Korean Cuisine: The low down as it goes down....

After spending a little over a month now in South Korea I feel I've sampled enough of the culinary treats to give you a bit of an idea on what to expect should you quit your job and move to this friendlier end of the peninsula. The food here is excellent, healthy for the most part and full of meat. Though for lunch today I had bibimbap, shown above, and it's protein comes from a fried egg, instead of meat, which is tossed into the melange of rice, carrots, sprouts, and these funny brown things which I think may be from the mushroom family. I'm not sure.

Anyways from what I've read its a bit faux pas to rest a spoon or chop sticks in your rice, but I've kept it there for the sake of scale. Lunch lady really piled it on today.

The food usually arrives in metal bowls. This apparently is a hold back from the Joseon dynasty when the kings, ever fearful of ambitious underlings, favoured silver bowls and chopsticks as they tarnish in the presence of toxins. It's good to know when someone is trying to kill you, especially at foreign restaurants or at the school you work in.

Besides eating at school for free, most of my meals have been at restaurants around the neighbourhood. There is just no way I could figure out some of these recipes on my own! Sitting around on the floor sharing food you've never imagined with new friends has been a great way to unwind after teaching. Below is dwaejigalbi, essentially plate fulls of rolled bacon that you spread out and fry yourself, wrap into a lettuce leaf and eat. Ok so maybe I've imagined that much bacon before, but only in my wildest dreams.

Restaurants serving Galbi offer meats that you cook yourself on the table you sit at. This makes possible food poisoning due to undercooking your own perogative! Along with the sizzling meat are anywhere from 6 to 16 different side dishes. These could be dried salted minnows, onions, garlic, pickled radish, tofu, acorn jelly, or diced cabbage salad, and you always know kimchee will be in there somewhere. Kimchee is the dark orange stuff in the bowl bottom left. Koreans love the stuff, even kids. North Americans could really learn something from a culture who has managed to convince children to pick fermented cabbage as their favorite food, over more seductive treats like pizza or KFC chicken. I'm still working on enjoying the stuff myself, its really not all that bad. I still love pizza though.

I've had mandu on several occasions, these are either fried or steamed dumplings - both very good. Mandu you can find served from street vendors, thankfully, as well as skewered chicken (dakkochi - AKA pigeon-on-a-stick) and sausage (on-a-stick). You could spend 5 dollars US a day and live like a king on street meat here. Yes, a very happy king headed for imminent cardiovascular/gastrointestinal meltdown.