Food Custom

Korean Taste

In every respect from kinds and quality of meals to facilities that offers meals, Seoul is the best place to enjoy a variety of cuisine. It is not difficult to find the restaurant where you can try Korean traditional dishes abundantly and elegantly.

Korean food is rich in nutrition, well-balanced, and low in calories. They say that you can eat as much Korean food as you like and never gain weight. Korean food is chiefly made from a wide variety of vegetables. Seasonings include garlic, red peppers, scallions, soy sauce, fermented bean paste, ginger, and sesame oil.

It is also easy to encounter the restaurant where you can enjoy original taste of all the countries of the world as well as the fastfood restaurants known worldwide, and the street stands that sell various snacks. In short, Seoul is the best city for a gourmet to enjoy the journey of taste.

Korean Food

The traditional Korean meal has many side dishes, a bowl of rice and soup. There are many different types of side dishes: kimchi (always!), vegetables cooked in different styles, boiled dishes flavored with soy sauce, grilled meat or fish, pan-fried meat or fish, and raw fish or seafood.

Plain soy sauce, soy sauce mixed with a dash of vinegar and red pepper paste are served in small dishes for dipping or seasoning.

1. Kimchi

Korean food is rich in nutrition, balanced in content and low in calories. Rice, either plan or cooked with other grains, is the staple at all Korean meals. Rice is accompanied by a variety of side dishes. Favorite side dishes include bean paste soup, pickled cabbage called kimch'i, roasted beef, fish, and steamed and seasoned vegetables. Soy sauce, soybean paste, red pepper paste, ginger root and sesame seeds are the essential seasonings added to Korean food, Kimch'i is famous as a Korean treat. Kimch'i, a fermented vegetable dish highly seasoned with red pepper and garlic, is served at virtually all meals, and it has become the best known of Korea's dishes abroad.

2. Pulgogi

When dining out or entertaining guests, Koreans favor beef dishes, and pulgogi is one of the most popular dishes in Korea. It is also one which Westerners find very pleasing. Pulgogi literally means "fire beef" but it is generally translated as "Korean barbecue." Thin, tender slices of beef are marinated in a sauce, made with soy sauce, sesame seed oil, garlic and other seasonings, and then cooked over a hot charcoal grill at your table. Cooked in the same way, but using short ribs instead of beef slices is another well-known dish called kalbi. Restaurants that specialize in pulgogi also serve good kalbi. At an elegant Korean dinner, the first course might be kujolp'an, somewhat similar to meat and vegetables are arranged on a large platter with a stack of Korean pancakes in the center.

3. Pibimbap

Pibimbap is made from cooked rice mixed with bits of meat and seasoned vegetables. If desired, it can be eaten with koch'ujang (basic seasoning of Korean food, made with red pepper). Chonju, a city in the southwestern area of Korea is famous for its delicious pibimbap

4. Naengmyun

Naengmyun, literally means "cold noodles", but this refreshing summer favorite tastes much better than its name sounds. Very thin buckwheat noodles are served in a cold beef broth with chopped scallions, shredded radish and cucumbers, sesame seeds and slices of lean beef. Appropriate condiments are hot mustard, vinegar, sugar and seasonings of your choice. There are many restaurants that specialize only in naengmyon. Be sure to try mulnaeng-myon, before sampling the other types.

5. Rice

Koreans began planting rice some time around 1500-2000 B.C. It became an important part of the Korean diet during the Three Kingdoms period. The kingdoms of Koguryo (37 B.C.-668), Paekche (18 B.C.-660) and Shilla (57 B.C.-935) all had government policies aimed at improved rice production. That means they must have liked rice. At first, grain was steamed in earthenware steamers. Later, earthenware pots were used to boil rice and rice porridge. Beans, millet, and other grains are often added to rice for nutrition, taste and color.

6. Soup

Soup is part of almost every Korean meal. There are many different kinds of soup. Some are cooked with meat, others fish, clams or other seafoods. Soups are seasoned with salt or soy sauce. Thick beef soup is sometimes eaten as a main dish. Cold soups made of cucumber or other vegetables are favorites in the summer.

7. Seasonings

In Korean food, each seasoning has many uses. Sugar and soy sauce often flavor meats and vegetables but also are found in many sweets enjoyed by children and adults. Green onions, garlic, ginger, red pepper, sesame oil, black pepper, vinegar and sugar are staples in every Korean kitchen, as are soy sauce, red pepper paste and bean paste.

