Philippine cuisine
Philippine cuisine consists of the foods, preparation
methods and eating customs found in the Philippines.
The style of cooking and the foods associated with it
have evolved over several centuries from its
Austronesian origins to a mixed cuisine with many
Hispanic, Chinese, American, and other Asian
influences adapted to indigenous ingredients and the
local palate.[1][2][3][4]
Dishes range from the very simple, like a meal of fried
salted fish and rice, to the elaborate paellas and
cocidos created for fiestas. Popular dishes include
lechón (whole roasted pig), longganisa (Philippine
sausage), tapa (cured beef), torta (omelette), adobo
(chicken and/or pork braised in garlic, vinegar, oil and
soy sauce, or cooked until dry), kaldereta (meat in
tomato sauce stew), mechado (larded beef in soy and
tomato sauce), puchero (beef in bananas and tomato
sauce), afritada (chicken and/or pork simmered in a
tomato sauce with vegetables), kare-kare (oxtail and
vegetables cooked in peanut sauce), crispy pata (deepfried pig's leg), hamonado (pork sweetened in
pineapple sauce), sinigang (meat or seafood in sour
broth), pancit (noodles), and lumpia (fresh or fried
spring rolls).
History and influences
Philippine longganisa
Filipino arroz caldo
Austronesians during the pre-Hispanic era in the
Philippines prepared food by boiling, steaming, or
roasting. This ranged from the usual livestock such as
kalabaw (water buffaloes), baka (cows), manok
(chickens) and baboy (pigs) to various kinds of fish
and seafood. In a few places, the broad range of their
diet extended to monitor lizards, snakes and
locusts.[citation needed] Filipinos have been cultivating rice
since 3200 BC when Austronesian ancestors from the
southern China Yunnan Plateau and Taiwan settled in
what is now the Philippines. They brought with them
rice cultivation and a lot of other various traditions
that are used in forms today.[5] Trade with other Asian
nations introduced a number of staple foods into
Philippine cuisine, most notably toyo (soy sauce) and
patis (fish sauce), as well as the method of stir frying
and making savory soup bases.[citation needed] Vinegar and
spices were used in foods to preserve them.
Spanish settlers brought with them produce from the
Americas like chili peppers, tomatoes, corn, potatoes,
and the method of sautéing with garlic and onions.
Although chili peppers are nowhere as widely used in
Filipino cooking compared to much of Southeast Asia,
chili leaves are frequently used as a cooking green,
again distinct from the cooking of neighbors. Spanish
(and Mexican) dishes were eventually incorporated
into Philippine cuisine with the more complex dishes
usually being prepared for special occasions. Some
dishes such as arroz a la valenciana remain largely the
same in the Philippine context. Some have been
adapted or have come to take on a slightly or
significantly different meaning. Arroz a la cubana
served in the Philippines usually includes ground beef
picadillo. Philippine longganisa despite its name is
more akin to chorizo than Spanish longaniza. Morcon
is likely to refer to a beef roulade dish not the bulbous
specialty Spanish sausage.
While there were some Chinese in the Philippines
before the Spanish, a significant Chinese population
grew only after the Spanish established themselves.
Chinese food became a staple of the panciterias or
noodle shops that sprang up in the nineteenth
century, but were often marketed with Spanish
names. The influence of comida china (Chinese food)
is seen in dishes like arroz caldo (congee), morisqueta
tostada (an obsolete term for sinangag or fried rice),
and chopsuey.
Today, Philippine cuisine continues to evolve as new
techniques, styles of cooking, and ingredients find
their way into the country. Traditional dishes both
simple and elaborate, indigenous and foreigninfluenced, are seen as are more current popular
international viands and fast food fare.
[edit] Characteristics
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Typical merienda fare, an afternoon snack
A large bibingka topped with grated coconut
spoiling, and even improve in flavor with a day or two
of storage. Tinapa is a smoke-cured fish while tuyo,
daing, and dangit are corned, sun-dried fish popular
because they can last for weeks without spoiling, even
without refrigeration.
