English
Arabic
With a long history stretching back thousands of years, South Korea offers a cuisine that is taking the world by storm. While sharing numerous similarities with Japanese and Chinese cuisines, Korean cuisine offers plenty of interesting dishes and tastes that will keep you lured in. OrienBites will take you through the intricacies and unique flavours of Korean Cuisine, enabling you to easily enjoy the best dishes that Korean Cuisine has to offer.
The Fundamental Ingredients of Korean Cuisine
Korean cuisine, as commonly understood nowadays, refers to the culinary traditions of the Korean Peninsula as a whole. Though South Korea and North Korea are two different countries now, they share numerous similarities in terms of food preparations, ingredients, as well as dining culture.
Korean cuisine, like most East Asian culinary traditions, is based primarily on rice, an integral part of any Korean meal. Rice is the lifeblood of Korea, enjoyed by people from all walks of life. However, rice was not the first grain to be grown in Korea. Barley and millet had been grown in the region long before the arrival of rice, and even now, Korean people still mix these grains with white rice for certain dishes.
Rice is also used to make other dishes such as tteok, a kind of rice pancake enjoyed by millions of people around the world. These pancakes, along with other toppings, are often added to a thick broth to create tteokbokki. Some variants even include cheese!
Another significant source of basic nutrients for the average Korean person is legumes. Legumes have been cultivated in Korea since the earliest days of the culture. The most popular legume in the region is soybean, which is processed into tofu. Soybean sprouts are also used as vegetables or side dishes for larger meals.
Korean cuisine makes extensive use of meat as the source of their proteins. The most popular meats you can find in Korea are pork, beef, and chicken. In some provinces, you may find horse meat at certain specialty shops, but it is becoming increasingly rare. Pork and beef are the usual meats of choice at BBQ parties, which have gradually become a staple for most Koreans. Fried chicken has become one of the most iconic cultural exports from South Korea, taking the world by storm with its amazing flavours as well as texture.
The Korean Peninsula’s vicinity to water bodies provides plentiful sea bounties to the locals. Seafood plays a crucial role in the diet of an average Korean person. In fact, evidence of seafood consumption has been dated as far back as the medieval eras. Aside from fish, which is consumed widely, prawns, crabs, and shellfish are also consumed widely.
The final piece of Korean cuisine is the vast variety of vegetables the region is blessed with. The most prominent choices include Korean radish, cabbage, potato, seaweed, mushroom, and lotus root. Korea is also the home of the world-famous kimchi, fermented cabbages with a spicy flavour. Kimchi is generally eaten raw as a side dish or added to a broth to make rich kimchi soup.
Korean Characteristic Dishes
With numerous natural ingredients and cooking methods, Korean cuisine boasts a massive selection of dishes, not to mention a lot more if you take into account regional variants. The most popular dishes are as below.
Soup and Stews
You will find soup and stews in almost all restaurants in Korea. In Korean cuisine, soup and stews are actually a main dish, not a side. They are often paired with rice and other banchan, which are accompanying side dishes. While soup is an individual dish, stews are shared dishes with larger portions. Popular soup and stews include doenjang-guk (soup flavoured with bean paste), kimchi-jjigae, and sundubu-jjigae (tofu stew).
Banchan
An indispensable part of every Korean meal is the banchan, or side dishes. In an average Korean meal, banchan would be presented on small dishes, served, and eaten along the main course. These banchan dishes offer not just extra flavours to your meal but are also excellent palate cleansers. One of the most iconic banchan of all time is kimchi, the national dish of South Korea. Other notable banchan dishes include noodles, stir-fried dishes, and dried fish.
Holiday Food
When the holidays come, Koreans start to put on their festive cap and make unique specialties for these occasions. These dishes are often eaten for good luck as well as for celebratory purposes. The most popular example is songpyeon, a dish made from rice powder mostly eaten during the Chuseok holiday.
The Benefits of Korean Cuisine
As it includes a good variety of different ingredients, Korean cuisine is considerably healthy if enjoyed in moderation. The average Korean diet provides plenty of nutrients from different sources while still being fulfilling for a meal. It also includes plenty of healthy dishes such as kimchi, doenjang, and gochujang, adding extra health benefits to the diet as a whole. However, Westernized dishes are beginning to rise in popularity, and Korean eating habits are changing rapidly, which diminishes the overall health value of the Korean diet.
OrienBites: Your Partner in Exploring Oriental Cuisine
If you are looking to explore the full breadth of Asian cuisine, our experts at OrienBites are always here to help. With in-depth knowledge of Asan culinary cultures and the latest technology in food production, we create authentic Asian food products and deliver them from distant countries to the comfort of your kitchen. Don’t hesitate to let us know if you are looking for the best Asian food to enrich your menu!
Conclusion
With plenty of options for everyone, Korean cuisine remains one of the most popular culinary traditions in East Asia. Korean dishes are also quite easy to make and enjoy, contributing to their massive popularity, worldwide.