8. Royal Meals

Traditional Korean society had many different levels. The names for different table settings show this. For example, a children's table is simply called papsang, literally "rice table," an adult's meal chinjisang, or "honorable rice table," and the king's table is called surasang, the "table offered to the king." The surasang is actually three tables. A large round table holds many fancy side dishes, a bowl of white rice and a bowl of rice mixed with red beans, two kinds of soup, small bowls of seasonings, at least three kinds of kimchi and 12 other side dishes of different styles and flavors. On a smaller round table are extra dishes and serving utensils, extra rice and water. A small rectangular table holds the ingredients for the chon'gol casserole which is made right next to the tables.

9. New Year's Meal

Koreans ring in the New Year with a big bowl of rice cake soup, or ttokkuk. On New Year's morning (usually the lunar new year, although some families observe the new year by the Gregorian calendar), families gather to perform ceremonies honoring ancestors in the home of the eldest son or parents. Then they sit down to a bowl of ttokkuk, made of thinly sliced plain white rice cake boiled in a thick beef broth with green onions.

10. Foods for Ceremonies Honoring Ancestors

Ancestral memorial rites are an important part of Korea's Confucian heritage. Four generations of ancestors are honored on the day before the anniversary of their death. Food is served in dishes with feet or special stands so the plates don't touch the table. All food is served in large pieces, and little seasoning or color is used.

The combination and arrangement of foods is strictly set according to old customs. Wine, rice, soup, skewered meat or seafood, dried fish or meat, cooked vegetables in at least three colors, rice cakes, at least three types of fresh fruit, dried fruit and hard cookies are always served if the family has the money to prepare them. The table arrangement is also set by custom: red fruits and fish to the east, white fruits and meat to the west, etc. It's very complicated but all has special meaning.

11. Favorite Sweets

Koreans enjoy rice cakes and sweets made of rice flour and honey, wheat gluten, sesame oil or sugar. Some are kneaded, then shaped with the hands or pressed into molds, and cooked, in hot oil or boiling water. Rice cakes, or ttok, have been a Korean favorite ever since rice was introduced centuries ago. Rice cakes are an important part of all holiday meals and are part of all ceremonies honoring ancestors.

There are many different kinds of ttok. Some are mixed with green herbs that smell good and others are flavored with red beans, sesame seeds, even flowers! Crescent-shaped rice cakes filled with sesame seeds or chestnut paste are eaten at the Harvest Moon Festival in the fall. Long sticks of plain white rice cake are sliced for the special rice cake soup eaten at the New Year.

Yumilgwa are cookies flavored with sesame oil and honey Yakkwa is the most popular type of yumilgwa. They are made of flour kneaded with sesame oil, honey, and a touch of wine and ginger juice, and pressed into flower-shaped molds. Tashik are made from powdered grain, herbs, pollen or honey. They are also shaped by molds, but are drier and often extremely expensive because they contain large quantities of pollen powder.

12. Kujolpan

Kujolpan is a pretty dish served at special occasions. Nine different kinds of brightly colored meats and vegetables are arranged in a nine-compartment dish. People wrap these foods in thin pancakes and eat them at the table.

Korean Liquors

Korean beer and soju, a distilled liquor, are popular drinks. You will particularly enjoy tasting traditional Korean liquors such as Ch'ongju (strained rice wine), Inssamju (ginseng liquor), and Makkolli (unstrained rice wine). Each province has its own special liquors. Munbaeju in Seoul, Igangju in Chollabuk-do ('do' means province), Andong Soju in Andong, Kyongju Popju in Kyongsnagbuk-do, Changgunju in Chonju, Chollabuk-do and Paegilju in Kongju, Ch'ungch'ongnam-do are famous. You should also learn Korean drinking etiquette. When somebody offers to fill your glass, hold it up with your right hand and place your left hand lightly under the glass.

Korean Table manners

Traditionally, Korean food is not served in courses, but is all placed on the table at the same time. There is no set order in which to eat the food, just according to personal preference. The main dish is almost always accompanied by pap(rice), kuk(soup), kimch'i, and several side dishes which are all included in the price. Koreans eat their rice and soup with a spoon, and side dishes with chopsticks.

Do not leave chopsticks inserted directly into the rice, as this is a ceremonial act that symbolically designates the chopsticks for use by the dead. Koreans always wait for the oldest person present to begin eating before they begin and do not leave the table until the oldest person has finished.