COOKING THE KOREAN WAY

Introduction

Korea is a land where the past and the present are often found side by side. Some Koreans live in modern high-rise apartment buildings, while others make their homes in thatched-roof cottages. In the cities, modern skyscrapers shade five-hundred-year-old shrines. Young people honor their elders, and ancient traditions still have an important place in modern Korean society. One of the traditions that has been passed from generation to generation is a varied cuisine that is both healthy and delicious.

The Land

The Korean Peninsula juts southward from the Asian mainland toward Japan. To the west is the Yellow Sea and to the east is the Sea of Japan. The peninsula shares its northern border with Russia and China. Since the 1940s, the Korean Peninsula has been divided into two countries, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea, and the Republic of Korea, or South Korea. Although the entire peninsula is only about the size of the state of Utah, its terrain is varied. Rugged, heavily forested mountains cover most of the inland areas.These regions supply North and South Korea with forest products as well as with minerals. Some of the mighty rivers that flow through the mountains are harnessed to supply electricity.
The mountains give way to gentle, rolling hills and plains on the coasts, except in the southeast, where the Taebaek-Sanmaek Mountains are located. Coastal Korea contains the peninsula’s best farmland and is the most heavily populated region. The west coast consists of a network of estuaries and tidal flats, which makes it ideal for growing rice, the most important crop in both North and South Korea. As would be expected of a land with so much coastline, fishing is a thriving business, especially off the eastern coast of North Korea and in the maze of islands and small peninsulas that make up the southern and western coasts of South Korea.

History

Korea is an ancient land that dates back to about the third century B.C.In that long-ago time, the area was called Choson, which means Land of the Morning Calm. China, Korea’s powerful neighbor to the north, has had a great deal of influence on Korean culture. However, the country has managed to hold on to its independence for most of its two-thousand-year history. In the A.D. 600s, a southeastern Korean state called Silla took control of the entire peninsula. Silla rule lasted for about two hundred years, most of them peaceful and prosperous. By the 900s, however, the government had become very weak and several groups fought for control of the country.
After years of confusion, a general named Wang Kon took over the government of the country and the peninsula was peaceful once again. Wang Kon is probably best remembered for renaming the country Koryo, the source of the word Korea. Education and the arts were important to Wang Kon and the Koryo kings that followed him. But this peaceful period was not to last. In the 1200s, Mongol warriors from the north took over the country and controlled it for about one hundred years. After the Mongols were defeated, another general, Yi Songgye, became Koryo’s new ruler.
Yi and his descendants ruled the country, which Yi called Choson, from 1392 until 1910. During the Yi dynasty, the peninsula was plagued with frequent invasions by the Chinese and Japanese. By the 1600s, the people of Choson were so tired of fighting off their neighbors that they closed the country to foreigners. For two hundred years, Koreans lived in isolation from the rest of the world. At that time, their country was known as the Hermit Kingdom.
The 1900s were a troubled century for Korea. After forcing the Hermit Kingdom to open its ports to other countries in 1876, Japan completely took over the country in 1910. The harsh rule of the Japanese lasted until 1945 when Japan was defeated in World War II (1939–1945). Rather than regaining its freedom after the war, however, the Korean Peninsula was occupied by the former Soviet Union in the north and by the United States in the south. Because no one was able to agree on who should rule the country, it was split into two separate countries. North Korea was controlled by Communists and South Korea was strongly anti-Communist. Both North and South Korea wanted to rule the entire peninsula, not just one half. In 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea.The war that followed lasted three years, but resolved very little. In modern times, the Korean Peninsula is still two separate countries with two very different forms of government.

The Food

Political differences have not prevented the people of North and South Korea from continuing to share a cuisine. Just as Koreans on both sides of the border have a common history, you will find the same kinds of foods and cooking methods in Pyongyang in the north as you will in the southern city of Seoul.
When you sit down to your first Korean meal, you will probably immediately notice the similarities to other Asian cuisines. Like the Chinese and the Japanese, the Koreans eat with chopsticks, which means that the food is usually cut into bite-sized pieces that are easy to pick up. Many of the ingredients—such as cellophane noodles, soy sauce, tofu, and a variety of fresh vegetables—as well as some of the cooking methods, including stir-frying, steaming, and braising, are used in other countries in the Far East. But there are also elements of Korean cuisine that make it deliciously different. The way that Koreans eat their meals has been called “grazing.” At the table, family and friends pick and choose from among the many foods set out in little dishes. With white rice as the basic food, diners may add something fiery—usually kimchi, the famous pickled vegetable. Next they might pick a food that is spicy with sesame oil, pepper, soy sauce, and garlic.The wide choice of vegetables, salads, and pickles is called panchan. It is limited only by the cook’s skill at mixing and matching basic foods.
Korean food is often highly seasoned, usually with a combination of garlic, ginger, red or black pepper, green onions, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and sesame oil. These dishes are served with a bland grain to cool the heat of the spices. Rice is present at every meal, but you may also find barley, buckwheat, millet, or wheat.
Koreans eat less meat than people in other parts of the world. Red meat is expensive in both North and South Korea, so it is usually reserved for special occasions. Chicken and fish are more plentiful.
Korean cuisine offers a vast assortment of vegetarian dishes. Protein-rich soybean products are often eaten instead of meat. The soybean is the main ingredient in tofu, a common meat substitute. This versatile plant is also used to make soybean pastes and sauces, including the slightly sweet Korean soy sauce, which are used in soups and other dishes. Unlike other Asian cuisines, Korean cuisine includes many uncooked vegetables, frequently served in the form of salads and pickles. The cuisine of Korea does not vary widely from region to region. Koreans do try, however, to make use of the fruits and vegetables that are in season, and they try to serve heartier fare during the colder months.

