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Popularity of Korean Restaurant in Angeles City among Locals in Pampanga

Abstract

The study deals about popularity of Korean restaurant in Angeles

City among locals in Pampanga. The researchers would answer the
following questions: what are the main reasons behind the
popularity of the Korean cuisine?, what are the significant factors
that entice people to this Korean cuisine?, what are the factors
behind the success of Korean restaurants?, In what way locals
benefited from it?, Food , Nutritional Value, Culture and Tradition.

This research investigates who are the main customers of Korean

restaurant. The respondents of the study are those people who
experienced Korean food. The researcher also investigates on how
Korean prepared their dishes in a way that they can still preserve
its nutrients. Moreover, it also focuses on how to maintain their
culture and tradition in behalf of progress in the said country. The
outcome of the study suggested that they should try other dishes of
Korean aside from the usual samgyeopsal, ramen, and kimchi.
They should explore their taste buds in other dish that are just
waiting to be discovered.

The researchers conducted a survey in assessing the reaction of the

respondents according to the study using mean rating.

According to McWilliams and Heller (2003), food should not to be thought as just a way

of attaining nutrients that are essential to life; if that is the case the vital refinement of the things

that influence people to eat would be overlooked. It would be overly simplistic if a meal would

be given to a person according to his age and gender to provide the nutrients his body meets,

regardless of the pleasure that the food should add in a persons life. Preferred and all too

familiar flavors, texture, and aromas offer instant pleasure and also prompt happy memories

people and places connected with these facts.

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Korean cuisine is being branded as healthy food that harmonizes nutrition and flavor

(Jang & Ha, 2009). Based on the article of Mervin 04 (2011), the analysis revealed that both

Koreans and Filipinos viewed Menu Price as the most important attribute. Next important

attributes, in Korea were followed by brand, food-related factors and service and hygiene-related

factors, while in the Philippines; they were food-related factors, service and hygiene-related

factors and brand. Korean restaurants are usually very inexpensive. In the United States, patrons

often pay high prices for a fancy ambiance and one-of-a-kind-dishes. However, locals would tell

you that the best Korean food is often served at a crowded corner eatery.

(traveltips.usatoday.com/cost-food-korea-12827.html).

This research aims to present, determined, and explained the popularity of Korean

Restaurant among locals in Pampanga, in terms of its origin and success business.

Statement of the Problem

This study would seek answers to the following questions?

1. What are the main reasons behind the popularity of the Korean cuisine?

2. What are the significant factors that entice people to this Korean cuisine?

3. What are the factors behind the success of Korean restaurants?

4. In what way locals benefited from it?

5. Food

6. Nutritional Value

7. Culture and Tradition

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Objectives of the Study

To determine the factors that affects the locals to easily adopt the Korean Cuisine.

To determine who among the locals influenced the most by Koreans.

To know what is the most popular among Korean dishes here in Pampanga.

Review of Related Literature

According to Sunnie (2011), Korean food is at once a natural fit with a vegan diet and a

significant challenge. Traditionally, the Korean diet is largely vegan- rice served with banchan

that are typically made from vegetables. Food is a very important part of Korea culture, and

Koreans pay great attention to the way in which food is served. In Korean cuisine, all the dishes

are served at the same time. A typical meal normally includes rice, soup, and several side dishes,

the number of which vary. Traditionally, lower classes had three side dishes, while royal

families would have twelve. Like in neighboring China and Japan, people eat with chopsticks.

However, a spoon is used more often in Korea, especially when soups are served. Formal rules

have developed for table setting, which can vary depending on whether a noodle or meat dish is

served.

The defining aspect of Korean Food is preservation. Staples such as Kimchi, fermented

vegetables, or the three essential sauces-ganjang, doenjang, and gochjang-were necessities

during the countrys long and harsh winter. Although today many Koreans have access to

ingredients year-ground, these items remain, and are eaten on a daily basis.
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Based on the study of Wright (1980), in Korea more time is spent preparing ingredients

(chopping, slicing and marinating) than cooking.

In many cases, particularly vegetables, the ingredients are literally shown to the pan and

taken out again. The Koreans like to eat their vegetables almost raw and their meat and fish are

usually so finely sliced that these too, take very little time to cook. Korean cookery, great is

placed on very fine cutting.

This art, coupled with the decorative cutting of vegetables for garnish and fresh fruit for

pure beauty, is the first element of cuisine learned by a Korean girl. In addition to that garnishes

are used to enhance the attractiveness of a dish and stimulate ones appetite (Korean Tourism

Organization, 2008). Korean food has many different flavors, from chili-hot to delicately subtle,

but the overall impression for the new comer to the Korean table is one of the sweetness, found

in such dishes as Bulgogi and ThakTuigim Jang.

