Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
FOOD
A traditional Korean meal (either breakfast, lunch or dinner) typically consists of meat,
seafood or fish served at the same time as soup, rice and a collection of dipping sauces and
banchan, the ubiquitous cold side dishes. The fermented kimchi cabbage or radish is the
most popular side dish, but there are many others, such as bean sprouts, black beans, dried
anchovy, spinach, quail eggs, shellfish, lettuce, acorn jelly and tofu. It's a healthy and bal-
anced approach to eating - no wonder Korean cooks refer to food as 'medicine'.
The pinnacle of Korean dining is jeongsik or hanjeongsik . These banquets that cover the
table with food include fish, meat, soup, dubu jjigae (spicy tofu stew), doenjang jjigae
(soybean-paste stew), rice, noodles, steamed egg, shellfish and lots of cold vegetable side
dishes, followed by a cup of tea. It's invariably too much to eat and it's meant to be - don't
feel obliged to eat everything put in front of you. When going for such a set meal, it's a
good idea to choose the one with the least number of courses.
Specialities
Barbecue
The many barbecue restaurants have a grill set into the tables on
which to cook slices of beef (bulgogi), beef ribs (galbi), pork
(samgyeopsal), chicken (dak), seafood or vegetables. The server
often helps out with the cooking. The inexpensive samgyeopsal is
bacon and can be fatty. These meals are usually only available in
servings for two or more.
Food Web-
sites
Koreataste ( www.koreataste.org )
ZenKimchi
( www.zenkimchi.com )
Bulgogi, galbi and samgyeopsal are served with a bunch of
sam, typically lettuce and sesame leaves. Take a leaf in one hand
(or combine two leaves for different flavours) and with your oth-
er hand use your chopsticks to load it with meat, side-dish fla-
vourings, garlic and sauces. Then roll it up into a little package
and eat it in one go.
Seoul Eats
( www.seouleats.com )
My Korean Kitchen
( www.mykoreankitchen.com )
Rice Dishes
Bibimbap is a tasty mixture of rice, vegetables and minced beef, often with a fried egg on
top. Add gochujang (red-chilli paste) to taste and thoroughly mix it all together with a
spoon before digging in. S anchae bibimbap is made with mountain-grown greens; dolsot
 
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