Food

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Korean cuisine is the traditional food of Koreans in Korea and overseas. From the complex ritual of Korean royal court cuisine to the food of the inland cities like Seoul and the port cities like Incheon and Busan, the cuisine is varied, fascinating, and becoming internationally popular. Korean cuisine has been widely eaten in northeast China for decades, though its popularity seems to be fading.

As had by most Koreans, it is based largely on rice, vegetables, fish, seaweed and tofu (dubu in Korean). Typical Korean meals are named for the number of side dishes (banchan) that accompany the ubiquitous rice, soup, and kimchi (fermented and spiced side dishes). Every meal is accompanied by three, five, or up to twelve complementary side dishes which are essential to consume a rather bland tasting bowl of rice, depending upon the circumstances.

Korean food derives its flavors and tastes from various combinations of sesame oil, soybean paste, soy sauce, salt, garlic, ginger and, most importantly, ground hot chili peppers, which gives its distinctive spicy tastes. In fact, Korea is the largest consumer of garlic -- beating out Italy. The cuisine varies seasonally, and relies much on pickled vegetables which are preserved traditionally at the outside court area of the houses in big ceramic containers (usually in the winter time) that required a very labour-intensive preparation efforts even for the simplest kimchi.

In contrast, Korean "Royal" cuisines, once only enjoyed by Royal Court Family Members and the yangban, scholarly or upper classes of the Joseon Dynasty, are served in luxury and took hours and days to prepare. They comprise a unique blend of warm and cold, hot, and mild ingredients that seek to harmonize rough and soft bite textures of the material with a range of solid and liquid foods, and are often served on hand-forged "bronze" made of copper plates. The foods are served with a specifically sequenced arrangement of small dishes alternating to highlight the shape and colour of the various health enhancing (mostly of vegetables and fish) well being dishes.

Some of these traditional "royal" cuisines, which can cost as much as US$250 per person without drinks, include serving by exclusive waiters and can be found at high-end restaurants in select locations within the city of Seoul. Royal cuisines have recently been given a boost in popularity, thanks to Dae Jang Geum, a television drama program which highlighted the life and success story of the female who is becoming the imperial chef and eventually becoming the highest court appointed oriental medical officer, in Yi Dynasty of Korea, overcoming of all odds and hardships. The show was very popular in Hong Kong and in other parts of Asia including the mainland China and has created an increased interest in Korean foods in general as well as the Royal Cusines of the past.

There is also the Korean tea ceremony.

Image:250px-Bibimbap.jpg
Bibimbap with banchan

Contents

Traditional Korean table settings

Koreans have traditionally eaten (and many still do eat) seated on cushions at low tables with their legs crossed in a modified "lotus position". Westerners may be provided with extra cushions, or floorchairs with backs. Many select Korean restaurants now provide both.

Meals are eaten with a set of stainless steel chopsticks and a long-handled shallow spoon, together known as sujeo in Korean.

The presentation of a Korean meal is almost as important as the taste. A typical table setting consists of:

  • a bowl of rice for each person, either made of stainless steel or ceramic china, usually with a cover to keep the rice warm (front and far left of the diner)
  • a small bowl of warm or hot soup for each person (or a large, shared pot of soup, depending on the number of diners)
  • a set of stainless steel chopsticks for eating the side dishes (front and far right of the diner)
  • a large personal long-handled shallow spoon for rice and soup
  • various small bowls of shared bite-sized complementary side dishes (banchan)

Traditional Korean foods and dishes

Banchan dishes are intended to be finished at each meal, so are given in small portions and replenished as they are emptied. Many Korean banchan rely on fermentations for flavors and for its preservations for a long period of time to be consumed that are usually quite salty at times. For example, during Kimjang season, Koreans used to make a large amount of kimchi to last for the entire winter season and to the next spring. However, as commercially-made kimchi is available and most urban households have refrigerators, those practices nowadays are less common. Certain regions are especially associated with some dishes (for example, the city of Jeonju with Bibimbap) either as a place of origin or for a famous regional variety. Restaurants will often use these famous names on their signs and/or menus (compare Chicago-style pizza). Where this is the case, the regional name will be prefixed to the name of the dish (as in Jeonju bibimbap/전주비빔밥).

(Note that English spellings of Korean words may vary; see Korean romanization.)

Basics

  • Dwenjang (or Doenjang, 된장) fermented soybean paste. More pungent than Japanese miso soup.
  • Gochujang (고추장) (hot chili pepper paste) is an indispensable condiment.
  • Kimchi (or Kimchee, 김치) - vegetables (usually cabbage, white radish, or cucumber) which are commonly fermented in a brine of ginger, garlic, green onion and chili pepper. There are infinite varieties (at least as many as there are households), which are served as side dishes.

