Appearance and Diffusion of Aguijjim (아귀찜)
This study was conducted to track the appearance of Aguijjim and its popularity on the national level. Furthermore, changes in the monkfish recipe and how they impacted the consumption of monkfish were investigated. It is assumed that monkfish was consumed by Japanese in Korea during the Japanese colonial era. After liberation, people cooked the fish as soup. In the 1960s, Aguijjim was invented in Masan. There is great controversy regarding how the dish was born. It has been asserted that it was created by one specific person, that refugees with insufficient food developed, and that it is just an advancement of Bugeojjim. Aguijjim restaurants began to appear in Seoul in the 1970s, and in the 1990s streets full of Aguijjim restaurants formed. Moreover, popular music and literature referenced Aguijjim in the late 1990s. As Aguijjim has developed and the formation of Aguijjim street have combined, the consumption of monkfish has increased drastically, leading to its import. As cooking methods have transformed, the fish with the unpleasant look which was thrown out in the past, have dramatically gained public interest. ‘Masan Aguijjim’ became an independent brand that represents a local food that has also been nationalized in a short amount of time.