, a bioethics knowledgeable and veterinarian.
Some firms see an enormous potential market in different protein sources — though they concede that promoting to meat-loving Koreans is not any simple feat.
“Our merchandise are scrumptious sufficient to win over not solely vegetarians but additionally non-vegetarians who’ve by no means tried different meat,” mentioned Kim Yang-hee, CEO of HN Novatech, a Korean food-tech start-up that developed the world’s first seaweed ingredient for plant-based meat alternate options.
Whereas seaweed stays an unfamiliar ingredient in Western international locations, it has been a staple of Korean and Japanese diets for a whole bunch of years.
Kim Yang-hee mentioned her firm’s seaweed extract makes an “correct meat” taste with out components or preservatives usually current in plant-based meat merchandise. Seaweed farming, which makes use of solely the ocean, has the potential to redefine the way forward for protein manufacturing in an eco-friendly means, the corporate says. It just lately launched a “meat-flavored” croquette and plans to observe up with plant-based mackerel, milk substitute from seaweed extract, and seaweed “beef” jerky.
The federal government is taking discover. The Agriculture Ministry just lately unveiled a plan to help the plant-based economic system by establishing a devoted research middle for plant-based meat alternate options and rising the exportability of the merchandise.
The nation’s plant-based protein market may attain $216 million by 2026, in response to estimates by the Korea Rural Financial Institute.
However there are nonetheless much more skeptics than proponents. “Saturday evening means going out for pork stomach and soju with pals,” mentioned Philip Lee, a Seoul-based soccer coach who eats barbecue each weekend. Lee says he’s conscious of vegetarianism and helps the motion, “however I can’t see myself ever giving up meat.”
Joo Seon-tea, a professor of animal science at South Korea’s Gyeongsang Nationwide College, mentioned South Koreans have grown “taller, more healthy and happier” due to rising meat consumption over the many years.
Joo says consuming meat day by day is a perfect dietary behavior that contributes to a balanced eating regimen. His vegetarian daughter as soon as took him to a vegan restaurant the place Joo tried soy meat for the primary time. “It’s incomprehensible to me why anybody would wish to eat pretend meat,” he mentioned. “Can’t you simply eat usually?”
