food

Rice is an important staple amongst Asian cultures, and a few ways that Koreans would use this ingredient would be in some of their most popular dishes like….

Bibimbap
; pronounced as bubuimbap (or 돌솥 비빔밥) What is Bibimbap? Well it’s actually a bowl of rice topped with a variety of vegetables, beef, (sometimes raw) egg, and a special chili pepper paste, and once you mix everything together (thus the name bibimbap, which means mixed rice), it’s ready to eat. It’s really tastier than it sounds, and it can be eaten cold or hot, and often in an extremely hot stone bowl.

Gimbap

(or 김밥; pronounced as Kimbap) is another popular dish, which I bet most of you have eaten but don’t know the name to it. It’s made by spreading cooked rice over a piece of dried laver, and topping it with ingredients like ham, sausage, spinach, etc, and you roll it all up, and enjoy! It was taken from the idea of Japanese sushi. (Which I’m sure you all have tried before).

KimchiBokkeumbap

(or 김치볶음밥; also known as Kimchi Fried Rice). This is an inexpensive dish that could be prepared by frying kimchi, vegetables, meat and some steamed rice, and often placing a fried egg on top. This dish is favored by many because it is easy, cheap, and delicious, making it an ideal dish for young people that can’t afford expensive meals every night.

But there is more to it then just rice in a Korean diet, there are also dishes like…

Japchae

(or 잡채; pronounced jab-chae) which is transparent noodles with beef and vegetables mixed in. Due to its subtle sweetness, it makes this dish favored by some, and not by others. It is made by sautéing vermicelli with some julienned vegetables, mushrooms, and sometimes meat, and lastly topped by sesame oil and seeds. This is also a very delicious dish, but is not recommended to be eaten alone as a full meal.

A great appetizer would be Hamul Pajeon (or 해물파전), which is a seafood pancake. But since it resembles a pizza, who can resist? It’s basically a huge pancake with lots of yummy ingredients topped on it, and fried in a pan. Since it’s fried in a pan, although delicious, it cannot be eaten in big quantities because it contains a lot of oil. But if you do try it one day, it is said that the thinner the pancake, the yummier it is!

Along with these appetizers, there are still many others, like chilled seasoned seaweed, sweet potato, bean sprouts, and don’t forget their most popular dish, Kimchi!! Also, for some reason, Koreans like eating appetizers with every dish, even breakfast! And along with all their hearty meals, they certainly love their soups, which often consist of big quantities of seafood and animal bones. Doesn’t sound appetizing? Well it is! I’m sure after this brief description of some favorites, you are all set to go off on your own and try these dishes at your local Korean restaurant.

Although these are all fairly normal meals, there are also some peculiar Korean delicacies that you many find interesting. You could find some people eating raw octopus, whole!! Or Gohl-baeng-ee, which are actually snails, (is the same as escargot for the French, but instead, they put butter on theirs). You may be thinking about their high calorie count of all these hearty dishes, but actually their extremely healthy, which also contributes to the many fit bodies of all those Korean stars you see on the media.