It Begins with Bibimbap
My first taste of Korean food was on the airplane - Asiana Air’s version of bibimbap. Sad, I know, but still exciting because it gave me a crash course in bibimbap before I arrived. They provided a guide on how to assemble (or what they call “mixing and harmonizing”) this quintessential Korean dish.
Bibimbap is served deconstructed. There are many varieties, but typically it’s rice with a variety of vegetables (mushrooms, carrots…), slices of beef, shreds of seaweed, bean sprouts and a raw egg stylishly placed in the center of it all. Check it out:
Photo from ifood.tv
You add in some spicy gochujang, a little bit of sesame seed oil and stir it all together. It will look like this:
Then you eat it and it’s amazing. The airline version wasn’t half bad, but the dish is obviously superior once you eat it on Korean soil. The egg, which the airline did not have (thank God, that would have been untrustworthy, right?) really added an extra something something. But it may have also triggered my upset stomach, which was an after meal tradition for me in Korea.
Despite my upset stomach I tried my best to enjoy every Korean delicacy. Mandu dumplings, bingsu, mul naeng myun, tteokbokki, bulgogi. I sadly ran out of time and didn’t eat moving octopus, chicken feet or dog meat, but here is a list of foods that were among my favorites:
Bulgogi:
It’s insane that I never tried Korean BBQ in all the time I spent living in the Richmond in San Francisco. It took a trip to Korea for me to finally experience the beauty that is Korean BBQ. My first Korean BBQ included pork and bulgogi and the bulogi was my absolute favorite. I love pulling the lightly charred meat from the grill in front of me, dipping it in a spicy sauce, wrapping it in a leaf with garlic and pajeori (green onions that are all spicy and delicious) then consuming it. Fun.
Mul naeng myun:
This is a cold buckwheat noodle soup. The noodles come served in an ice broth and if you’ve seen the movie El Bulli, then you know that ice makes all the difference. This dish is great because the long strands of noodles are a chocking hazard so you have to cut them up with scissors. I love using scissors at the dinner table. Much more fun then forks and knives. Once you cut your noodles you add in some horseradish sauce and some more spicy red sauce and just stir it all together and slurp away. It’s the perfect summertime meal. Like Korean gazpacho.
Photo from Kimchi Mamas.
Tteokbokki:
I actually wasn’t a big fan of tteokbokki, but I thought it was worth mentioning because just look at it! It looks delicious. Hannah describes it as being like Chef Boyardee, even though its nothing like Chef Boyardee. It’s rice cakes and you eat it with a toothpick on the street.
Banchan:
The best part about eating in Korea is they offer copious amounts of side dishes. It’s just this fabulous added bonus to the main dish. You may find yourself surrounded by 10 little bowls of side dishes and not even know what to do with them all. Bean sprouts, kimchi, kimchi pancakes, pickled cucumbers, tofu, japchae (glass noodles), eggs, and on and on and on.
On my next trip to Korea I will make sure to save room for some of this:
