Korean Jang Culture Inscribed on UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List

Intangible Heritage Committee Highlights Culture of Sharing Food Together
"Creating Community Peace and Belonging Through Collective Actions"
Korea Holds 23 Items of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

Korea's jang (fermented sauce) culture, boasting a long history, has been inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (Intangible Heritage Committee) decided on the 3rd (local time) at a meeting held in Asuncion, Paraguay, to inscribe jang-making on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The official title is “Knowledge, beliefs and practices related to jang-making in the Republic of Korea.”

The committee noted that the culture of making and sharing doenjang (soybean paste), ganjang (soy sauce), and other sauces played a significant role in maintaining communities. It evaluated that “jang reflects family identity and promotes solidarity among family members,” and “through collective practices, it fosters peace and a sense of belonging within the community.”

Jang is a fundamental seasoning that has been responsible for Korean dining tables. It is classified in various ways depending on fermentation, aging, and usage, with doenjang, ganjang, and gochujang (red chili paste) being the most widely known. The culture of jang-making encompasses not only the food itself but also the knowledge, beliefs, and skills passed down through the processes of preparing various ingredients, making, managing, and utilizing it.

The culture of fermenting soybeans also exists in countries like China and Japan. However, Korean jang differs significantly in its production methods, including soybean cultivation, meju (fermented soybean blocks) making, jang-making, jang dividing, aging, and fermentation. Particularly, the practice of making two types of jang?doenjang and ganjang?after fermenting meju, and adding new jang to the leftover seed ganjang from the previous year, is regarded as a unique cultural tradition.

Korea’s jang culture is also known as the “aesthetics of waiting.” This is because it takes at least three months to make meju by boiling and mashing soybeans, shaping them into blocks of a certain size, tying them with rice straw, and fermenting and drying them at an appropriate temperature. It can take several years for the rich flavor to develop.

Choi Eung-cheon, Commissioner of the Cultural Heritage Administration, emphasized, “Jang-making embodies the family history and traditions passed down within households and is a heritage rooted in the daily culture of Koreans.” He added, “Although it has played the most significant role in Korean food culture, its value has been overlooked due to the perception of it as a common everyday food. We hope this recognition will be an opportunity to take pride in and cherish our culture.”

With this inscription, Korea now holds twenty-three items on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Starting with “Jongmyo Jerye and Jongmyo Jeryeak (2001),” Korea has possessed twenty-two items on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, including “Korean Mask Dance” inscribed in 2022.

UNESCO operates the Intangible Cultural Heritage system to raise awareness of the importance of intangible heritage, which is a source of cultural diversity, and to promote national and international cooperation and support for its safeguarding. Korea plans to apply for the inscription of “Traditional knowledge, skills, and cultural practices of Hanji papermaking” in 2026.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.