Introduction to: Korean Cuisine

By the way, we are focusing on South Korean food today By the way, we are focusing on South Korean food today. (I have no background in North Korean food)

Koreans are NOT Chinese!!!!!!!!! familiar with ginger beefs, sweet and sour chicken, chicken fried rice, and wonton soup? – they are Chinese food, Koreans eat nothing like that. Korean foods are known to be relatively healthy: clean eating. Filling but light. (not heavy at all)

Traditional Table learn food tables. Korean traditional table is composed of many different side dishes. Korean food uses variety of meat and vegetables for balanced meal and they also prepare meals with incorporation of many different colors of ingredients for the appearance.

Daily Table What Koreans eat at home day to day basis. Rice, soup of a kind, 3~5 side dishes. Special occasions: 20~30 side dishes.

Side Dishes (Banchan) Bazillion side dishes available. Staple side dishes include Kimchi, seaweed, and variety of steamed and sautéed vegetables.

Gimbap Main Compositions Korean cuisine is largely based upon rice, vegetables, and meats. Rice is steam-cooked. (Rice cookers at every household – staple item) Gimbap Unlike the western culture where bread and flour is the main carbohydrates, in korea, rice is the main source of carbohydrates which converts to energy. Most dishes are almost always served with rice especially when we have many side dishes. Rice is steam-cooked and is kept plain. Unless rice is used to make a dish that assembles rice, vegetables, and meats together and is served as one dish. – such as bibimbap. Kimbap => looks like sushi but different. Bap in korea = bread in northern America. (staple food = main carbohydrates)

Bibimbap Bibimbap – flavored with gochujang. Sauce is gochujang. Good balanced meal = carb, protein, vegetable (thumbs up)

Dolsot Squid Bibimbap Many types of bibimbap available.

Sauces Commonly used sauces : sesame oil, fermented bean paste (dwenjang), soy sauce, salt, garlic, ginger, hot pepper flakes, and fermented red chili paste (gochujang)

Noodle Dish: Japchae

Local Korean Restaurant Korean Village Restaurant 1324 10 Ave SW Calgary, AB (403) 228 - 1120 1324 10 Ave SW Calgary, AB T3C 0J2 (403) 228-1120 Restaurant Today 11:00 am – 10:00 pm

Local Korean Restaurant Seoul BBQ Restaurant 4336 Macleod Trail SW, Calgary, AB (403) 243 – 7970 http://seoulbbqrestaurant.ca/ 4336 Macleod Trail SW, Calgary, Alberta

Utensils Spoon & Chopsticks Instead of fork and knives, you will eat Korean food with spoon and chopsticks. They will be mostly set up on the table like the picture on the left. But in some restaurants, spoons and chopsticks are stored in a wooden or metal container with a lid. You can help yourself from the container. If you are unfamiliar with the chopstick usage, you can ask for a fork in Korean restaurants in Canada. However, in Korea, forks might not be available in some restaurants. Oh and don’t think that Korean people living in Korea would only eat Korean food. They have pizza, chicken, burgers, pasta, tacos, and you name it. They have everything. What I am showing you is a Korean food=Korean cuisine. But for sure, Korean people have options in choosing other ethnic foods. Just like we have Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese, and all other ethnic restaurants in Calgary.

Side Dishes From Seoul

Bulgogi Ssam (Beef Wrap) Picture on the left is Bulgogi (beef) and right is pork! (Same wrap = different meat type) Pork Wrap

Bulgogi http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/bulgogi (video)

Desserts: Korean Rice cakes Even the desserts are made of rice.

Desserts: Pat-bing-su

Videos S. Korea Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8gw5qNr6PU