Food of South Korea

Like most ethnic groups throughout the world, South Korea has developed their own food culture to suit their unique history and climate. Not only has the geographical boundaries which separate it from its neighbours impacted on the food culture of the nation, but the four dis tinct seasons have also influenced what South Koreans eat.

Koreans feel strongly that food should be harmonized with natural spices and that balanced meals during the day are good for the health. Most also think that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Because of their agricultural background and Confucian tradition, Koreans place great importance on proper table settings and table etiquette, and they have special foods for different seasons and for seasonal festivals.

A typical Korean meal called "pekpan" consists of rice, the staple of every Korean meal, soup and a great many side dishes, one of which is "kimch'i". The sweet sticky rice accompanies every meal and may be plain or seasoned. Soup is also served a lot. Other dishes include seafood, meat or poultry,vegetables, herbs and roots.

The food is arranged beautifully on the table, each person getting individual servings of all of the dishes, sometimes as many as 15-20. All of the dishes are served together and you help yourself from each dish using chopsticks or a spoon.

KIMCH'I

Because Korea has four distinct seasons, fresh vegetables are not always readily available,especially during the winter months. It is this reason that led to the development of kimch'i, which is without a doubt, the most famous of Korean cuisine. Kimch'i is a condiment that is served with every meal. Information, literature, materials, and equipment related to kimch'i from ancient times to the present is preserved and exhibited at the Myongga Kimch'i Museum.

Kimch'i is a traditional fermented vegetable dish which is the most basic side dish at every Korean meal. The fermentation of the different vegetables used, complemented by salted fish and other seasonings, gives it a unique flavour. Kimch'i can be preserved for a long time and was originally put in a clay pot and buried in the fall to allow it to ferment for use throughout the winter months. Its hot and spicey taste is said to stimulate the appetite. It is a nutritious dish, providing vitamins, lactic acid and minerals, otherwise lacking in the winter diet.

There are over 100 varieties of kimch'i. Some of the more common types are shown below.

Regional Specialties

The different regions of South Korea have certain foods that have become regional favourites. Having been the capital for over 600 years, the dishes of Seoul have become a synonym for Korean food. The abundance of food stuffs brought in from all over the country has created a remarkable variety of recipes. One of the best known and definitely one of the tastiest is pulgogi dishes. Pulgogi is very thin strips of beef marinated in soy sauce, garlic, onions, sugar, and black pepper. You can cook this dish yourself at your table using a gas fired grill (sort of like a barbeque) To eat it, you take a lettuce leaf, and onto the leaf you put a small amount of meat, rice, vegatables, some sesame leaf, etc. This is then folded up and popped into your mouth.

The Cholla-do area is famous for a number of dishes. A varied and luxurious cuisine has been developed from the sumptuous products of the fertile Honaam Plain and from the seas to the south and west. One specialty is pibimbap (rice with vegetables. Pibimbap is made by adding vegetables that have been seasoned and stir fried to rice and red pepper sauce. Typically bean sprouts are added and it is often served with a bowl of bean sprout soup on the side. Each area of Korea includes its own local products in its pibimbap, making each one unique. Tolsot (stone pot) pibimbap is served sizzling hot in a stone pot that keeps the rice and vegetables warm all the while you are eating.

Food for Special Ocassions

Korean traditional holidays have developed according to the time of the year and the seasons, under the influence of the rural agricultural life, Buddhism and Confucianism, and still have very significant meaning in the daily lives of the Korean people.

Chonwol Ch'oharu/Sollal - Lunar New Year On the first day of the new year, Koreans traditionally hold a memorial service for their ancestors, after which they perform sebae, a formal bow of respect, to their elders as a New Year's greeting. The most common food eaten on this day is ttok kuk, or rice cake soup, and it is said that one cannot become a year older if they do not eat ttok kuk on New Year's Day. These days, many people prefer ttok-mandu kuk, which is rice cake soup cooked with dumplings. Other popular foods eaten on Lunar New Year are chapch'ae (noodles with meat and vegetables), yakshik (sweet rice), pindaettok (mung bean pancakes), shik'e (rice punch), and sujonggwa (cinnamon flavoured persimmon punch).

Chonwol Taeborum - First Full Moon Day A festival that has been observed since the Shilla Kingdom, Taeborum is the day of the first full moon of the new year and is, therefore, the time to perform rites averting disasters and bad luck. The typical dishes eaten at this festival include ogok-bap (five grain rice - a mixture of steamed rice, Indian millet, red beans, millet and black beans), yakshik (sweet rice - sticky rice often mixed with chinese dates, chestnuts, honey, sesame oil and brown sugar, topped with pine nuts), mug un-namul (a combination of dried vegetables such as fern braken, radish leaves, pumpkin leaves, eggplant and mushrooms seasoned with sesame oil and various spices) and nuts. It is said that if, at dawn on Taeborum, you eat walnts, chestnuts ans peanuts whilw plraying for good health, all bad spirits will be frighneded away.

Hanshik - the 105 day after the Winter Solstice
On this day Koreans will visit the tombs of their ancestors to honour them. Ssuk T'ang or mugwort soup is the traditional dish of this ocassion.

Tano Tano is the day when the heat of summer begins and people would traditionally wash their hair and faces in water in which iris plants have been boiled. On this day, women would enjoy swinging and would compete in ssirum, Korean wrestling. Some foods typically eaten on this ocassion would be surich'i-ttok (rice cakes), chunchi-guk (fish soup), aengdu-hwachae (punch), and aheho-t'ang. The latter is a nutritious drink made from water and a mixture of special herbs, and it is said that if one drinks this every day of the summer, beginning at Tano Day, one will be less sensitive to the heat and healthier.

Sambok The thirty days of Sambok are the days immediately after the rainy season, when the temperature reaches 30-35 degrees C. Since the old days people have believed that the way to keep their bodies and minds strong during these scorching days was by eating hot foods. The most typical food eaten during Sambok is samgye-t'ang. This is a young chicken boiled with sticky rice, ginseng, Chinese dates and garlic, and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Ch'usok - Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving and the Lunar New Year are the two biggest holidays in the lives of the Korean people. Ttok (rice cakes) made with the newly harvested rice, and just-picked fruits and nuts such as persimmons, chestnuts, ans Chinese dates are used in memorial services for ancestors when Koreans visit their ancestors' graves. Special foods eaten during Ch'usok are songp'yon (cresent shaped rice cakes), freshly picked fruit, toran-t'ang (taro soup)and song-i (mushrooms).

Tongji - Winter Solstice The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year. On Tongji, Koreans eat p'at-chuk (red bean porridge with rice balls in it). By eating this, including one rice ball for each year of your age, you will become one year older. Since ancient times it was believed that red beans prevent ill luck and it is tlherefore used to drive off bad sports so that the days will become longer again.