The taste of Korean food is unique, but not so remote from Western dishes which

combine sweet foods, such as fruit, with meat and poultry. The sweetness, or maybe the

satisfaction of eating Korean food maybe the reason why desserts as we know them do not

feature in a Korean meal. In fact Koreans would often eat fruit and rice cakes before a meal, and

would finish with a plate decoratively cut fruit. (Wright, 1980).

Outside influence have also shaped Korean food. Starting around 4thcentury , foods such

as rice, cabbage, pork, and beef came from China, along with Buddhism and Confucianism. The

subsequent Mongol invasion of the 13th century introduced dumplings, grilled meat dishes and
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noodle dishes to the Korean Peninsula. Trade with Europeans, beginning in the 16th century, led

to the introduction of chilles, now a Korean staple.

In more recent years, Japanese and American cuisines have come to influence Korean

Food; budaejjigaeis a unique Seoul dish the originated in the hungry years after the Korean War.

At this time, thins of ham, sausages and baked beans from American army bases, were bought on

the black market and mixed with noodles and vegetables scraps to make a meal.

In addition, if youre invited out to eat by Korean colleagues or friends, its difficult or

impossible to pay the bill or even contribute towards it. Arguing about who should have the

honour of paying the restaurant bill is a common scene at the cashiers desk.

Meals are usually eaten communally, so dishes are placed in the center of the table and diners put

a little from each common dish in their own bowl. At some traditional restaurants, customers, sit

on cushions on the floor (the ondol, and underfloor heating system, is beneath). Before stepping

up, always remove your shoes. A few other rules:

Take off your shoes in traditional restaurants where everyone sits on floor cushions.

Pour drinks for others if your notice that their glasses are empty. Its polite to use both

hands when pouring or receiving a drink. Dont pour drinks for yourself (unless youre

alone).

Ask for gawi(scissors) if youre trying to cut something and your spoon wont do it.

Place the chopsticks and spoon back in their original position at the end of the meal.

Dont start eating or finish your meal before your seniors and elders.

Dont touch food with your fingers, except when handling ssam.
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Use a spoon rather than chopsticks to eat rice.

Dont leave your chopsticks or spoon sticking up from your rice bowl.

Dont blow your nose at the table.

A traditional Korean meal typically consists of meat, seafood or fish served at the same time

as soup, rice, and a collection of dipping sauces and banchan, the ubiquitous cold side dishes.

Definition of Terms

A language is a particular kind of system for encoding and decoding information. In

trying to understand what the study is, these terminologies will identify what is the scope of the

research.

Kimchi- also spelled kimchee or gimchi, is a traditional fermented Korean side dish made of

vegetables with a variety of seasonings.

Ganjang- is a kind of Korean soy sauce made from fermented soybeans. Ganjang is a uniquely

Korean condiment.

Doenjang- bean paste, literally means thick sauce in Korean.

Gochjang- is a savory, spicy, and pungent fermented Korean condiment made from red chili,

glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, and salt.

BudaeJjigae- is a type of jjigae( a thick Korean soup similar to a Western stew).

Ondol- also called gudeul, in Korean traditional architecture, is underfloor heating which uses

direct heat transfer from wood smoke to the underside of a thick masonry floor.
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Underfloor Heating System- is a form of central heating and cooling which achieves indoor

climate control for thermal comfort using conduction, radiation and convection. The terms

radiant heating and radiant cooling are commonly used to describe this approach because radiant

is responsible for a significant portion of resulting thermal comfort but this usage is technically

correct only when radiation composes more than 50% of heat exchange between the floor and

the rest of the space.

Ssam- sometimes also transliterated as ssam, literally meaning wrapped, refers to adish in

Korean cuisine in which, usually, leafy vegetables are used to wrap a piece of meat such as pork

or other filling.

Banchan- refers to a small dishes of food served along with cooked rice in Korean cuisine. This

word is used both in the singular and plural. The word Banchan translated into English means

side dish.

Bulgogi- is a Korean dish that usually consists of grilled marinated beef.

Naengmyeon- is a Korean noodle dish of long and thin handmade noodles made from the flour

and starch of various ingredients: buckwheat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, naengmyun made with

the starch from arrowroot (darker color and chewier than buckwheat noodles), and kudzu.

Varieties with ingredients such as seaweed and green tea are available. In Korea it is a winter

dish, rarely eaten during other seasons.

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Research Paradigm

Input

1. What are the main reasons

behind the popularity of the

Process
Korean cuisine?