Holidays and Festivals

In South Korea, good food is always an important part of any holiday or festival. Two important holidays are Ch’u-sok in the fall and Sol in late winter. Ch’u-sok, the Harvest Moon Festival, is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar year, sometime during September or early October. It has been called the Korean Thanksgiving Day. This is the time of the harvesting of fruits and grains. It is also a time to view the full moon. First the family visits the graves of its ancestors, honoring them with deep bows and an altar laden with food. Friends and family share a wonderful meal of taro (a starchy root vegetable) soup, zucchini pancakes, fruits and vegetables of the season, and rice cakes. These cakes are shaped like crescent moons and filled with bean paste or sesame seeds mixed with honey.
Sol, the lunar new year, comes sometime between late January and late February. Because Koreans also have a two-day New Year holiday January 1 and 2, Sol has been called Folklore Day since 1985. Both Sol and January 1 and 2 are times to greet the new year and to show respect for elders. Family members bow before photographs of previous generations. At these holidays, tables are crowded with many kinds of sweet and savory cakes, beef-rice cake soup, egg rolls, meat dumplings, fried fish, broiled beef, kimchi, sweetened rice, candied lotus root and ginger, date balls, chestnut balls, and fresh fruit. The beef-rice cake soup, called ttok-kuk, is also served to friends, neighbors, and business associates paying calls at the home to show respect.
The first full moon of the lunar year, fifteen days after Sol, is a festival called Tae-bo-rum, an ancient day of worship. Very devout families keep torches burning all night long. Some people set off firecrackers and crack nuts to scare off evil spirits. Children and grown-ups alike keep watch for the rising of the moon. Seeing the moon rise is believed to bring good luck for the whole year. Farmers believe the color of the moon reveals the weather to come. A pale moon means too much rain and a red moon means too little rain, while a golden moon means excellent weather. Every year, Koreans eat a special dish of rice, barley, millet, and red and black beans at this festival. Besides this five-grain dish, they also eat vegetables and various nuts, especially chestnuts, pine nuts, and walnuts. Although South Korea has many religions, a large number of inhabitants are Buddhists. Buddhism is based on the teachings of Buddha, the Indian sage-philosopher who lived 2,500 years ago. His birthday has been a national holiday in South Korea since 1975. It falls on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, usually sometime in May.
Buddhism has inspired many beautiful temples, pagodas, and statues. During the holiday, Buddhists put on their best clothes and go to the temple to pray. In the evening, after a festive meal, they parade through the streets with lanterns. The light of the lanterns is meant to ward off human hardship and hopelessness.
The children of South Korea are treated to their favorite foods on Children’s Day, May 5.This national holiday celebrates both girls and boys. It replaces Boy’s Day, which had been observed since the peninsula was a Japanese colony (1910–1945). Parades, pageants, and presentations of martial arts are held on this child-centered holiday. Families, including grandparents, enjoy outings to zoos, movies, or parks.
A beloved longtime folk festival is Tan-o Day or Swing Day. It comes on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, when spring is at its peak. Girls learn to swing standing up when they are small, and continue to swing this way as adults. Swing Day brings contests with girls and women swinging back and forth wearing their colorful traditional costumes. As they do on most special days during warm weather, Koreans pack a bountiful picnic, including seaweed rice rolls, to enjoy outdoors.
Young girls, noted for their thick black hair, look forward to Shampoo Day, or Yadu Nal, which takes place on June 15. If at all possible, families visit friends whose home is next to a stream or a waterfall.The highlight of the day is bathing, hair and all, in the clear water to ward off fevers for the rest of the year. A typical picnic meal includes dumplings, sweet cakes, grilled fish, and watermelon.
Many celebrations in Korean culture are accompanied by a delightful meal. Koreans look forward to these holidays and festivals because they love to celebrate with the tantalizing, fragrant foods that are served.

How to Eat with Chopsticks

Chopsticks are not difficult to manage once you have learned the basic technique.The key to using them is to hold the inside stick still while moving the outside stick back and forth. The pair then acts as pincers to pick up pieces of food. Hold the thicker end of the first chopstick in the crook of your thumb, resting the lower part lightly against the inside of your ring finger.Then put the second chopstick between the tips of your index and middle fingers and hold it with your thumb, much as you would hold a pencil. Now you can make the outer chopstick move by bending your index and middle fingers toward the inside chopstick. The tips of the two sticks should come together like pincers when you bend your fingers. Once you get a feel for the technique, just keep practicing. Soon you’ll be an expert!

By Okwha Chung & Judy Monroe in 'Cooking the Korean Way'- Lerner Publications Company A division of Lerner Publishing Group  U.S.A., 2003, p. 7-17. Edited and adapted to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.

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