[Column] 'Jeonjjigae and Subaknamul'... Let's Restore the Muscle of Food Upcycling

Rediscovery of Food Waste
Discarded Ingredients Reborn as New Food
Jeonjjigae, a Representative Dish with Ancestral Wisdom
Food Upcycling Industry Must Expand

Cookies made from oat pulp left after extracting oat milk (Renewal Mill, USA), pasta made using beer pulp leftover from brewing beer (Aggrain, Denmark), and gin produced from distiller’s grains remaining after sake production (Riverside Distillery, Japan) all share one thing in common: they were created through 'food upcycling.' Food upcycling is the concept of turning food by-products or imperfect ingredients that are difficult to sell back into edible products, emerging as the most efficient solution to food waste.

Although the term may be unfamiliar, it is not a completely unknown story to us. After Chuseok, there is a nostalgic dish that my father always made: 'Jeon jjigae' (pancake stew). It is made by boiling a rich anchovy broth, adding plenty of red pepper powder, and then adding buchu jeon (chive pancakes), known as 'jeongguji jjijim' in Gyeongsang Province, along with fish pancakes. Sweating while sipping the spicy, thick broth would instantly relieve the heaviness caused by greasy foods. Jeon jjigae might be the oldest food upcycling experience I have had. It saved pancakes that had been frozen for a long time and were about to be thrown into a food waste processor, making it no different from food upcycling.

However, awareness of food by-product recycling systems is low, with 8 out of 10 Korean consumers responding that they do not know about food upcycling. Negative perceptions of food made from food waste also persist. For this reason, I visited New York, Copenhagen, and Tokyo, cities pioneering the food upcycling market. Everyone I met during the coverage, including Amanda Oenbring, CEO of the Upcycled Food Association (UFA) in the USA, agreed that food upcycling is not a choice but a necessity in the era of global warming.

More than 1.3 billion tons, over 30% of the world’s annual agricultural harvest, is discarded. The situation in Korea is also serious. Daily food waste amounts to 17,805 tons, enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool (50m long, 25m wide, 2m high, 2,500㎥) seven times over. Since 10% of global greenhouse gases come from the food waste disposal process, this is a critical issue. As food waste becomes a boomerang that harms humans through abnormal climate phenomena, developed countries have begun incorporating food upcycling into daily life. In fact, related products were easily found in large supermarkets in New York.

Unfortunately, the Korean market is still in its infancy. Only a few players such as the startup ReHarvest, CJ CheilJedang, OB Beer, and Samsung Welstory have entered the field. The fortunate thing is that, as seen with jeon jjigae, we have a hidden food upcycling muscle. Although we did not know the term, our ancestors already knew how to eat without waste, and if we have the will, we can strengthen that muscle again. This is why a comment was posted on an article about the American startup Rind, which makes snacks from watermelon rinds:

"Our people, who ate all the watermelon and then julienned the leftover rind to make seasoned vegetable side dishes, are the original food upcyclers."

Especially in Korea, food upcycling is inevitable more than in any other country. Korea’s food self-sufficiency rate was 45.8% (as of 2020), placing it among the lowest groups in the OECD countries. The small land area also makes it difficult to handle discarded food by-products. For the continued globalization of K-food, food upcycling must be a top priority. CJ CheilJedang’s 'Crispy Chips' made from broken rice, though in small quantities, have even expanded to the USA and Australia. Food upcycling will be a new opportunity for both the environment and businesses.