Grace Kim 26 April 2009 Objective Beyond Kimchi is an informative, non-profit, user-friendly website about the world of Korean cooking. It strives to serve as an introduction to the myriad of dishes that exist within Korean cuisine as well as present simple recipes for popular Korean dishes. The website will feature descriptions of dishes, recipes, step-by-step recipes accompanied by photographs for three of the most popular dishes, and interviews with Koreans about their memories of Korean cooking. Descriptions and recipes will be presented in an accessible and appealing manner, while pictures will add aesthetic appeal, making Beyond Kimchi an educational yet enjoyable website. Target Market Although anyone with any level of interest in Korean food will find Beyond Kimchi an interesting website to explore, the site specifically targets two types of people: Korean Americans who are familiar with Korean cuisine and want to learn how to cook Korean food and people who are completely new to Korean food but want to learn more about it and perhaps try their hand at a few easy recipes. Korean Americans will most likely not utilize the "Meet the Dishes" section of this website since they will already have previous knowledge of the various dishes within Korean cuisine. The main benefit that Beyond Kimchi will provide for Korean Americans is the recipes. From firsthand experience, I know that Korean cooking can be frustratingly mysterious in that measurements are vague and variations are numerous. Beyond Kimchi will remedy these problems by providing an unintimidating starting point for Korean American cooks. For those who are entirely new to Korean food and have perhaps eaten at one or two Korean restaurants and enjoyed the food they tasted, Beyond Kimchi allows them to explore the wide variety of dishes available within Korean cuisine. People are familiar with kimchi and Korean barbeque, but little do they know that they've discovered nothing more than the mere tip of the iceberg! Beyond Kimchi provides the opportunity to delve deeper into Korean cooking and discover a unique cuisine. Competition A simple Google search for "Korean food" or "Korean recipes" turns up countless websites that provide extensive lists of recipes and dish descriptions. However, many of these websites have so much information that it becomes difficult and overwhelming for beginners who don't know where to start. Although Beyond Kimchi's recipe index may not be as extensive, this website provides a solid, user-friendly, approachable introduction to recipes for some of the most common dishes that lie at the heart of traditional Korean cooking. The emphasis of the recipes is simplicity and ease. In addition, Beyond Kimchi provides something that very few other websites offer: reflections, experiences, and memories of Korean cooking from first-hand interviews. Features & Organization The website will be divided into the following sections found in the Navigation side bar:
The Home page will introduce the reader to Beyond Kimchi's purpose and offered resources. Meet the Dishes will provide a description of each dish so that the reader may become familiar with the ingredients, cooking methods, and special cultural significance (if any) of each dish. The reader will be able to click a link to the corresponding recipe from the dish's description page. The Ingredients section will describe the cooking ingredients unique to Korean cooking, thereby making Korean cuisine less intimidating and foreign while familiarizing the reader with unique elements of Korean cooking. The Recipes page will contain links to simple, easy recipes for common Korean dishes in convenient American units. Step-by-step recipes with photos will be provided for three of the most popular and famous Korean dishes: Doenjang jjigae, Kalbi, and Bibimbap. Memories of Korean Cooking will feature interviews with several Koreans about their memories and experiences with Korean cooking. This section will emphasize the importance and centrality of food to Korean culture and social life by providing a glimpse of the memories associated with Korean food. Finally, the Works Cited page will provide links to sources from my research that the reader can click on if he/she wants to explore further. Implementation Plan I will implement Beyond Kimchi. Implementation entails researching and comparing various recipes for common Korean dishes. To do this, I will consult multiple online sources, Korean cookbooks, and (best of all) traditional Korean cooks in my family. Then I will post the recipe that produces the best results with the least amount of effort. As for the dish descriptions, I will research and compile knowledge from Internet sources and book sources to provide the most accurate representations of dishes, since quite a few variations of one dish may exist. I will also interview a few relatives and/or friends to create the Memories of Korean Cooking page. Over time, I will edit recipes when I discover new tips or changes that improve upon the original. Projected Start-Up and Operational Costs Beyond Kimchi will run through Google sites, which is a free service. The main cost is my time as I conduct the initial research necessary to compile recipes and information to provide on my website and edit the recipes over time. If the website expands enough to require it, I may want to hire another individual who is more skilled with web design (perhaps my brother) to help improve the visual and design aspects of Beyond Kimchi. Financing Model Although Beyond Kimchi neither needs money to operate nor aims to produce profit, there exist several methods by which the website could potentially make money. It could use Google ads to obtain profit from those people who visit the website on a pay-per-click basis. But this would not be a large source of revenue, especially in the beginning before the website has gained popularity, because according to Wikipedia, the current click-through rate for banner ads is significantly less than 1%. As another potential source of funding, Beyond Kimchi could offer links to Korean restaurants, Korean markets, or cooking supply stores and receive a portion of the profit whenever a reader clicked through to those websites via Beyond Kimchi. Also, especially if it were to become more popular and acquired a wide audience, Beyond Kimchi could display advertisements for various Korean markets or restaurants and charge them a fee in order to display their ads on the website. Potential Problems If I post recipes that are originally found within published Korean cookbooks, there may be some legal issues since people would essentially be able to obtain the same recipes without paying for the book. Also, readers may dismiss the recipe collection as too limited in the website's attempt to make Korean cooking simpler and more approachable. In addition, those who are new to Korean cooking may be reluctant to try the more unique dishes within Korean cooking or may simply stick to the dishes that they've heard of or have tried in a Korean restaurant instead of exploring new options and recipes. Back to Assignments. |