The Way to Korean Culture is through Its stomach

From Russia, with love. Here's someone who share my love for Korea and Korean food.

The Way to Korean Culture is through Its stomach

My romance with Korea started more than 10 years ago when I chose Korean Language and History as my major at Moscow State University. At that time there was no special reason for me to apply for the Korean department, and I have to confess that it was pretty much a random choice then.

I did not know much about the country and only had some romantic stereotypes about a "mysterious Oriental land". However I was fascinated with the beautiful writing system Koreans had and decided to master it as some sort of "secret code" which would help me to look into the Asian soul. So that is how I came to Korean Studies in the beginning.

Since then I have visited Korea many times and even had the experience of living and studying there for several years. Now I speak the language to some degree and even write it but still cannot say that I understand Koreans entirely. I would even say that the more I learn about the country and its culture, the more questions are raised. It seems Korea has really proved to be a bit mysterious.

Among other cultural issues, I became especially interested in Korean food culture. Like many other foreigners coming here, I have noticed that Koreans speak about food and eating food much more than people in other countries, or at least in the countries I have been to. Food related topics can "pop up" here in the most unexpected situations. The first and most basic example can be popular Korean questions like "Have you eaten?" (밥을 먹었어?) or "Do you eat well lately?" (요즘 잘 먹고 다녀?) which are used as common greetings. And these are far from being all.

Food is also one of the most widespread "small talk" themes in Korea, regardless of the level of conversation. Almost every foreigner can't avoid answering questions posed by Koreans about his/her favorite Korean dish. And at the same time it was the very food to be discussed as a "light topic" between the two Korean leaders when they met at the first South-North Summit in 2000.

I have already collected a lot of similar examples from different spheres of Korean culture, such as language, literature, everyday life customs and so on. All of them show the special place that food and eating-related issues occupy in the Korean traditional and modern cultural context. It can be summarized that food in Korea is much more than just a medium of nutrition. It has a lot of symbolic connotations and can be treated as a "cultural code" to understand Korean values and norms of life.

Food can be perceived as the foundation of being and spirit, a guarantee of happiness and well-being, a reflection of social background, lifestyle, age, religious and political ideals, a measure of financial prosperity and one's character, and a medicine in the broadest sense of the word. In short, a whole philosophy.

Of course, to some degree this idea can be applied to any country but in Korea this phenomenon seems to have particular importance. So studying it is really fun! Now I am just at the very beginning of this road but I hope one day I will be able to at least partly find the answer to the broad question "why are Koreans so 'obsessed' with food?"

By Maria Osetrova

Gyeongju: Unforgettable Food Experiences

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener

The one place we visited most during our stay in Gyeongju is the 시장 (market). Located right down town, most buses bring you here. Put another way, we have to come down town to catch a bus to most sights, so we dropped by the market for the slightest reason.

We were here for our meals, we were here for daily supplies, we were here for souvenirs to bring back to Seoul.

In the food alley within the market, there are many stalls selling about the same thing – kimbap, japchae (stir fried glass noodles with vegetables / 잡채), soonndae (Korean sausage 순대) and fish cakes. Some stalls have a little space adjacent to them, where guests can sit at tables to have their meals. Some do not have such space, guests sat around the stall, a very conducive arrangement to chat with the stall holder.

Most of these stalls are run by middle-aged ladies, habitually addressed as 아줌마(pronounced ajumma, meaning “auntie”, used with discretion...). They are always camera-ready – in bright outfits, with some make-up and all smiles. If you speak Korean, you can learnt quite a lot about them over a meal. In our case, the ajumma proudly told us she has two sons, both won scholarships to study abroad and one will be visiting her with his professor. She will continue to work even if she does not need the money. I think she must enjoy interacting with her customers.

Of the food served here, I like japchae in particular, not too oily and very fragrant. It is the sesame oil used, I figured.
I also like the home-made barley drink called shikkae. It was so good we lugged a big bottle back to Seoul for Kim’s mother. She loved it too.

Kim got me interested enough to try족발(jokbal), touting its nutritional value, especially for ladies. This is pig’s trotters which have been seasoned and steamed. According to Kim, the jokbal is cooked in such a way that all the fats are gone, leaving only the good bits (probably the collagen in the soft fat layer and chewy skin). The secret of the delicious meaty flavor lies in the rich broth, and every restaurant’s broth recipe is considered top secret.

How to eat this? The trotter is sliced into bite size pieces, wrapped in fresh leaves of vegetables, with some ssamjang (a kind of fermented bean paste) spread on the leaves. Salted shrimps are provided as a dipping sauce (this has a pungent odor). We bought a standard serving of sliced jokbal, our own greens, and have this elaborate meal on the train from Gyeongju to Seoul (without the dip or we would have offended fellow passengers on the train).

There is wisdom in how food is consumed in Korea. Various leaf vegetables (e.g lettuce, sesame leaves)  are used to wrap a piece of bite-size meat, along with soybean paste (e.g. dwenjang, kochujang or ssamjang) and some rice into a bundle. Other banchans (those little side dishes that come with a Korean meal), freshly sliced hot peppers and garlic bits may also be added where available, depending on the eater's preference.  With the combination of rice, meat, vegetables, soybean paste, the wrap offers a balanced intake of necessary nutrients without the greasy aftertaste left by many forms of meat.

This is a also a great way to eat – you are kept busy wrapping your own food, and experimenting with different combinations of ingredients and pastes and banchan.....no time to feel awkward. 

매우 맛있어요!

Amazing Watch and Food God

Sarangchae is the name of the room in a household where the head of the family received his guests. It is also the name of a guest house in Gyeongju. The guest house received rave reviews from travelers and is one of the few which have their websites in English. I was very disappointed that I could not get a room here, but we were determined to see it anyway. We were lucky, because YS who we met at Bulguksa, stayed here.