Other popular Korean foods

  • Gimbap (or kimbap, 김밥) (literally rolled seaweed rice) - A Korean dish consisting of rice and strips of vegetables, egg, and meat, rolled in a laver (seaweed) and sliced into bite-sized pieces. This is a popular snack or lunch, the ingredients are various vegetables and tiny chopped meats. Kimbap looks like Japanese maki sushi, but the taste is quite different, as the rice is not seasoned like sushi rice.
  • Mandu (만두) - A dumpling typically filled with pork or beef, vegetables, special noodles, tofu and kimchi. These can be prepared boiled, pan-fried, or steamed.
  • Pajeon (파전) - is similar to a pancake or omelette made mostly of eggs and flour, and contains added ingredients such as green onion, oysters, or fresh baby clams cooked on frying pans.
  • Bindaeddeok (빈대떡)- a pancake like dish made of mung bean flour, with added ingredients like green onion, kimchi, or peppers also cooked on frying pans.

Main meat dishes

At traditional restaurants, meats are cooked at the center of the table over a charcoal grill, surrounded by various banchan and individual rice bowls. The cooked meat is then cut into small pieces and wrapped with fresh lettuce leaves, with rice, thin slice of garlic, ssamjang (mixture of gochujang and dwenjang), and other seasoning.

  • Bulgogi (불고기) - thinly sliced beef marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, sugar and chili pepper, cooked on a grill at the table. Bulgogi literally means "fire beef." Variations include pork (Dweji bulgogi), chicken (Dak bulgogi), or calimari (Ojingeo bulgogi).
  • Galbi (갈비) - ribs either pork or beef, cooked on a metal plate over charcoal in the centre of the table. The meat is sliced thicker than bulgogi. It is often called "Korean BBQ."
  • Samgyeopsal (삼겹살) - Unseasoned pork bacon cut from the belly, served in the same fashion as galbi. Sometimes cooked on a grill with kimchee troughs at either side. Commonly grilled with garlic and onions, dipped in ssamjjang and wrapped in lettuce leaves.
  • Hoe \hweh\ (회) is a raw seafood dish dipped in gochujang sauce, served with lettuce or sesame leaves.

Soups and stews

  • Doenjang-jjigae (된장찌개): This common spicy soybean paste soup is often served alongside rice with a main course like kalbi but is also a common lunch or dinner. Usually, it contains a variety of vegetables and several shellfish including small mussels, shrimp and/or large anchovies.
  • Kimchi-jjigae (김치찌개) (Kimchi with spicy soybean paste in a soup) is a very common lunch accompanying Kimpap and also a side dish served when you order rice with a kalbi or a samgyeopsal main course. It is normally served in a stone pot and is still boiling when it arrives at your table.
  • Sundubu-jjigae - A thick stew made with sundubu (soft tofu).
  • Gamjatang (감자탕) (literally potato soup) Spicy soup with pig spine, vegetables (especially potatoes) and hot peppers. The vertebrae are usually separated so that serving and eating this dish is not too much of a challenge. This is more often a late night snack but is also favored by many for a lunch or a late dinner.
  • Samgyetang (삼계탕)

Mixed rice

  • Bibimbap (비빔밥) (literally meaning mixed rice or mixed meal) - rice topped with vegetables, beef and egg, and served with a dollop of chili pepper paste. A variation of this dish, dolsot bibimbap(돌솥 비빔밥), is served in a heated stone bowl, in which a raw egg is cooked against the sides of the bowl. 육회(비빔밥) variously romanised as Yukhoe, yuk-hoe, yuk hoe, Yuk'oe, Yuk-hae, Yuk Hwea, Yuk Whe but often plain "yuke" is a popular version, comprising raw beef strips with raw egg and a dash of soy sauce mixed with Asian pear and 고추장 (gochujang - Red pepper paste). Everything (seasonings, rice and vegetables) is stirred together in one large bowl and eaten with a spoon.
  • Hoedeopbap \hweh-dup-bahp\ (회덮밥) - Cubed raw fish mixed with fresh vegetables and rice and gochujang.

Noodles

  • Naengmyeon (냉면 (N: 랭면 Raengmyŏn); 冷麵) (literally cold noodles) - this summer dish consists of several varieties of thin, hand-made buckwheat noodles, and is served in a large bowl with a tangy iced broth, raw julienned vegetables, and often a boiled egg and/or cold beef.
  • Japchae (or Chapchae, 잡채)
  • Jjajangmyeon (짜장면)


  • kongguksoo{콩국수} bean noodle - nutty taste (like cream spaghetti )


Side dishes

  • Musaengchae (무생채) - This "radish salad" dish is a combination of shredded radish and other ingredients.
  • Kongnamul muchim (콩나물무침) - A vibrant bean sprout dish.



Desserts

  • Songpyeon (송편) - Hollow rice cake served at Chuseok (Mid-Autumn Festival) decorated with sesames, soybeans, and chestnuts. Honey or another soft, sweet material is found inside.

