Food & Drink
Food & Drink
The staple food of Korea is short-grain rice. It is eaten from a ceramic or metal bowl with or without a lid. Other tableware includes a soup bowl and various small and large plates for a variety of other foods, often called side dishes.
Popular Dishes
These include bulgogi, or “Korean barbecue” as it is sometimes known. Strips of beef are marinated in sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and other condiments, and then cooked over a charcoal or gas brazier at the table. Short ribs, kalbi, are also popular and are cooked in the same way. Koreans eat a lot of fish and sea food. As in Japan, raw fish, served with piquant seasonings, is highly regarded.
Many types of soup are served. Two dishes formerly exclusive to the royal court now often appear at banquets. The first is kujolpan, often called, somewhat poetically, “nine treasure dish.” This consists of small pancakes and eight special dishes, all presented in a nine compartment lacquer dish. You select a pancake and one or more of the other dishes, wrap the later in the former and away you go. The second is sinsullo, an individual hotpot with beef, vegetables, and a variety of other ingredients all cooked over live coals- very hot and very delicious.
Garlic forms an important part of the Korean diet. It is widely used both on its own and as part of other dishes. Raw cloves of garlic will often appear as a side dish, or for adding to dishes such as bulgogi while they are cooking.
A growing number of Western-style restaurants can be found in Korean cities. All styles of food can be found from the ubiquitous hamburger to the most up-to-date French and Italian cuisine. Seoul had a Pakistani restaurant since the early 80s, and now has a number of Indian restaurants.
Drinking
Koreans like drinking, and there is little social stigma attached to getting drunk. A few drinks shared in a bar with Korean acquaintances will go a long way toward establishing friendships. Koreans do not as a rule drink alone, and they do not drink much without eating fairly substantial snacks know as anju. This does not stop them getting drunk, however, and drinking parties may become quite boisterous. Such sessions may be used to let off steam and to criticise the boss to his face, but without the dire consequences this may have in the west.
