In this article, you will learn about the traditional meals of Korea, as well as the delicacies that you must taste if you visit.
So, if you’re curious about South Korean sweets and want to learn more about Korean food, you’ve come to the perfect spot.
Tofu, rice (plenty of rice), pork, ramen, and a variety of vegetables are served with fermented bean paste, sesame oil, garlic, soy sauce, salt, ginger, pepper (loads of pepper), and chard.
If names like kimchi or bibimbap still seem weird to you, keep reading to the conclusion of this piece to arrive in this small part of Asia without worrying about making a mistake. Are we going to tour Korea by eating its traditional foods?
What do Koreans eat for lunch, breakfast and dinner?
Tteokbokki
Rice is the most important component in Korean cuisine and is used in a range of dishes.
One of them is tteokbokki, a soup prepared with cylindrical rice balls, pepper, boiled eggs, and chives that is a classic Korean dish.
The look is similar to Italian gnocchi’s, but the taste is entirely different, since it is fairly hot.
Tteokbokki is often served as a street meal using chopsticks.
Samgyeopsal
Its name translates as “three layers of meat.” Samgyeopsal is a thinly sliced pig belly dish that is prepared without seasoning and roasted at the table.
Because of the popularity of the meal, samgyeopsal is one of the most costly pig portions in South Korea.
Because it is a relatively pricey lunch for Koreans, it is only eaten on exceptional occasions.
The meal comes with lettuce, raw garlic, and various garnishes such perilla leaves, green pepper, onion, carrot, and kimchi.
It is eaten with rice and soup, as with other traditional Korean meals.
There are two sauces to pair with samgyeopsal: ssamjang, which is created from chilli paste, soybean paste, and sesame oil, and soy sauce.
The other is gireumjang, which is composed of salt, sesame oil, and black pepper.
Yakiniku or Bulgogi
A Korean invention that first arrived in Japan. Did you find it perplexing? Me too. But don’t worry, I’ll explain!
Yakiniku is Japanese for grilled pork or Korean BBQ. The term was coined by Japanese writer Robun Kanagaki, who first referenced it in an 1872 cookery guidebook.
Kanagaki attributed the dish’s invention to Koreans, since Japan was a primarily Buddhist nation at the time, with a vegetarian faith.
As a result, grilled meat could only originate from Koreans, according to him. Bulgogi is a variant of the meal popular in Korea.
Similar to samgyeopsal, this barbecue consists of marinated beef barbecued in soy sauce, minced garlic, and sesame seeds, complemented with greens.
The items are served uncooked to the table. That is, you can bake and season your own BBQ.
Jjajangmyeon
Jjajangmyeon, known as one of Korea’s “national dishes,” is of Chinese heritage.
The Korean version was invented in 1905 at the Gonghwachun restaurant in Incheon, near Seoul.
Despite the fact that it did not originate in Korea, it is now one of the country’s most popular meals.
Because it is inexpensive and quick to make, the dish has become a kind of Korean fast food, the best-selling meal for delivery.
Today, the only thing that distinguishes the Chinese and Korean versions is the colour of the sauce, since the Korean version is more ornate.
Traditional restaurants will provide a more complicated meal with additional components, but basic establishments would serve a Jjajangmyeon with only the sauce for $5.
Kimbap
Korean sushi has been mistreated! I say mistreated because anybody who looks at it believes it’s the famed traditional Japanese cuisine.
These brothers, although identical in appearance, vary in substance since kimbap does not contain raw fish in the preparation.
The kimbap may be picked as the favourite snack of Koreans since it appears in all dramas in the lunchboxes transported to school or work.
Rice, veggies, an egg, and some form of meat are wrapped in gin and presented in pieces somewhat bigger than sushi.
There is also a debate over the dish’s look because of its similarity to sushi. Some attribute it to norimaki, a kind of sushi brought to Korea during Japan’s colonization.
Others argue that the meal evolved merely from wrapping bap (cooked rice) and banchan (side dishes) with edible seaweed.
Japchae
This dish is one of my favourites since it is what initially introduced me to Korean cuisine, and it is usually my first recommendation for anybody looking to explore this new world of flavours. It is a meal that both Greeks and Trojans like since it lacks pepper.
The term japchae means “vegetable mixture.” Sweet potato noodles are sautéed with sesame oil, soy sauce, and other ingredients to make this meal.
The dinner includes veggies and meat. It has a sweeter flavour since it does not include salt. Because the noodles’ texture is rather elastic, cutting them requires the use of scissors.
Japchae was invented in the early 17th century, during the Joseon Dynasty, when King Gwanghaegun had a party at his palace and one of his vassals, Yi Chung, devised the meal to delight.
Gwanghaegun was so impressed that he promoted him to a higher position in the kingdom.
