Jongka, the traditional Korean family: Exploring jongka food in the context of Korean food categories

Background: Jongka food is the implementation of banka food in jongka, where in banka food stems from royal cuisine that has been passed on to yangban (nobleman) family. Jongka food is historically passed down, and connects different time periods between generations in the same spatial context of jongka, is a traditional Korean family system, where the eldest sons have kept their family lineage alive through generations dating over 400 years since the mid-Chosun era. Jongka bulcheonwi stems from Korea; however, its Confucian ceremonial culture now only remains in Korea. Methods: This study examines the concept and formation process of jongka, and introduces everyday family food, as well as old cookbooks that contain their recipes. The bulcheonwi ceremony table-setting and ancestral ritual food, as seen in actual jongka sites, are also described. Results: This study has examined 6 types of food in six different jongka houses, passed down through jongbu, were analyzed. Thus, the importance of discovering more jongka food, and recording such findings, is emphasized. Moreover, the bulcheonwi ancestral ritual food table setting through three-dimensional maps and a layout plan from two jongka ispresented. Pyeon (䭏) and jeok (炙), which are parts of ancestral ritual food, and carry different meanings for different families, were introduced, presenting examples from four jongka. Moreover, existing literature was assessed to identify the sources of jeok building principles and theoretical backgrounds. Conclusion: Jongson and jongbu have protected the jongtaek (noble house), and inherited their family’s foods by living by bongjesa (奉祭祀) and jeopbinkaek (接賓客). It is important to continuously discover and record of jongka and ancestral ritual foods used in bulcheonwi. This study aims to allow society to perceive jongka as a unique Korean cultural heritage that all of society protects and shares, instead of regarding them as families with old histories. (For further clarification on the terms mentioned in this article, please see “Supplementary file”.) Keywords: Ancestral ritual food, Bulcheonwi, Category, Jongka, Jongka food, Korean foo