Korean holiday foods

 In Korea, we have foods that we eat it on particular days. This is part of our culture. I would like to introduce foods that we eat on Korean holidays.

 A food that many people might know of is tteokjuk a rice cake soup that web eat on NewYear's day. The reason that we eat tteokguk on this day is it represents long life and purity. The stick of rounded rice cakes in tteokguk also represent wealth and good fortune.

 You may also have hear about songpyeon. It is a half moon shaped rice cake that we eat on Chuseok or Korean thanksgiving day. It represents hope for a better future.

 Finally, we eat patjuk, an adzuki-bean gruel in Dongji which is the Korean celebration of the Winter solstice. The custom of eating patjuk on the winter solstice came from folk beliefs. In particular, color of patjuk is

thought to repel bad energy and prevent the spread of infectious disease.

Fanciful Foods in Korea

 This time, I will post about fanciful foods in Korea that might seem strange to people from other countries.

 In Korea we eat chicken feet.  
 Many people eat hot and spicy chicken feet but some people can't eat this dish because of it's shape. If you don't like the appearence of chicken feet you can eat boneless chicken feet instead. Chicken feet have a lot of collagen and gelatin so they are good for women.

 Boshintang is a Korean soup which includes dog meat as its primary ingredient. To make boshintang, you boil dog meat with vegetables, green onions, perilla leaves, dandelions and other ingredients.

Jackjangmyeon

 As I mentioned in my last post jajangmyeon or blackbean ramen is not really a Chinese food but rather a Korean food but rather a Korean dish. Now i will introduce the original Chinese black bean ramen, Jakjang myeon.
 Jakjangmyeon is a food that combines many vegetables and sauce. It's appearance is similar but it has several differences seperating it from jajangmyeon.
 Chinese Jakjangmyeon is a lot saltier than Korean jajangmyeon. And Korean jajangmyeon is sweeter. The reason that Jakjangmyeon is salty is it was made with salty water. I haven't eaten Jakjangmyeon but don't you think it will be delicious?

Chinese Food

 Many people think black bean ramen known in Korea as jajangmyeon is a Chinese food but this is not actually the case.While it does have some Chinese ingredients it has been greatly modified to suit Korean taste.
 Chinese food includes 4 popular forms of cuisine. This include Beijing cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Shanghai cuisine and Guangdong cuisine.
 I will tell you about some Chinese foods.
 Peeking duck's way of preparing duck meat so that is is very soft. It is a recipe from Beijing cuisine. In Korea there are some restaurants that specialize in this dish.

 You may have heard about mandu or dimsum which are both dumplings. Dimsum is a form of mandu that is made to be bite sized.

The shabu-shabu is popular in China and Chinese shabu-shabu is called Hot Pot. It's good to go to restaurants that use fresh ingredients. It have two colors, white and yellow. You can eat one kind of color but many people prefer the mandarin duck style that has both colors.

Tropical Fruit

 The Litch, the Dragon fruit and the Rambutan are some of tropical fruits that I like the most. Before we buy these delicious fruits, let's take a look at them. First, we have the Litch. It is cultivated in Southern China. So in South China they say it is the king of fruits. It tastes both sour and sweet and it has a aroma.Second is the dragon fruit. It is the fruit of a cactus. It's name comes from that it's form is similar to a dragon's head. It is a winter food and it contains a lot of juice moisture so it is good for you if you are on a diet. You can eat it raw but, it is not good when you eat it with milk.     Finally, we have the Rambutan. It is seen in family restaurants quite a lot. It's name means 'the fruit that has fur in the Bahasa language of Malaysia. As you probably expected, the Rambutan's country of origin is Malaysia. It's shape is that of an ellipse. It is also delicious when you freeze it.

Hidden Korean Foods

Do you heard about Gopchang? It is tripe. And in Korea, we eat it as a food. Others can think it's strange, but it's quite delicious. It contains many iron and vitamin so it is also use for self-protection foods.

So many Koreans like to eat it. But it can be seem and taste bad to people who has weak stomach. So I recommend that kind of people don't eat this food. When you go to Guri, there is a famous street which is famous for Gopchang. It is between Seoul and Namyangju.                                                                                                                                                            

Map of Guri

  Second food to show is Dakgalbi. It is spicy grilled chicken. When you go to Chuncheon, there is a street name 'Dakgalbi Alley of Chuncheon'. When you go there you can taste many delicious Dakgalbi. And when you like to eat at home, you can make it easily.

Many foreigners think only Kimchi, bibimbap, ddeokbokki and few kinds of foods when they think about Korean foods. But I want to make known that there is many kinds of delicious, healthy foods more than they or we know.