Korean liquors, wines, and beer

While Soju (소주), a vodka-like rice liquor with high potency, and often flavoured similarly, is the best known liquor; and Majuang wine (a blended wine of Korean grapes with French or American zipcode wines) the most popular, there are well over 100 different wines and liquors available.

Famous Korean beers (lager) include: OB lager beer which adds rice to the grain base; and is also available as a dry beer. As well as micro-brewery beers from:

A wine museum in Jeonju is one of the best places to learn of the natural ways in which these wines are made.

Soju was originally made from grains, and now from sweet potatoes. The grain made soju is considered superior as in the case of grain vs. potato vodka. Soju is a favourite of college students, and hard-drinking businessmen.

Yakju is a refined pure liquor fermented from rice, with the best known being cheongju.

Takju is a thick unrefined liquor made from grains, with the best known being makgeolli, a white, milky rice wine traditionally drunk by farmers.

Korean wines have a separate entry, and are generally divided into fruit wines, and herbal wines. Acacia, maesil plum, Chinese quince, cherry, pine fruits, and pomegranate are most popular; and ginseng based medicinal wines, insamju are often diluted and sold to the west as energy drinks equivalent to Red Bull.

Alcohol is generally consumed in three ways: at meals, at banquets, and in western style bars.

Juansang - Alcohol drinks (ju) and accompanying side dishes (an) are set on the table. The dishes vary depending on the kinds of liquor or wine.

Gyojasang is a large table prepared for banquets. Alcohol beverages and a large variety of side dishes, rice cakes, confectionaries, and fruit punch are all placed on the table. After the liquor is finished, noodle soup is served.

Korean snacks

Accompanying the Korean tea ceremony there are often rice snacks served alongside the tea. The wide range and complexity of Korean snacks requires its own entry.

Contemporary innovations

Fusion food is also rapidly becoming popular in South Korea, fusing the cuisine of two or more ethnicities into new creations. There are many "Chinese fusion", "northern Italian fusion", "French", and "Indian fusion" restaurants all over South Korea.

Vegetarian restaurants, which were sidelined with the decline of Buddhism and advance of missionary Christianity, have had a small resurgence, and can usually be found in every city, and are to be noted in the Lonely Planet travel guides in the next edition.

While in Korea many years ago, Prince Charles, as have most visiting western rock stars and vegetarian actors have, enjoyed typically vegan Korean dishes, and de-alcoholized pine flavoured wines.

Traditional Korean table etiquettes

Although there is no prescribed order for eating the many dishes served at a traditional Korean meal, many Koreans start with a small portion of soup before eating the other dishes in any order they wish. Unlike other chopstick nations, Koreans do not eat rice with chopsticks only but use sujeo a combination of a long shallow spoon and oval-shaped chopsticks (similar to Thai chopsticks) at formal or public meals. Koreans never pick up their rice or soup bowls but leave both on the table and eat from them with spoons. Side dishes, however, are eaten with chopsticks.

Bad manners include blowing one's nose at the table (considered the rudest of acts), picking up chopstick or spoon before the oldest person starts the meal, chewing with an open mouth, talking with food in one's mouth, making audible eating noises, sticking chopsticks or spoon straight up in a dish, picking up food with one's hands (with certain exceptions), and overeating. In informal situations, these rules are often broken.

At the Korean table, each person is served an individual portion of rice and soup (guk); while several side and main dishes are arranged for everyone to share. One kind of soup is called jjigae, which is thicker than guk; it is shared at the centre of the table. Korean dining was not traditionally based on individual servings, and placed an emphasis on sharing, but this custom is changing.

Though people do not need to finish all the shared food that was provided, it is customary to finish one's individual portion of rice. When a person leaves uneaten rice, he or she may be regarded as rude. If one is unable to eat all of one's rice, one should start with lesser portion of rice. Accordingly, it is usually perfectly acceptable to ask for refills on any of the side dishes, since all traditional Korean restaurants are, in this sense, "all you can eat."

Controversies

In some Asian cultures, including China and most of Southeast Asia, dog meat is sometimes regarded as a particularly energy-enhancing food. Although many Koreans regard dogs as pets, 보신당 bosintang (spicy stew with a particular breed of dog meat) is sought out by some diners (usually men) - both Korean and foreign - as a special summer dish available at specialty restaurants. Dog soup is said to bring "stamina" to the eater.

See Also

External links

  • Introduction to Korean Food
  • ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal
  • KoreanKitchen.com
  • maryeats
  • Korean Recipes on CookBookWiki.com
  • Official site of Korea National Tourism List of Korean Food
  • Korean Food Fanlisting
  • 5 Star Dreams Korean Recipes
  • (Korean) Listing of average calorie contents for common foods


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