Korean Food
Traditional Korean Food
Food for Royal family
Food for Commoner
Food for Ceremony
Food for Buddhist Temple
Rice, soup and a side dish
Topography of Korea
• Locate in the Korean
Peninsula with limited
arable land.
• Northeastern mountainous
• Eastern part of Korea is
mountainous and hilly.
• Western part of Korea is
plain.
• Most of The Major rivers
flow into the Yellow sea
and Southern Sea.
Climate
• Cold and dry
in winter
• Hot Humid in
summer
•Dwa: Humid continental,
Hot Summer
•Cfa: Humid subtropical,
without dry season, Hot
summer.
Religions
• In South Korea: Buddhism and confucianism are the major
religions and others include Christian, Shamanism (belief
in natural and ancestral spirits), and national Korean
religion Chundo Kyo (Tonghak-a mixture of confucian,
taoist, and Buddhist concepts)
• In North Korea, all religions beliefs other than the national
ideology of Marxism and Self-Reliance are suppressed.
Rice is the staple food
1) Can neither be underdone nor overcooked and mushy
2) Short-grain varieties are preferred, both regular and
glutinous type
3) Millet and barely are used sometimes
4) Noodles: made of wheat, buckwheat, mung beans
Livestock
Vegetables
Fruits
Characteristics of Korean Cuisine
• Seasonings are the soul: garlic, ginger root, black pepper, chili peppers,
scallions, toasted sesame in the form of oil or crushed seeds flavor all
dishes, soy sauce, fish sauce, hot mustard, fermented chili paste are
added to dishes
• Ginseng tea (flavored with cinnamon), rice tea (pouring warm water
over toasted, grounded rice or by simmering water in the pot in which
was cooked)
• Breakfast and dinner are the main meals that soup, rice, eggs, meat or
fish or vegetables, Kimchi and dipping sauces; Lunch is typically
noodles served with broth of beef, chicken, or fish and garnished with
shellfish, meat, or vegetables
• Health promotion food: bean paste soup, beef turnip soup, lemon with
honey in hot water, game hen soup; For pregnant women, seaweed
soup, beef and rice are thought to build strength. (seaweed soup served
3 times a day for 7 weeks after the birth of a child to restore strength).
Frequency of crops used in a Korean cooking book
Sesame (oil) 12
Bean 11
Rice 10
Wheat 3
Red bean 2
Black pea 1
Sorghum 1
Millet 1
Frequency of meat used in a cooking book
Beef 13
Egg 11
Pork 8
Chicken 7
Frequency of vegetables herbs used in a cooking book
Carrot 14
Bean sprout 6
Potatoes 5
Chinese cabbage 4
Green mustard 3
Red pepper 34
Garlic 28
Black pepper 7
Ginseng 5
Honey 2
Cinnamon 1
Frequency of sea food in a cook book
Dry anchovy 9
Clam 6
Shrimp 5
Seaweed 4
Pollack 4
Ear shell 3
Mussel 3
Mackerel 2
Crab 2
Tangle 2
Cutlass fish 1
Catfish 1
Carp 1
Laver 1
Major Sauces
Fermented soybeans Block
• Toen-Jang (Soy bean paste)
• Gochu-Jang (Red pepper paste)
• Gan-Jang (Soy bean sauce)
Gan-Jang (soy bean sauce)
1.
5.
6.
Clean the fermented soybean block with
fresh water.
dry the soy bean block under the sun.
Put the soy bean block into Clay Pot and
Pour the Salt water into the Pot.
Put charcoals and dry red pepper, and
Mature it for two months
Separate the soy bean block from the pot
Boil and cool the sauce
7.
Mature it for more several months
2.
3.
4.
Toen-Jang (soy bean paste)
1. Crush the soy bean blocks after
finishing to make the soy bean sauce.
2. Put some salt on the crushed soy
beans.
3. Put the crushed soy bean blocks into
the clay pot
4. Scatter some salt on the top of
crushed soy beans.
5. Mature it under the sun for several
months
Gochu-Jang (red pepper paste)
1. Mix the Glutinous rice powder with
malt.
2. Boil the malt and the G-rice with
medium fire (stirring)
3. Repeat the second step until it is
matured and purified.
4. Mix the crushed soy beans into it
and boil again
5. With boiling, mix the red pepper
powder into it.
6. Put it into the clay pot and mature it
under the sun
What is Kim chi?
• Kim Chi is a side dish of
fermented vegetables and
continues to be an essential
part of any Korean meal.
• There are more than two
hundred types of Kim chi.