2. What are the significant Researchers would Output

factors that entice people to distribute a survey
Determine why Korean
this Korean cuisine? questionnaire to the
Restaurant became
3. What are the factors behind Korean Restaurant
Popular among locals in
the success of Korean to the
Pampanga
restaurants? Kapampangan

4. In what way locals Mean Rating

benefited from it?

5. Food

6. Nutritional Value

7. Culture and Tradition

Fig. 1 Research Paradigm

Schematic Diagram of the Conceptual Framework. The input discusses the statement of

the problem. The data was gathered by using a Random Sampling. The output contains the result

of the survey
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Significance of the Study

To the Koreans, since Koreans has a huge impact on the society nowadays because of

the rapidly acceptance of the society about their culture, the Koreans have given a chance by

Filipinos to introduced more about their culture, by that Koreans build different establishment

specifically restaurants in the Philippines. Here in Pampanga, Koreans are can be found

anywhere but most of them are settled in Friendship, Angeles City. Koreans choose to put up

their business in Angeles City because there are lots of Koreans decided to settling down here.

To the local government, the city gave them the privilege to have their own space called

Korean Town so that they would feel welcome and much more comfortable by that in return.

Koreans gave different job opportunities to the locals. Others visit Angeles City just to

experienced Korean Cuisine and it has an advantage in the community and also to the Korean

investors, for them they gain more profit.

To the locals, they can introduce other facilities and recreation to the visitors which lead

to high demand of man power. The community wouldlessen the unemployed. Other benefits that

the community can get to it are that individual can easily share the Filipino culture which is

being hospitable and how hard-working Filipino is. They learn the Filipino culture and in return

Filipino also learned their culture.

Koreans has a big contribution to the researchers, the researchers learn more about

Koreans not only for their food but also to Korean culture, lifestyle, fashion and etc.
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Scope and Limitations

This study would focus only on studying the impact of Korean foods to us. Since we

observe that Korean food is popular to Filipino nowadays we would gather data and information

on how Korean foods become and popular and successful business. The researchers would focus

on how Korean cuisines enlarge in our country and also why Filipino patronizing the Korean

foods and what are the reason why Filipino idolized Korean food.

Research Methodology

Research Design

The purpose of this research is to analyzed and presents why Korean Food became

popular, and to find out the reason behind its success. In this context descriptive method is the

most suitable. Descriptive research is a research design wherein events are recorded, described,

interpreted, analyzed and compared (Castillo, 2002). Its objective is to describe systematically a

situation, condition or area of interest factually and accurately. Descriptive designs include

observation, surveys, and interviews, standardized tests, and cased studies. The survey also

permitted to find out which of these factors are the most important one in a view of people.
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Participants of the Study

The participants of this research are those individual who experienced Korean dishes.

And most especially the people who are residing near the Korean town.

The respondents were selected using a Random Sampling, using the electronic

calculation/formula the sample size is 377.

The researchers would assure you to the following:

Confidentiality

This study is anonymous. We would not be collecting or retaining any information about

your identity. The records of this study would be kept strictly confidential. Research records

would be kept in a locked file, and all electronic information would be coded and secured using a

password protected file.

(If audio or video tape recordings are made, explain specifically who would have access

to them, if they would be used for educational purposes, and when they would be

erased/destroyed and indicate how they would be destroyed or erased). We would not include

any information in any report we may publish that would make it possible to identify you. The

participants identity would be disclosed in the material that is published. However, you would

be given the opportunity to review and approve any material that is published about you.
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Right to Refuse or Withdraw

The decision to participate in this study is entirely up to you. The participants may refuse

to take part in the study at any time without affecting the relationship with the investigators of

this study. The participants decision would not result in any loss or benefits to which you are

otherwise entitled. The participants have the right not to answer any single question, as well as

to withdraw completely from the interview at any point during the process; additionally, the

participants have the right to request that the interviewer not use any of your interview material.

Right to Ask Questions and Report Concerns

You have the right to ask questions about this research study and to have those questions

answered by me before, during or after the research.

Research Instruments

The researchers utilized a self-made survey using a scaling type of English questionnaire

consisting of 12 questions. According to the 5-level of Likert scaling system, the respondents

would measure why Korean Restaurant became popular among locals here in Pampanga.

Data Analysis

Significant relationships of data gathers would be establish and analyze. The consensus

and collective perception of the respondents would be reviewed preparatory to the formulation of
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the output of the study. And using Statistics used to calculate the sample size (n) given the

population size (N) and a margin of error. Its a random sampling technique formula to estimate

sampling size.

Data Gathering Procedure

The data are categorized as primary, secondary and tertiary data. Primary data are

collected by the researchers himself for its study, while secondary data comes from other

researchers for other research purposes (Sanders et.al, 2006,). Tertiary data are less detail and are

from for example dictionary, bibliographical, abstract etc. The researchers would conduct a

survey through survey questioners; through this the participants can answer the provided

questions. From that the researchers would tally the answer of the participants and have the

researchers outcome.

