Foods that I didn't know existed until I came to Korea

During my time in Korea, I've discovered many foods that I either never realized existed or knew it was something people consumed.  These include:

- Black garlic (they'll sell it in a liquid - kind of like a soy sauce)

- Purple Sweet Potatoes

- Asian pears (round and bigger than apples)

- Red ginseng (its EVERYWHERE!!)

- Asian cabbage (used to make kimchi)

Also, there are a lot of eggplants here.  A lot more than you'll ever see in the states.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week at with my kindergarten students, we did several Thanksgiving activities and crafts.  Friday we also had a thanksgiving dinner.  The dinner was Korea style of course -- it included no turkey, pumpkin pie, or mashed potatoes -- but rather fried chicken, domino's pizza, korean pancake, dok-bolgi, rice cakes, kimbop, regular frosted cake, fruits, and more.

Today we had the students share with one another something that they were thankful for.  They all did a great job, though they naturally have trouble pronouncing "thankful" as they like to say "thank you".

With my 4 year olds, I had them make turkeys out of their hand prints and gave them the chance to color it anyway they wanted.  The 6 year olds I had them make turkey's out of lunch bags.

My New Favorite Treats: Kimbop and Shabu Shabu

o

In the last week or so, I now have a new favorite treat: Kimbop.  To explain it simply, its like the Korean version of Japanese sushi because if you order it in a restaurant or buy one at the market that's what it looks like.  The picture of one I have here is one of the 80 cent ones from 7-Eleven.  And no -- it is not raw fish.  Actually, in Korea anything wrapped in seaweed like this is called kimbap (or gimbap, in some spellings), while anything wrapped in seaweed in Japan is called sushi.  You can have it filled with just about anything - veggies, beef, tuna, chicken, cheese, etc. All have rice and seaweed at least but there is always something else added.  And no, it is not by any means a "specialty" meal as it is in western cultures (in fact, they find it amusing that we look to it as being fancy - but wouldn't you if China thought cheeseburgers were "fancy"?).  It's what you eat here instead of sandwiches.  Yes, there are some sandwiches here (had a dollar burger from 7-Eleven the other day) but this is more common.

My next few favorite treat is Shabu Shabu.  I think it was originated in Japan, but there are many different variations of it now in all countries in Asia.  They place a big bowl in front of you and fill it with water and broth.  You can choose from beef or seafood as the main dish to add (we had beef) and then they give you a variety of lettuces, mushrooms, carrots, sprouts, etc. to cook in the mix with it.  To eat, you just grab the cooked pieces with chop sticks, dip it in some sauce if you wish, and enjoy!  In Korea, of course the sauces are more spicy and they give you a side of coleslaw and kimchi.  Many restaurants here have the Vietnamese version where you take the meat, veggies, etc. out of the pot and wrap it in a clear rice paper. Once you've eaten most all of the beef and veggies, the server will then come by and fill the bowl with a little more broth and then add rice, seaweed, and an egg to finish up the meal.

What exactly is kimchi?

I'm sure after some of my posts now, some of you are left wondering "Ok, so what exactly is kimchi? Why is it such a big deal in Korae?"  I asked myself these questions a bit as well before coming here but now that I've had it I can explain.

Basically, kimchi is the traditional dish of korea.  As Russia is known for having borscht, Korea is known for kimchi.  The oldest references to kimchi were from about 3000 years ago in Chinese poetry texts.  The name was originated from the Three Kingdoms of Korea (I don't understand all the history of the kingdoms yet, but since I live in where probably 90% of the history is, I'll learn soon enough).  Kimchi was originally only made with cabbage and beef stock.

Today, kimchi is made with napa cabbage (a variety native to southeast asia).  There are other varieties available today that may include asian radishes (that are MUCH larger than the variety in the US), green onions, and cucumber.  The main vegetable of choice is then fermented by painting it with salt and then having it sit out overnight or for at least 5-6 hours, cleaning it, and then applying the sauce. Depending on the recipe, you may have some garlic and other vegetables in the sauce, but for most all of the traditional sauces used red pepper flakes is the main ingredient.