This place feels different from our clean and efficient guest house, even though both are built in the traditional hanok style. Housed in a 150 year old building, Sarangchae feels more like an old family home. As we come through the not so conspicuous entrance, a central courtyard, surrounded by hanok style rooms, is filled with random decorative things. On the right of the entrance is a cluster of buildings comprising the kitchen, a communal area (where activities are sometimes held) and a room with a well (how strange!) – still working it seems. Travelers have their meals, surf the internet, get travel pamphlets, read books or just admire the many replicas of Shilla artifacts placed all over. Looks messy and random, but everything in its place, just like how our homes are.

To appreciate YS for showing us this place, we bought snacks and Makgeolli (the milky Korean rice wine) and have a party in the communal area. The owner and a Japanese traveler (his name sounds like Osaka) joined us. Kim had a good chat with the owner, who showed us the latest edition of Lonely Planet, where his guest house is recommended. Osaka-san contributed much to the party mood. He is humorous and made an effort to speak slowly and clearly in English. He thinks he might be of Korean origin, and has visited Korea many times. I wondered if he is searching for the answer. As the night wore on, Mrs. Osaka appeared at our table and pointed to her watch. He understood her immediately and took his leave. “My amazing watch”, he calls her.

We found out that breakfast is provided at Sarangchae, but not at our guest house. I kept harping on it. By this time, it dawned on Kim that I am obsessed with food. I would not stop pestering her to try food that I have not sampled; I could not pull myself away from the basins of freshly made kimchi in the market; I would have the strangest suggestions for breakfast, not habitual for Koreans to eat this for breakfast, she would venture to educate me; I would harp about the breakfast we did not have..... Kim decided to give me a new name - food god. She thinks I will live to 200 years old, only then will I have time to sample all the food under the sky. O, if I can choose, I would like to pass on while sampling delicious food, it would be my happy end.

Busan: Food Galore

The Dongnae pajeon that we missed....

Food is a big thing for me. I am curious enough to sample most food, as long as they are no longer moving when served. In particular I am big on using ingredients that is in season to whip up simple, healthy fresh food.

I have to conclude my Busan chapter with FOOD which I have sampled, right here in Busan. It deserves a page of its own. The abundance, the variety, the freshness, the wisdom behind them and …..….simply outstanding value.

The first thing we did on arrival in Busan is to buy the famous Busan Kim Bap (김밥). This is the Korean seaweed roll, a variation of Japanese sushi roll. Why is this one so popular (they have an outlet in Myeongdong in Seoul where a long queue is often seen forming outside the shop )? How can I explain it? Freshly cooked rice are rolled with multi-colored vegetables in a seaweed sheet. Then a little sesame oil is brushed on the roll. Because the ingredients are freshly prepared and well balanced, the kimbap makes a great meal on its own. But this kimbap has more. They serve it with a side dish containing squid and fish cakes cooked in a sauce, very much like the sauce they cooked their rice cakes in. It is a little spicy, but not overpowering, so you can taste the freshness of the squid and the fish cake. Kimbap makes a great value meal, especially when you are on the road. We packed ours and have them at Taejongdae park. We also packed another lot for Gyeongju.

I have written about strawberries. Simply delightful. We ate to our heart’s content for under US$1.

Also very memorable is the fried fish. Ocean-fresh fish of all kinds, fried in a little oil to perfect crispness – that is all that is needed for a great snack/meal. Really, I could have this EVERYDAY.

We sampled too many snacks along the way, and did not have room for a full fledged seafood meal, or the famous Dongnae pajeon, both highly recommended in guide books. So little time, so little room, so much to eat, how?  

Ever since I saw those fresh catch at the Jagalchi and the dried seafood produce they sell in Busan, I would love a culinary tour, if available, to learn about the abundantly available ingredients, their health effects, how to handle them and of course buy them home!

Kim talked a lot about the health effect of many Korean food along the trip. For example, seaweed soup, hangover soup (a special fish soup that is good for hangover), the orange looking creature... and I believe the sesame oil too. I see many Koreans have thick black hair, clear skins and are generally tall. Strongly link to their cuisine I suspect. I wish to understand the wisdom behind their cuisine, to eat like that, and see if my thinning grey hair will turn thick and black again......

Finally one morning in our guest house in Gyeongju, Kim shared this hangover soup recipe with me:

1. Fry the fish (literally translated – North Fish) in a little sesame oil.
2. Add water and boil for 1 hour to bring out the flavor.
3. Put 1 stalk of green onion (and salt and a little soy sauce) into the soup.
4. Boil another 10 minutes.
5. Add one or two eggs
6. Drink on its own, or serve with rice.

Now, I have to get hold of this “North Fish”....

Actually Korea and I went back a long way.....

.......it just occur to me.

My first pen-pal was from Korea.

My first summer vacation job was at a Korean restaurant.

The first Korean movie I watched was “Maiden from Geumgangsan” (금강산, 金剛山). For those of you who know it, this is a 1959 North Korean movie, more like a musical, with a happy ending. I was too young to understand why they were singing and dancing all the time, but to this day, I remember the beautiful songs and dances from the movie.

Korea grows on me – through the food, the dramas, my encounters with Koreans......through the years.

This is especially true of Korean food. Particularly unforgettable is one little Korean restaurant in Seattle. Like most Korean restaurants you find in Korea, this one requires you to remove your shoes at the door and sit on the floor. Their best selling item is the piping hot spicy soup, served with bap (steamed rice) and lots of side dishes. This restaurant is so popular diners often have to wait at least 45 minutes for a table to be available.