Advertisement
Published: September 14th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Rice Cake
It's sweet. The whitish part is the rice. Then there are red beans and dried fruit and some nuts, I think. It was very filling. When you think about Korean food, one of three things probably happens: you imagine a table full of kimchi; you almost retch at the thought of dog meat; or you have an absolutely blank mind because you have no idea what they eat (but you’re pretty sure they use chopsticks, right?). So I thought I would describe the most common or typical foods we here in Korea eat. Even though I’ve been here about 7 months now, I often discover things I have never seen or heard of before.
Let me tell you about Korean food in general. First, there is some saying in Korean about how Koreans can never go one day without eating kimchi. Kimchi, by the way, is a style of vegetables that almost always have hot pepper paste on them. Usually they are also fermented. The most well-known and popular kimchi is cabbage kimchi, but there are tons of different kinds—radish, cucumber, and many that I don’t know the names for.
As important as kimchi is, I think Koreans really place more importance on rice. Maybe sometimes there is a meal without kimchi, but there is hardly ever a meal without rice. Sometimes, they add
Sea Squirts
I think this is what they're called. Definitely one of the worst things I've eaten since coming here. I ate it just before the live squid and the live squid was more easily swallowed. different things in, which turns it pinkish or a bit gray. And it’s not only rice in its well-known white grain way. They also make tteok, which is rice made into a paste and pressed into a tube, and ends up being very chewy. This is put into soups and sauces. There is brown rice tea also. I can’t forget to mention rice cakes either. These are sweet and have beans, nuts, seeds, or any number of surprising things in them. They are also usually really chewy.
Koreans also love seafood. There are fish tanks along many streets in Korea, but they are to advertise for restaurants, not really to gawk at. Customers know their fish is fresh, I guess. You don’t only see regular-looking fish. You see eels, sea squirts, and a lot of creatures I don’t know the names of. Octopus and squid are pretty common as well. Essentially, I would guess any kind of seafood you want, possibly with the exception of lobster, would be easy to get here.
Despite Korea having a Buddhist history, and many Buddhists still living here, most people seem not to be vegetarian. Some of my best (foreign) friends here
Variety of Seafood
At a market in Tongyeong are vegetarians, and it is very difficult for them to find meals with no meat products. Evidence of this is one of Korea’s most popular foods abroad: Korean barbeque. Staff bring side dishes as usual, and then raw marinated meat (you choose which kind, with beef being the most expensive). Customers grill it themselves at their table. There are also raw peppers, onions, garlic, etc. to grill along with the meat.
On the other hand, tofu is widely available and used in some meals, especially in soup. I have started cooking with tofu since coming here. It is the cheapest available protein source (beans seem to be more expensive here too).
I typically eat Korean food every day at school lunch, and that’s about it. Before summer break, I was pretty apathetic about it. I had reached the point where I enjoyed certain meals and, on the other hand, knew which foods to take only a little of at lunch. Then I had a short summer break, and after not having eaten Korean food for a couple of days, I realized I missed it. Seriously. I couldn’t believe I was feeling this way. I guess some part of
Variety of Dried Seafood
Let me know if you want me to ship you some! it may have been laziness at suddenly having to prepare my own lunch every day.
I do occasionally go to Korean restaurants. Korean restaurants are pretty different from American ones. First, usually you sit on the floor, on floor pillows. Many restaurants nowadays, especially barbeque restaurants, have tables too. Next, in order to get a server, you can either call out ‘Yo-geee-oh (here)’ or push a button present on your table which buzzes to let him or her know you need something. Also, when you order something, you don’t only get that, you usually get 2-10 side dishes for free which you may share with others at your table. A typical dinner may cost between $4.50-9. In Korea, there are no tips. You can get free refills on the side dishes too, so it’s a pretty sweet deal. Lastly, at your place setting you get chopsticks and a spoon. If you need to cut something they will give you scissors, or you have to pry it apart using a chopstick/spoon combo. It’s important to be cautious with this method, because if you push too hard with your spoon, things can go flying (not that that's ever happened to me
Seaweed Soup
Pretty popular. I don't love it because the seaweed is pretty chewy. Koreans say seaweed has a lot of nutrients. It's traditional for women to eat this soup when pregnant and for months after they give birth. . . . ; )).
Okay, let me tell you what I typically get for school lunch:
-Rice, usually white rice. This should go by itself, but I add the sauce on top.
-Some type of sauce with a meat/seafood/spam product and some vegetables. Usually it is a bit spicy.
-One or two varieties of kimchi.
-Possibly a type of noodles with vegetables/mushrooms/flavoring mixed in.
-Soup (almost always a soup). The most common soup is a thin broth with bean sprouts and maybe some chives mixed in. But there are many other soups, some with radishes (I think), some like chicken noodle soup (the best in my opinion), and some that seem to be yesterday’s leftovers.
Final unanswered question you may have: do they really eat dog meat? (Skip this paragraph if you want). I think some people do. Most people deny eating it, but it may be that they don’t want to admit it to a foreigner (whom they assume will not like the idea of it). There are still live dogs for sale in one of Daegu’s markets. Dog meat, along with other things like live octopus, and certain vegetables, are said by the Koreans to
Special Tongyeong Foods
Tongyeong is a city on the south coast. They eat plain kimbap with only rice and seaweed (on left). On the right you can see fish cakes (which I thought were tofu the first month) with hot pepper paste. increase male virility. Increasing numbers of people have small pet dogs now, so I think the number of people who eat dog meat is decreasing. Also, to me, despite loving my pets, I originally felt it was only logical to eat dogs, since we already eat many other cute mammals. I didn’t have a major problem with it (not any more than eating any other living thing); however, typically the dogs are beaten before they are killed or beaten to death because it’s said that it tenderizes the meat. So knowing that helped me decide that I would decline to eat dog meat.
Anyways, the pictures will give you an idea of some of the variety of food here. Now I'm going to try to hammer out my blog about Japan too. Hope you're all well!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.064s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0317s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
justin benito
non-member comment
healthy Korean food
the world health organization prove that the Korean food is the one of the healthiest food around the globe and specially the traditional Korean side dish "kimchi" it contains so many spices and through the traditional method the "kimchi" produce antioxidants and can be use as anti-aging food,antibiotics