Results and Discussion

This chapter contains the survey presentation, analysis and interpretation of the data. The

researchers intended to determine the Popularity of Korean Restaurant in Angeles City among

Locals in Pampanga. The total number of respondents is 377 from those people who experienced

to ateKorean Food in Korean Restaurant.

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Table 1. Respondents Rating on the Questionnaire

Code Variables Mean Rating

1.1 Locals are knowledgeable about Korean Restaurant? 4

1.2 Locals wants to know how Korean foods taste? 4

1.3 Locals know where Korean restaurants located? 3

1.4 Locals know how Korean food is fused with Filipino food? 3

1.5 Locals get the idea of Korean food from Koreanovelas? 4

1.6 Locals desire to compromise Korean version cooking? 4

1.7 Locals desire to know if there is a similar dish between Korean and a 4
local dish?

1.8 Locals can still enjoy a lot of Korean food according to their taste? 4

1.9 Locals want to know if the five taste/flavors are found in a single Korean 4
dish?

2.0 Locals know in a way their social needs, ego, and self-fulfillment needs 4
are satisfied when they go to Korean restaurants?

2.1 There is a willingness of locals to taste Korean cuisine in its authentic 4

form without travelling to Korea?

3.0 What is your favorite Korean Food? 4

AVERAGE 3.82
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Male
44%

Female
56%

Fig.2 Gender Respondents

Figure 2, shows that 56% (210) of the respondents are female and 44% (167) are male.
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E, 18
A, 56

D, 64

B, 84

A.= Kimchi
C, 155
B.= Ramen
C.= Samgyeopsal
D.= Bibimbap
E.= Others

Fig. 3 Favorite Korean Food

Figure 3 result shows that C which is the Samgyeopsal is the Favorite Food of the locals

among Korean dishes.

Conclusions and Recommendations

This chapter presents the significant findings and conclusions in the study. Furthermore,

it also presents recommendations based on the aforementioned findings and conclusions.

The study answered the following questions:

1.What are the main reasons behind the popularity of the Korean cuisine?

2. What are the significant factors that entice people to this Korean cuisine?
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3. What are the factors behind the success of Korean restaurants?

4. In what way locals benefited from it?

5. Food

6. Nutritional Value

7. Culture and Tradition

Conclusions

1. It is the mass of the food they offered, when they served food it is plenty and

unlimited where locals can enjoy their food at a affordable price.

2. The factors that attract people about Korean cuisine is about the ice cream that they

served which is very tasty together with their flavorful side dishes.

3. Factors that behind the success of Korean restaurants is on how they served and how

they prepared their foods in their traditional way.

4. Locals get employment and local learned on how to prepare Korean Dishes.

5. Among locals, they prepared the samgyeopsal. They found the five flavors (salty,

sweet, spicy, bitter, and sour) in just one dish.

6. Korean cuisine is one of the healthiest foods in South East Asia. They preferred

vegan dishes and cured it without any chemicals added.

7. In Korea, they taught the young female on how to prepared foods. Including cutting,

garnishing and preserving the foods.

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Recommendations

Based on the conclusion drawn, the following recommendations are set forward:

1. For the locals, they should try other dishes of Korean aside from the usual

samgyeopsal, ramen, and kimchi. They should explore their taste buds in other dish

that are just waiting to be discovered.

2. For the Korean Restaurateur, they should promote their foods in Social Medias like

facebook, instagram, and websites, and make some fusions so that locals can

appreciate it more. Also they should introduced the other dish that can offer to the

customers.

This study could be recommended to the Department of Tourism Region-III. This could

give them an idea on how to and what to improve in the Korean Food specifically Korean

Restaurant to Korean Town. This could put up the tourism economy of the Angeles City,

Pampanga.
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References

Samac, J.R. Thesis for hrm filipino cuisines.

Retrieved from the web, February 02, 2016.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/143368553/Thesis-for-HRM-filipino-cousines#scribd

Sunnie. The vegan 8 korean.

Retrieved from the web, December 27, 2015.

https://vegan8korean.wordpress.com/about-korean-food/

Tammy Quackenbush. Korean food 101.

Retrieved from the web, December 20, 2015.

www.traveltips.usatoday.com/cost-food-korea-12827.htm

The World Book Encyclopedia.

Retrieved from the web, March 15, 2016

http:www.smith.edu

Tim Apler. Korean.net, gateway to korean.

Retrieved from the web, February 14, 2016

http://www.korea.net/News/People/View