Cooking and eating in the Philippines has traditionally
been an informal and communal affair centered
around the family kitchen. Filipinos traditionally eat
three main meals a day: agahan or almusal
(breakfast), tanghalían (lunch), and hapunan (dinner)
plus an afternoon snack called meriénda (also called
minandál or minindál). Snacking is normal. Dinner,
while still the main meal, is smaller than other
countries. Usually, either breakfast or lunch is the
largest meal. Food tends to be served all at once and
not in courses. Unlike many of their Asian
counterparts Filipinos do not eat with chopsticks. Due
to Western influence, food is often eaten using
flatware—forks, knives, spoons—but the primary
pairing of utensils used at a Filipino dining table is
that of spoon and fork not knife and fork. The
traditional way of eating is with the hands, especially
dry dishes such as inihaw or prito. The diner will take
a bite of the main dish, then eat rice pressed together
with his fingers. This practice, known as kamayan, is
rarely seen in urbanized areas. However, Filipinos
tend to feel the spirit of kamayan when eating amidst
nature during out of town trips, beach vacations, and
town fiestas.[6]
[edit] Common foods and dishes
Filipino cuisine is distinguished by its bold
combination of sweet (tamis), sour (asim), and salty
(alat) flavors. While other Asian cuisines may be
known for a more subtle delivery and presentation,
Filipino cuisine is often delivered all at once in a single
presentation.
Counterpoint is a feature in Philippine cuisine which
normally comes in a pairing of something sweet with
something salty, and results in surprisingly pleasing
combinations. Examples include: champorado (a
sweet cocoa rice porridge), being paired with tuyo
(salted, sun-dried fish); dinuguan (a savory stew made
of pig's blood and innards), paired with puto (sweet,
steamed rice cakes); unripe fruits such as mangoes
(which are only slightly sweet but very sour), are
eaten dipped in salt or bagoong; the use of cheese
(which is salty) in sweetcakes (such as bibingka and
puto), as well as an ice cream flavoring.
Vinegar is a common ingredient. Adobo is popular not
solely for its simplicity and ease of preparation, but
also for its ability to be stored for days without
Rice is a staple food in Philippine cuisine
Calamondin
As with most Asian countries, the staple food in the
Philippines is rice. It is most often steamed and served
during meals. Leftover rice is often fried with garlic to
make sinangag, which is usually served at breakfast
together with a fried egg and cured meat or sausages.
Rice is often enjoyed with the sauce or broth from the
main dishes. In some regions, rice is mixed with salt,
condensed milk, cocoa, or coffee. Rice flour is used in
making sweets, cakes and other pastries. While rice is
the main staple food, bread is also a common staple.
A variety of fruits and vegetables are often used in
cooking. Bananas (the saba variety in particular),
Calamondin (kalamansi), guava (bayabas), mangoes,
papaya, and pineapples lend a distinctly tropical flair
in many dishes, but mainstay green leafy vegetables
like water spinach (kangkong), Chinese cabbage
(petsay), Napa cabbage (petsay wombok), cabbage
(repolyo) and other vegetables like eggplants (talong)
and yard-long beans (sitaw) are just as commonly
used. Coconuts are ubiquitous. Coconut meat is often
used in desserts, coconut milk (kakang gata) in
sauces, and coconut oil for frying. Abundant harvests
of root crops like potatoes, carrots, taro (gabi),
cassava (kamoteng kahoy), purple yam (ube), and
sweet potato (kamote) make them readily available.
The combination of tomatoes (kamatis), garlic
(bawang), and onions (sibuyas) is found in many
dishes.
Meat staples include chicken, pork, beef, and fish.
Seafood is popular as a result of the bodies of water
surrounding the archipelago. Popular catches include
tilapia, catfish (hito), milkfish (bangus), grouper (lapulapu), shrimp (hipon), prawns (sugpo), mackerel
(galunggong, hasa-hasa), swordfish, oysters (talaba),
mussels (tahong), clams (halaan and tulya), large and
small crabs (alimango and alimasag respectively),
game fish, sablefish, tuna, cod, blue marlin, and
squid/cuttlefish (both called pusit). Also popular are
seaweeds, abalone, and eel.