From my experience, I can't say that there is any good comparison.  Some people say that it is similar to sourkraut (since that is fermented as well), but I don't notice much similarity once you add the sauce.  Because of the red pepper flakes, some batches can be quite spicy at first but you can eaily tone it down by eating some rice or drinking some water after each bite.  In the Gyeongju area (and more southern part of the peninsula) it sounds like it tends to be on the spicier side than up on the northern part by Seoul.

Kimchi is the most common banchan (side dish) of Korea.  It is normally served before your meal or as a side treat to add with your meal.

Kimchi does also have many health benefits (more than yogurt), which I outlined in an article here: Health Benefits of Korean Kimchi


*Random trivia: In Korea, when you take a picture you do not say "Cheese!", instead you say "Kimchi!"

First home-cooked Korean meal (Americanized)

After almost 3 weeks of being in Korea, I finally gave in and decided to start eating in my apartment what most Koreans eat at home -- rice.

In the last two weeks my diet mostly included: sandwiches (with the fresh bread I'd buy from the bakery since they have no bread isle), yogurt, cereal, fruits that I can buy at home (apples, bananas, peaches, grapes), and eating out at either Korean restaurants or western culture-based restaurants.

It worked well for a while except for one big problem: All of those things are expensive.  Why?  There is no demand -- nobody here buys it.  For instance, a box of Kelloggs cereal is about $7 and the little 500 ml of milk was $3.

Since I was done at work by 6:30 tonight, I took a quick 3 block walk to the supermarket to buy some more cost-effective items.  Cooked my first batch of non-instant rice (since that doesn't exist here) and sauteed some vegetables with a teriaki sauce.  To top it off, I even bought a small package of pre-made kimchi for 90 cents (fermented cabbage) to replace the yogurt that I'd normally have (since it has more probiotics than yogurt).

To make it complete, I sat on the floor and ate on a traditional Korean table with traditional utensils -- a spoon and chop sticks.  And yes, I may be finally mastering the art of chop sticks -- I've come a long way since my first horrid attempt in 3rd grade during our "trip around the world" and continued to struggle even during college when trying to eat chinese food with them.

So long milk, cheese, bread, yogurt, cereal, and raviolis -- its been fun, but I have to enjoy other things right now.

First Few Tastes of Delicious Korean Foods

With Friday being the start of my first full weekend in Korea, I started in taking the opportunity to try out some popular foods of Gyeongju where fellow foreigners often hang out.

To start off my Friday evening, as I was walking toward the downtown area I met up with a fellow foreigner friend at Baskin Robbins

The popular the ice cream flavors you would find in any western culture baskin robbins they had (chocolate, strawberry, mint chocolate chip, etc.), but with a few extra flavors to accustom to the eastern cultures.  One of the very popular flavors of the area that I decided to try was green tea ice cream.  For anyone who has tried a green tea latte or green tea frappucino from Starbucks, this is very similar in taste.

The next stop was a popular restaurant down town.  In the common tradition with all Korean meals, we had some light meals as an appetizer prior to the larger meal.  The pink stuff in the bowl is water kimchi.  Kimchi is very popular in Korea and it is one of the healthiest foods in the world!  It is traditionally made with fermented cabbage, but there are dishes with the kimchi flavor in dishes such as this (with water and cabbage), radishes, or other vegetables.  The plate on the side gave us the option to add some garlic cloves or jalapenos to the chicken (which are VERY weak here - I can eat them straight no problem).



The main dish that is a common favorite is made of chicken and cabbage -- that they cook right in front of you!  There is also some rice cakes and other vegetables in the mix with, of course, a savory spicy sauce (as with nearly all korean dishes).

How did we eat the chicken?  Well, you either ate it straight (with chop sticks of course -- though they do hide a few forks if you need it) or you place it on a romaine lettuce leaf and eat it as a wrap.  Oh, and don't forget to break off the end piece of the lettuce leaf because (as Koreans believe) the end makes you tired so you shouldn't eat them unless you want to sleep.





**Note: I've also learned that this particular restaurant only serves this one chicken dish.  Apparently it is common in Korea to have a restaurant that only serves one main dish (that they focus on making very very well).