Embracing the Funk: Celebrating Authenticity and Nation at the New Malden Kimjang Festival in 2021

In this article, I explore the ways that authenticity and diasporic “Koreanness” were performed at a “kimjang” festival in New Malden, Surrey, a suburb of London, held in November 2021. The event provided an opportunity to display authentic kimchi and by association, determine an authentic Koreanness in the UK. I focus on how kimchi and kimjang at this event were constructed as authentic by the cultural organizers, analyzing events on the day and some of the promotional materials used. The findings of this paper show that claims to an authentic Koreanness at this cultural event do the work of performing ethnic difference that is valorized as a form of multicultural celebration. It is also used to construct a diasporic Koreanness that primarily reflects the interests of the majority South Korean ethnic group in New Malden.