When the Oxygen Mask Becomes Excess: The Ethics of Cultural Preservation and Haenyeo Kitchen’s Food Ecology

This article examines the ethical tensions of cultural preservation through Haenyeo Kitchen, an immersive dining performance centered on Jeju’s haenyeo, or “sea women.” While UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage designation has amplified global interest in haenyeo, their profession—rooted in ecological knowledge and extreme bodily risk—faces romanticization and commodification. Haenyeo Kitchenforegrounds the interwoven dynamics of mortality, embodied labor, and communal exchange, positioning food as a medium that facilitates both witnessing and participation. The performance generates an affective explosion, transforming the space into one of heightened emotional and sensory engagement. Drawing on Diana Taylor’s critique of archiving live practices, this article argues that resisting the fixation of cultural heritage requires engaging with its living conditions, including its economic realities. Haenyeo Kitchenenacts this through collective affect, participation, and direct interaction, sustaining haenyeoas cultural and economic agents.