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Blog: Korean Food
🕑 Added 2023-09-20 14:09:45 +0000 UTCHey everyone! Long time no see!
I hope you've all been well! It's the start of Autumn in Korea and there's a cool breeze here.
I wanted to write blogs much sooner but because it's been so long since I'm back with my family, it's taken me a lot longer for me to sit down and write this. Somehow five years went by, and it feels both long and short, if that makes sense.
It's still quite hectic with me and my family and I've been enjoying the time I've spent with them so far. There is a lot of personal stuff to take care of during my stay here though so I haven't been able to find a good time to write up a blog until now. I'm still busy, but it's slowly slowing down as of late.
I had to think long and hard about what I wanted to write during my stay here. If you guys have some ideas on what you'd like to know about my visit here in Korea, please let me know and I might write about it next time! Anything you guys might find curious would be nice.
So, when I think about the places I want to travel, one of the first things that comes to mind is the local food. I try to imagine what I would eat once I reach that destination and whether I would find it to my taste. You end up thinking about these things since it's a problem if you go there and you don't enjoy the kind of food options available.
I'd like to talk about some of the food I ate in Korea. While I know some of the photos below are not food that best represents Korean cuisine as a whole, these are some of the dishes most Korean people can enjoy quite locally. You could say they are 100% local food and not as common as what most foreigners are familiar with.
It's been a long time since I've visited Korea so I ended up trying a lot of different dishes with my family.
What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of traditional Korean food other than spicy? I think the most general image that first comes to mind is probably Korean BBQ or Bulgogi, which is very popular across the world, closely followed by spicy fried chicken. I'm just going to say it now, but fried chicken isn't a traditional food per se, even though a lot of my friends also believed it was traditional food.
I actually ordered this after reading a Fried Chicken review of all the chicken places near me. Think Reddit but for Korean sites. This place seemed to have the highest ratings so I tried ordering from them. The chicken was yummy!
As a matter of fact, unless you go looking for Korean restaurants that claim to serve traditional dishes, you'll most likely encounter derivative dishes inspired by the traditional versions, which have been localized to suit the local taste buds.
Below are some of the photos I've taken of the cuisine I've been able to try with my family. This is the kind of dining I'm used to seeing so it's a bit difficult to write this from the perspective of a foreigner. I'll try to address what I think you guys will find quite interesting about the photos.
This is a communal dish where the main dish, in this case, the Boiled Pork, is shared. It's usually eaten with the dried seasoned radish. We wrap whatever combination of the above in lettuce and consume it in a single bite.
This is a traditional style buckwheat noodle I had with the above-boiled pork.
Spicy Stir Fried Squid is well-liked by everyone who likes spicy dishes. I personally think it easily ranks as one of the types of food most Korean people enjoy here. As for the Asian clam soup, its made with tiny clams that can be found in the south region of Korea.
The first thing you'll notice is the range of side dishes we have that come with the main meal. Before setting out on my world adventure, I didn't think much of the fact that we have side dishes as a norm. I thought this was pretty normal for everyone across the world until I started traveling and noticed that Korea seemed to be one of the more unique cases having a lot of side dishes served with the main meals.
We call them Banchan here. The way I understand it, we had banchan since ancient times because meals were often enjoyed as a communal thing and our ancestors tended to share what they could offer for the group meals. As for the practical reasons why we have them, most of our meals in Korea consist of a bowl of rice as the base, as such we tend to seek different flavors by adding some side dishes to each bite we take.
Now that I think about it, a lot of Korea's local food involves cooking a thin slice of meat which is usually consumed in a vegetable wrap. The above is called the plane pork belly which is a very thinly cut slice of pork that is cooked very quickly on the stone. Once cooked it's usually wrapped in either lettuce or perillas with sauce and other sides like mushrooms, and seaweed.
If I had to give a comparison, it's like building your Subway sandwich with whatever vegetables and sauces you want, but you're essentially doing this for each bite.
One day while I was thinking about what to order, I stumbled across this pic and thought it would be funny to share it with you guys. I never noticed it while I was in Korea before but after experiencing Pizza elsewhere across the world, I came to the realization that Pizza here seems so... different. It's somehow very majestic looking, like a designer pastry cake of sorts for the upper class.
A standard deep-fried cheese pork cutlet. I took this photo because it looked nice and because I was surprised that there is a screen kiosk on every table to help you decide on your order.
It's a bit hard to see but under the grill, there is charcoal made from oak burning really hot. The contraption above the pork ribs is a device that sucks the smoke like a vacuum so the restaurant isn't clogged with all the smoke from the meat that's being grilled left and right. As for what is being grilled, it's charcoal-fried pork ribs that have been marinated and melted inside your mouth! I don't think there's anyone out there who would dislike this dish...! Just like the others, we usually wrap each bite-size morsel into lettuce or perilla and consume it in one bite by adding sauce or other side vegetables. It was yummy!
There are probably innumerable things I could talk about regarding the various cuisines we have available in Korea, but I think I'll end this entry here to save you guys from all the photos I have taken so far, haha.
One other thing I wanted to mention was the fact that some of the cafes now seem to be operated by robots! Maybe you guys have them already where you live but this is the first time I've seen them in person.
As for the coffee made by robots... they're surprisingly not too shabby. It's not up there with some of the more experienced baristas, but at the same time, I would say they're not too far behind the human veterans. I am both in awe and also worried about the future of human baristas. But at the same time, it was cool to see one. It made me think of Cyberpunk and how these robot cafes would fit just right in with Nightcity.
You know, I originally thought I could try and write 4 blog entries per month but I might have to reduce it down to size because of all the things I'm trying to catch up on. Maybe down to 3 and I don't think I'll be able to commit to drawing right now so no rough sketches until further notice.
I'll be back with more blog entries soon, everyone!
Last but not least, I'm currently looking into what kind of character merch I can make while I'm here. In my next blog, I'll shed some light on my findings and share with you guys what kind of goods I'm thinking of sending you all next month.
Comments
Reine
Korea happens to have a lot of beautiful places with unique architecture and Buddhist temples. I've taken quite a number of photos so I'll share those next time!
Reine
Sometimes I like a simpler meal too like a hotdog with chilli!
Frm
Everything looks so damn good, hoooooooooly. Especially the pork cutlets & ribs for next blog's write-up; have you visited any famous spots?
bakaslayer
Everything looks fresh as af 🤤 meanwhile im eatin hot dogs ✌️
