SEOUL — China’s efforts to win an international certification for “pao cai,” a pickled vegetable dish from Sichuan, is turning into a social media showdown between Chinese and South Korean netizens over the origin of “kimchi,” a staple Korean cuisine made of cabbage.
Beijing recently won a certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for pao cai, an achievement the state-run Global Times reported as “an international standard for the kimchi industry led by China.”
South Korean media was fast to dispute such a claim and accused the bigger neighbor of trying to make kimchi a type of China-made pao cai.
The episode triggered anger on South Korea…
Keep on reading: Korea, China feud: ‘kimchi’ or ‘pao cai’?