Abstract
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Ajinomoto, an artificial food ingredient, was a symbolic commodity of modernity in colonial Korea, which created an image of new and exotic taste and built an empire of taste. Ajinomoto transformed not only the taste of food and the palates of people but also people`s attitudes toward food. This can be seen as the invention and maximization of desire for modern tastes. This invented taste and desire functioned as the deep structure of the artificial food ingredient market competition during Korea`s modernization period.
Miwon, a Korean chemical food company, recreated and dominated this market by using the marketing strategy of alluding to Ajinomoto. Mipung, the next comer, adopted a strategy of direct imitation and borrowing of colonial memories and technology-oriented advertisement.
This study illustrates how the dualism and complexity of colonial modernity functioned in the embodied world of taste. The successful strategy of drawing upon colonial memories while maintaining a certain distance shows the complex relations between modernity, colonialism and nationalism.
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| Keywords:
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empire of taste, chemical flavor, implication, copying, borrowing, embodiment, colonial modernity
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| About the author(s)
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Jung Keun-Sik (Jeong, Geun-sik) is Associate Professor of Sociology at Seoul National University. His publications include Haejoryu yangsik eochon-ui gujo-wa byeondong (Structure and Changes of the Seaweed-cultivating Regions) (coauthored, 2004). E-mail: ksjung@snu.ac.kr.
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