A diverse array of food and dishes can be found throughout Korea.
Korea was once primarily an agricultural nation, and rice has been a staple food since ancient times. These days Korean cuisine is characterized by a wide variety of meat and fish dishes along with wild greens and vegetables. Various fermented and preserved food, such as kimchi (fermented spicy cabbage), jeotgal (matured seafood with salt) and doenjang (fermented soy bean paste) are notable for their specific flavor and high nutritional value.
The prominent feature of a Korean table setting is that all dishes are served at the same time.
Types of dishes
- Kimchi: Kimchi represents Korea's best known food. It is a traditional Korean pickled dish made of vegetables with varied seasonings. Its most common manifestation is the spicy baechu (cabbage) variety.
- Bap (steamed rice) and Juk (porridge): Boiled rice, often sticky in texture, is the staple food for Koreans, it is eaten with almost every meal. It is combined with beans, chestnuts, sorghum, red beans, barley or other cereals for added flavor and nutrition. Juk (porridge) is often made with rice, to which abalone, ginseng, pine nuts, vegetables, chicken, or bean sprouts can be added.
- Guk (soup): Korean meals traditionally consist of a soup served with rice. The soup can be made from vegetables, meat, fish, shellfish, seaweed, or beef bones.
- Jjim and Jorim (simmered meat or fish):Jjim and jorim are similar dishes. Meat and fish are prepared with vegetables and soaked in soy bean sauce. The ingredients are then slowly boiled over a low heat.
- Mandu (dumpling)Mandu are Korean dumplings, which are stuffed with beef, mushrooms, stir-fried zucchini, and mungbean sprouts. Pork, chicken, fish or kimchi are sometimes used instead of beef.
- Jeon (pan-fried dishes)
Jeon is a kind of Korean pancake. Mushrooms, pumpkin, slices of dried fish, oysters, unripened red peppers, meat, or other ingredients are mixed with salt and black pepper, dipped in flour and egg and then fried in oil.
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Gimjang
Gimjang is the age-old Korean practice of preparing winter kimchi, which has been passed down from generation to generation. Since very few vegetables are grown in the three or four winter months, gimjang takes place in early winter and provides what has become a staple food for Koreans. For Koreans, a dinner table without kimchi is unthinkable.
Korean cuisine contains a large variety of meat and fish dishes along with wild greens and vegetables. Various preserved food, such as kimchi (fermented spicy cabbage), jeotgal (seafood fermented in salt) and doenjang (fermented soy bean paste) are particularly popular due to their distinctive flavor and high nutritional value.
In Korean cuisine all the dishes are served at the same time. A typical meal normally includes rice, soup, and several side dishes, the number of which vary. |
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