• Pickled vegetable with red
chili pepper fermented
anchovies or shrimp paste,
ginger, garlic, and green
onions.
Origin of Kim Chi
• The first record regarding Kim chi is found
during the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C. 668 A.D.).
• Kim chi existed by the latter part of the Koryo
period (918 - 1392).
• Red chili pepper
was introduced in 1616 by
Japanese merchant.
• Grinded red chili pepper powder quickly
became popular ingredients
Why Kim chi is so important to
KoreanVitamin A,
Green vegetables
including
cabbage
Calcium,
Iron,
• Kim chi
has played
a role as an
important
source of
Potassium,
nutrients in fermented vegetables
during the long
winter months.
Vitamins
• The well fermented Kim chi has more lactic acid
Rich is is
vitamins
A the
bacteria than yogurt. This bacteria
good for
and C: 37 times the
intestines.
amount
in apples
• AminoRed
acids
arepeppers
produced by
breaking
down protein
chili
andpaste
7 times
of
in pickled and fermented fish
and that
oysters.
Researchers have found that Kimoranges.
chi contains 17
different kinds of amino acids.
How to make Kim Chi
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
After cleaning the cabbages, cut them into 2 or 4 pieces
Prepare salted water with a ratio of 2.5 cups of salt to 10 cups of water,
then soak the cabbages in it for 6-8 hours.
Prepare salted water with a ratio of 2.5 cups of salt to 10 cups of water,
then soak the cabbages in it for 6-8 hours.
Cut dropwort, green onions, and radishes into lengths of 5 cm, then
chop the garlic and ginger.
Prepare fish paste and add red chili pepper to it with sticky rice paste
Wash oysters in salt water.
Mix the ingredients from steps 4, 5, and 6
Put the mixture inside of each leaf then store in a Kim chi pot. On the
top, cover cabbage with a leaf and sprinkle some salt. Then place a
heavy stone on top to compress it
Where to store Kim chi
• Clay pots are usually used to preserve its
contents from spoiling by circulating air
through them.
• Crockery is made with a method of oxidation
in which it is burnt through air and flame
together. The pots can keep Kim chi fresh for a
long time.
Regional variations of food
• In northern provinces, the long winter and and short
summer developed a taste of food of is less salty and
less spicy compared to the southern provinces
• The taste of foods gets more salty and spicy as you
go down to the southern provinces. They tend to use
more seasonings and salt-fermented seafood in the
south
Seoul
• Seoul itself does not
produce many kinds
of food resources.
• foods are seasoned
moderately.
• Seoul foods tend to
be fancier and their
presentation shows
more formality.
Gyeonggido
• both rice farming and dry-field
farming are actively done
• With plenty of sea foods from
the west coast and mountain
greens from the eastern
mountain area.
• Similar to that of Seoul, the
taste is either not too strong or
mild. Also, seasonings are not
used much.
Chungcheongdo
• major items of agriculture
are grains and vegetables.
• Foods do not use many
seasonings.
• chicken, oyster or clams
are used instead of beef,
and for seasonings,
soybean paste is widely
used.
Jeollado
• From the old times, Jeolla
province was well known for
its vast variety of produce and
foods. grains from the fertile
Honam field
• There are so many side dishes
displayed on the traditional
Jeolla table setting.
• Raw or salt-fermented
Seafoods are well developed.
Bean sprouts, prepared in
uniquely Jeolla style, and hot
pepper soybean paste are
widely used in a variety of
recipes
Jejudo
• Foods from Jeju mainly made
with saltwater fish,
vegetables, and seaweed, and
are usually seasoned with
soybean paste
• few seasonings are used.
And usually, small numbers
of ingredients are required to
make dishes native to Jeju.
• The taste of the food is
generally a bit salty
• there is no need to prepare
Kimchi for the winter
Gyungsangdo
• With its good fishing
grounds in the east and
south coasts, Gyeongsang
produces plenty of seafoods.
• people eat fish so much and
raw fish strips and other
seafood are considered the
best food
• The foods are not fancy, but
simple
• Hot and Salty
• Noodles are widely enjoyed
Gwangwondo
• The 1,000 m-high Taebaek
mountain ranges lie from the
north to the south of
Gangwondo
• In coastal region, a variety of
seafood dishes are well
developed
• In Mountain region, dry
farming products such as
potatoes, corns, wheat, and
barley are widely used as
staple food items
References
• Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries- Agricultural
Census 1990
• FAOSTAT, World Bank World Development indicators 2002
• http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/geo/landforms.htm
• http://earthtrends.wri.org/country_profiles/index.cfm?theme=8