Korean Cuisine: First Edition

OK, I'm finally ready to take a stab at my first Korean food blog. Where to begin? I never could have imagined before I arrived here how much variety there is in the Korean culinary experience. I absolutely love Korean food because its delicious, healthy, and always nice to look at too. I live in Busan where there is a special focus on seafood, which makes me soooo happy! In this blog, I'll try to cover some of the basic dishes and then talk about the crazier side of Korean food. There is so much to say though, so I'll be back with a second edition within the next few months.

The first and most important dish in Korea (which I'm sure you've already read about in my blog) is Kimchi. Kimchi is probably the single most recognizable Korean dish and they are crazy about it here. Basically, kimchi is white cabbage and red pepper paste, which has been fermenting in a large clay pot for any where from several months to years. It is served like salad (on the side) with every meal, and sometimes it is actually incorporated into the dish. Kimchi cheegay is kimchi stew with pork or tuna and sometimes you'll see kimchi wrapped around meat or stuffed in dumplings. It's not for everyone, but for people who have a taste for spicy and savory food, you just might love it.

Kimchi



Lots of small side dishes

Koreans, like many asians, love rice. Rice is also incorporated into every meal, whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is usually served plain with a meal, but it is also used in many types of dishes. Some of the most popular rice foods are bibimbap, gimbap, rice cakes, and bokimbap (bap means rice, fyi). Bibimbap is one of my favorites. It is basically a bowl of rice with tons of vegetables and meats or fishes mixed in, and topped with an egg and a delicious thick red sauce made from soy, I think. Gimbap is the korean version of a sushi roll, only they put vegetables, kimchi, and sometimes meat inside, instead of raw fish. Bokimbap is a very spicy version of chinese fried rice. THEN, there are all of the other rice products. You wouldn't believe the variety of things that can be made from rice! Just like we use flour to make bread, cookies, wraps, cakes, pasta, scones, etc. they use rice for all kinds of things. Songpyon is a delicious dessert rice ball with sweet sesame seed or red bean paste inside. The list goes on and on, so I'll try to describe some other rice dishes next time.

Bibimbap

Rice cake desserts

Then there are all of the different meat and seafood dishes. Bulgogi is a popular beef dish, Songyupsa is korean barbeque...my favorite! Korean barbeque is so fun. You sit around a grill and cook your meat yourself. You then take a delicious sesame leaf and wrap the meat with kimchi and yummy dipping sauces. So delicious. There are also a ton of different soups and stews. My favorite are pork bone soup (Gum Jae Tong) and Spicy Seafood Stew.

Korean barbecue

Seafood Galbi...spicy!

Pork bone soup

Spicy seafood stew

Now, for the weird and scary parts of Korean cuisine! In my time here I've enjoyed sooooo much good food, but have also tried some pretty scary things. Among them: silk worm larvae, jelly fish, pigs blood soup (GROSS!), and......wait for it.....wait for it....live octopus!!! Yes, I have eaten all of those things. Let's start with silk worm larvae, which you can find on the street at most street vendors and is sold in a paper cup with about 100 of the little critters. They smell very funky...a little bit like dirt and bugs! And when you bite into one it pops in your mouth. It was absolutely gross. But children love eating it for a snack...they pop it in there mouth like M&M's! Next, there's jellyfish, which is pretty delicious. I didn't even know thats what I was eating, but it was pretty good. The pigs blood soup was served to me unknowingly at school. I didn't know what I was eating and I didn't like it either, so I ate very little. It was just very gooey and bland tasting and dark purple in color, so I got bad vibes. Later when I found out, I was not happy! Finally we come to the live octopus, which is served on the plate still moving! It is cut up, yet somehow the tenacles continue wiggling around on the plate for over an hour. It was delicious. I can't really describe the experience other than it was so much fun, but you can watch below for yourself! Enjoy!

Jellyfish

Silk worm larvae

Don't try this at home...or anywhere!