Kimchee and Bibimbap

This is my last post on Korea.  I saved the best for last.  You can't talk about Korea without talking about Korean food.  It's unique, spicy, flavorful, creative, and any adjective you can think of to describe food.  Bottom line is Korean food is GOOD!

Although Japan, Korea and China are closed to each other, their cuisine is as different from each as German is from French cuisine.  The only thing similar is all 3 countries eat plenty of rice.  Japanese and Korean rice are lumpy and sticky.  You can pick it up with chopsticks.  Rice eaten in China and other parts of Asia are usually fluffy and grainy.

If there's one thing that defines Korean food, it's kimchee or sometimes spelled as kimchi.  It's fermented cabbage with chili powder, garlic, ginger and salted seafood.  In the old days they are stored underground to keep them from freezing.  Today there are kimchee refrigerators to keep them from spoiling.

A dish of kimchee

Kimchee is a side dish to the main course.  Usually there is more than one side dish.  All these side dishes are collectively called banchan.  They may include anchovies, tofu, cucumber, bean sprouts, peanuts, vegetables, etc.  Each restaurant offer their own variation of banchan.  How many banchan dishes depends on what you order and what the restaurant offers.  The nice thing is they are refillable.  You can ask for more.  Banchan is what make a Korean meal special and unique.

The main courses are in the middle.  The rest are banchan

Except for the rice and soup at the bottom, this meal is all banchan

More banchan

This meal is almost exclusively all banchan

Bibimbap is a common and popular Korean dish.  It is simply rice topped with vegetables, meat and sometimes a fried egg.  A type of bean paste is added to give it a certain flavor.  Before eating you mix everything together.  It's cheap, usually around 6,000 Korean Wons or about $5.  There is no one variation of bibimbap.  It's whatever the person preparing decide to put in the bowl.

Bibimbap - a common and popular dish

Soup dumpling, noodle soup and special noodles

Korean fried chicken

A rice dish 

Another variation of bibimbap

Noodle soup

Cold noodles

Another variation of bibimbap

Raw beef

Pig's trotters

A soup dish

Korean BBQs are popular.  Even in the US, most Korean restaurants offer some type of barbecue.  The meat are usually marinated and the grill is part of the table.  Common dishes are kalbi and bugolgi but you can barbecue just about anything edible, including squid, octopus, shrimp, etc.

Popular Korean BBQ