- Overview
-
From the globalization of food to the birth of future food—a liberal arts book navigating through a world that is connected by food.
- Book Intro
-
(English) Is Chicken Always Right?
Food is the most basic resource for survival, the symbol and identity of a culture, a major industry in the economic structure, and more importantly, a crucial part of our lives. Woorischool’s new release, Is Chicken Always Right? explores the world and humanity through the food that Korean teenagers love the most—chicken, pizza, burgers, cola, instant noodles, jjajangmyeon, noodles, beef, curry, salmon, mango, and chocolate. These 12 beloved food items allow readers to both taste and feel interesting topics encompassing history, the economy, society, the environment, ecology, animal rights, and the capital flows of big food companies. The journalists-turned-writers who have spent their careers out in the field delivering a variety of social news, will here introduce the hidden truths and key controversies around the world through food. How did they end up on our table? How were they first made, and how did they begin to take up such an important part of our lives? What are the histories or stories behind them? This book selects the foods that Korean teenagers love in particular, to delve into the social/cultural/economic contexts and issues. It also touches upon current food-related problems as well as the global effort to tackle them for a better future. These delicious and amusing stories of food will guide us into the world today.
The book covers a series of critical but interesting topics in regard to the future: the reality of industrialized livestock production and tasks that ensue; the relationship between huge capital and the food industry; the deepening globalization and stratification on our table; food created by war; the significance of staples; changes caused by the climate crisis and global warming; issues generated by salmon farming and the accelerated pollution of the marine ecosystem; reasons behind the frequent breakouts of bird flu and swine flu; the meaning of traditional food and cultural identity; the reality of poor countries that have become the greenhouse of rich countries and victims of “stolen land”; ocean plunder; the importance of the organic movement; the truth about junk food and processed food; the need for and creation of meat substitutes and cultured meat; and the establishment of seed vaults for future generations. The book also includes over 80 vivid and lively visual aids and references which allow an at-a-glance view of important socio-scientific issues.
- About the Author
-
Oh Aeri
(English) Oh has worked as a newspaper journalist and is currently a writer and translator. As a child, she was a film buff who loved watching movies over playing with dolls. She is a coffee addict who swears that her bloodstream courses with caffeine instead of blood. Realizing that food and culture meet at a crossroads, Oh wrote the book Is Fried Chicken Always the Way to Go? Her translated works include Michael Moore's Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life and Noam Chomsky's The Conquest Continues.
Gu Jeongeun
(English) With her long experience working as a journalist for the Kyunghyang Daily newspaper, author Gu Jeongeun wrote Disappeared, Discarded, Left Behind, and co-wrote World History in 10 Years – the Second Future, and Teen Science: Smart Technology.
Lee Jiseon
(English) Lee has worked at a newspaper for 18 years, and since 2021, has been at Trevery, a book club start-up. Her works include Digital Native Story, The Second Future of World History 10 Years Later, Teenagers Out in Science: Smart Technology, and Is Fried Chicken Always the Way to Go?
