Korea is full of such a variety of delicious, unique dishes that you won't miss your steak or potatoes back home. In the states, I mostly stuck to sandwiches, salads, fruit, cereal--ya know, typical homemade, quick-n-easy stuff--not to mention the amount of microwavable meals (Healthy Choice only) was quite high as well. And of course I treated myself to burgers and fries on occasion. It's like a whole new world here though, and I wanted to try everything and anything I could because, well, why not? I thought I'd give a run down of the best types of foods that Koreans have to offer. If the topic of food ever comes up in class, my students will inevitably ask, "Teacher, you like kimchi?" And my answer is invariably, "Yes, I love kimchi!" It pleases them to no end. On the topic of pleasing Koreans, to noticably enjoy a Korean's food or really just to simply consume it in their presence gives them great pride in themselves as a people--if a westerner enjoyed a strange eastern dish, it must have been extra special. This equally pleases me.
So here's the low down...
1. Kimchi - pickled cabbage loaded with spices, served with every meal--even breakfast. It' extremel difficult to make yourself as my students and coworkers tell me. One day, I saw a group of older women making kimchi for the winter on huge tarps. I think an organization was sending this food to the armies. Kimchi is pickled in large clay pots and supposedly stored underground in the winter months where it gets yummier and yummier. You can tell how fresh your kimchi is by its taste--if it doesn't taste great, it's fresh.
2. Bap - or as we like to call it in English, rice. Obviously, rice is a big deal in Asia. Kids tell me that they eat rice for breakfast, sometimes plain, sometimes with milk, but most of the time with kimchi. David and I inherited a rice cooker from a friend, and we have been using it about 4-5 times a week since. What a genius device!
3. Galbi - Gabli is a general term for meats grilled at your table and served with lots and lots of side dishes that are refillable at your request. Our favorite local place serves an amazing salad with a vinegarette dressing--we usually go through three of them. They give you spicy kimchi, spiceless kimchi, onions, fresh garlic, a burnt orange-colored sauce that is oh-so yummy, and lettuce leaves. For about $1, you can order a side of rice that comes with jiggae, which I'll explain later. The technique: take a leaf of lettuce, spoon a small amount of rice on top, add a small piece of cooked meat from the grill built into your table, add a sliced onion and grilled garlic, add sauce with your chopsticks, maybe throw a piece of kimchi on there too, and then wrap it up and munch away! This is, by far, my favorite thing to eat in Korea. I crave it at all times. It will fill your belly for days.
4. Dukgalbi - Similar to galbi only in that this dish is cooked on the grill that is built into your table. This dish consists of chicken and loads of vegetables (onions, leeks, carrots) tossed in a teryaki (sp?) type sauce. The waiter mixes it while it cooks every few minutes, so you don't have to do any work. Once he or she gives you the signal that it's ready, everyone shares from the large pan.
5. Kimchi jeem - There is a great place near our apartment that my Korean coworker introduced us to that serves this dish. Again, you sit at a table with a grill in the center (or in the case of this restaurant, it's a stove top burner). A full head of cabbage is steamed and stewed with yummy red spices and chunks of pork. They also throw in some tofu, which isn't actually too bad. This place also serves loads of side dishes like japchae noodles, salad with raisins and creamy dressing, and obviously kimchi! This is a favorite of ours.
6. Jiggae - Jiggae is a soupy stew with tofu cubes, onions, jalapenos, green onion-type vegetables, and yummy spices. You can also order this as kimchi jiggae or chomchi (tuna) jiggae. It's orange-red colored, so I'm guessing the spices used are similar to those used in making kimchi. It's always served with rice. Scoop up some rice with your spoon (rice is only eaten with a spoon--not chopsticks) and then dip it into the jiggae, picking up some tofu or onions. Be careful, though, it's served very hot.
7. Dokbokki - compacted rice that comes in many shapes. At street vendors, it is the shape of a breakfast sausage. It's served with an orange-colored, spicy sauce. The texture is strange, unlike anything I've ever felt, maybe most comparable to a gummy worm. I wasn't fond of it at first, but now I crave it. (Note about dokbokki: this is made from leftover rice that is then compacted into any desirable shape. It is impolite and wasteful to ever leave rice on your plate, so dokbokki is a great solution. If you make the journey to Korea, or really anywhere in Asia, always finish your rice, and never leave your spoon or chopsticks sitting in your rice bowl--very rude!)
8. Mandu - This is most comparable to a dumpling. They're stuffed with meat, clear noodles, chopped onions, green veggies, and special ordered with kimchi. You can dip them in a sortof soy sauce, but they are just as good without it. We bought a big frozen bag of them from the supermarket, and I noticed they are not too high in calories.
9. Fried anything - Street vendors line the street that I live on because there are so many English academies (hagwons) on this block. Since kids spend most of their time in school or academies (math, English, writing, you name it), they need to fill their brains with energy for all that learning. Vendors sell fried carrots, potatoes, corn dogs, chicken-on-a-stick, blood sausage, mandu, again, you name it. I pretty much avoid those places.
10. Waffles - Waffles are apparently a huge fad here at the moment, like anything else in Korea. They make them right on the street or in the subway station (imagine that smell filling the tunnels..Mmmmm..) in waffle-makers under tents. They smear a honey-like spread all over it then coat it in a mousse-like vanilla or chocolate icing. For ean extra 500 won (45 cents), they can add vanilla or green tea ice cream. David and I will order one waffle (about 90 cents) and split it because these things can't be to great for our health.
Are you hungry yet?
xx
hh
Images above are not my own:
Bottom left - Galbi
Bottom right - Jiggae
Top left - Kimchi
Top right - Mandu
