Korea’s Bean Culture
A Global Bean series
Korea’s Bean Culture explores how beans, especially soybeans, shape food practices, knowledge systems, and everyday life in Korea. Through fermentation, education, and daily cooking, beans function not only as ingredients, but as cultural infrastructure.
This series moves between heritage and practice, connecting UNESCO-recognised traditions such as jang-making with contemporary applications in everyday life and beyond.
Beans are not only ingredients, but part of a broader cultural infrastructure shaping everyday life.
About the series
This series explores Korean bean culture through both context and practice. Each topic is first introduced through its cultural and historical context in Korea, then followed by a second moment focused on application, including cooking and contemporary use.
Series overview
The series unfolds through a set of interconnected themes:
– Jang-making as cultural heritage
– Everyday cooking with fermented beans
– Soybeans as a foundation of Korean food culture
– From tradition to application
– Knowledge and transmission
– New contexts and adaptations
The series extends into shared practice.
It invites participation through online sessions, shared cooking, and occasional workshops.
Upcoming
Fermentation is not just preservation, it is a way of living.
This session introduces Korean jang, a fermentation culture recognised by UNESCO, and explores how it connects tradition with everyday food. From the making of meju to the transformation into doenjang, ganjang, and gochujang, jang is approached not as a fixed heritage, but as a living system shaped by practice, environment, and community.
The session will also look at how jang continues to evolve today, across households, artisans, and wider food cultures.
Explore the Series
This series is developed with Sungsook Park
Sungsook Park is a food and nutrition specialist born in Korea and based in Heidelberg, Germany. She works at the intersection of Korean fermentation culture and everyday cooking practices, with a strong focus on beans and seasonal ingredients.