ROK #5: Korean Food

The food culture in Korea is quite different from Japan, - whereas food in Japan tend to be mild and delicate and mainly consist of fish, the Korean food is indeed spicy and can be very meaty. The most famous dish in Korea and unavoidable no matter where or what you eat is kimchi, which is spicy pickled cabbage. It is always served as a starter and comes in endless varieties.

The photo shows a Korean set menu. The kimchi is in top left corner.

Korea is also famous for their barbeque. You receive thin slices of marinated raw meat, and grill it yourself at the table, then roll them up in freash lettuce and voilá!. This dish has become quite popular in Japan as well and is Henriks favourite.

The pride of all food products might be the Red Ginseng, that only grows in Korea, Northern China and Siberia. It is a slow grower - best harvested after 6 years and is therefore quite expensive. It is said to be effective against stress, some types of cancer and diabetes type II. The red ginseng comes in tea, capsules, liquids, fresh and dried slices etc, and is found all over Seoul.

The Koreans also use the above products (chilli, kimchi and ginseng) in chocolate. Different!

Our most local food experience in Seoul, was at a restaurant in the Nandaewon area, where we each had a soup with a whole (!) chicken in, stuffed with rice and ginseng - with a ginseng-'whiskey' on the side of cause. See, now we are talking :-)

As in Japan, the Koreans eat with chopsticks, but made of metal instead of wood.

Tea takes up an important role in the culture as well. Korea has their own tea ceremonies and teahouses are a common sight. The variety of tea is much more abundant in Korea than in Japan, with teas made of jujube, aloe vera, ginger and rice, just to mention a few. The Koreans believe teas made with seasonal ingredients provide elements our bodies crave at particular times of the year thus the tea assortment varies through the year.

Korea gave us a good opportunity to explore another Asian food culture, which was very nice. Only one evening we had Japanese kaiten (sushi from a conveyer belt) in Seoul... Kaiten has become our Danish rugbrød - the one thing our body crave when we are abroad.