earticle

영어

This study originates from the need to analyze how kimchi, a traditional Korean fermented food gaining global attention amid the Korean Wave and health trends, is being utilized as a global expansion strategy in the food service industry. Kimchi is being re-evaluated as a strategic asset encompassing health, culture, and sustainability, and this research aims to identify regional characteristics and trends of kimchi-based marketing strategies by focusing on the interests and responses of consumers in the digital age. The study analyzed various online texts collected from social media, reviews, and news sources worldwide between January 2022 and December 2024 using the Textom platform, visualizing frequently mentioned words and examining the relationships between co-occurring terms to understand consumer interest patterns. Unlike traditional methods such as surveys or interviews, this study attempted a new approach by analyzing real-time responses based on voluntarily posted online texts, showing that keywords such as ‘kimchi’, ‘globalization’, ‘localization’, ‘fusion cuisine’, and ‘global marketing’ were central, reflecting value-centered consumption trends. Future research should enhance methods for more sophisticated analysis of such digital text data and expand the scope of research to other Korean foods beyond kimchi to deepen strategic insights for the globalization of Korean cuisine.