Iin Rachmawati, Pratiwi Retnaningdyah, Widyastuti
In the backdrop of the Joseon royal court, this study looks at how food is portrayed in the Korean drama Bon Appétit, Your Majesty (2025) as a cultural, emotional, and political discourse. The story, set exclusively in the palace kitchen, turns food into a symbol of strength, allegiance, and emotional expression. This study views the culinary practices in the drama as symbolic performances that represent Confucian principles, hierarchical order, and the complex politics of serving the sovereign, drawing on affect theory and food studies. The study examines pivotal moments in which cooks vie to appease the King, resolve diplomatic disputes, and demonstrate loyalty via their art using qualitative textual and visual analysis. The results show that food functions as both affective work and political ritual, uniting power, discipline, and emotion in a single sensory language. In the end, Bon Appétit, Your Majesty depicts the royal kitchen as a microcosm of power, where the cuisine's flavor represents the Joseon world's moral, emotional, and cultural fabric. © 2026, University of Hawaii Press. All rights reserved.
Universitas Negeri Surabaya, Indonesia; STKIP PGRI Bangkalan, Indonesia
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