The most common way of having fish is to have it
salted, pan-fried or deep-fried, and then eaten as a
simple meal with rice and vegetables. It may also be
cooked in a sour broth of tomatoes or tamarind as in
pangat, prepared with vegetables and a souring agent
to make sinigang, simmered in vinegar and peppers to
make paksiw, or roasted over hot charcoal or wood
(inihaw). Other preparations include escabeche (sweet
and sour) or relleno (deboned and stuffed). Fish can
be preserved by being smoked (tinapa) or sun-dried
(tuyo or daing).
Food is often served with various dipping sauces.
Fried food is often dipped in vinegar, soy sauce, juice
squeezed
from
kalamansi
(Philippine
lime,
calamondin, or calamansi), or a combination of two or
all. Patis (fish sauce) may be mixed with kalamansi as
dipping sauce for most seafood. Fish sauce, fish paste
(bagoong), shrimp paste (bagoong alamang) and
crushed ginger root (luya) are condiments that are
often added to dishes during the cooking process or
when served.
[edit] Breakfast
Tapsilog
A traditional Filipino breakfast might include pandesal
(small bread rolls), kesong puti (white cheese),
champorado (chocolate rice porridge), sinangag
(garlic fried rice), and meat—such as tapa, longganisa,
tocino, karne norte (corned beef), or fish such as daing
na bangus (salted and dried milkfish)—or itlog na
pula (salted duck eggs). Coffee is also commonly
served particularly kapeng barako, a variety of coffee
produced in the mountains of Batangas noted for
having a strong flavor.
Certain portmanteaus in Filipino have come into use
to describe popular combinations of items in a Filipino
breakfast. An example of such a combination order is
kankamtuy: an order of kanin (rice), kamatis
(tomatoes) and tuyo (dried fish). Another is tapsi: an
order of tapa and sinangág. Other examples include
variations using a silog suffix, usually some kind of
meat served with sinangág and itlog (egg). The three
most commonly seen silogs are tapsilog (having tapa
as the meat portion), tocilog (having tocino as the
meat portion), and longsilog (having longganisa as the
meat portion). Other silogs include hotsilog (with a hot
dog), bangsilog (with bangus (milkfish)), dangsilog
(with danggit (rabbitfish)), spamsilog (with spam),
adosilog (with adobo), chosilog (with chorizo),
chiksilog (with chicken), cornsilog (with corned beef),
and litsilog (with lechon/litson). Pankaplog is a slang
term referring to a breakfast consisting of pandesal,
kape (coffee), and itlog (egg).[7] An establishment that
specializes in such meals is called a tapsihan or
"tapsilugan".
[edit] Merienda
Chicharrón
Puto in banana leaf liners
Merienda is taken from the Spanish and is a light meal
or snack especially in the afternoon, similar to the
concept of afternoon tea. If the meal is taken close to
dinner, it is called merienda cena, and may be served
instead of dinner.
Filipinos have a number of options to take with their
traditional kape (coffee): breads and pastries like
pandesal, ensaymada (buttery sweet rolls covered
with cheese), hopia (pastries similar to mooncakes
filled with sweet bean paste) and empanada (savory
pastries stuffed with meat). There's also the option of
cakes made with sticky rice (kakanin) like kutsinta,
sapin-sapin, palitaw, biko, suman, bibingka, and pitsipitsi.
Savory dishes often eaten during merienda include
pancit canton (stir-fried noodles), palabok (rice
noodles with a shrimp-based sauce), tokwa't baboy
(fried tofu with boiled pork ears in a garlic-flavored
soy sauce and vinegar sauce), and dinuguan (a spicy
stew made with pork blood) which is often served
with puto (steamed rice flour cakes).
Dim sum and dumplings brought over by the
Fujianese people have been given a Filipino touch and
are often eaten for merienda. Street foods, most of
which are skewered on bamboo sticks, such as squid
balls, fish balls, and others are common choices too.
[edit] Pulutan
Pulutan (from the Filipino word pulutin which literally
means "something that is picked up") is a term
roughly analogous to the English term "finger food". It
originally was a snack accompanied with liquor or
beer but has found its way into Philippine cuisine as
appetizers or, in some cases, main dishes, as in the
case of sisig.
Deep fried pulutan include chicharon (also spelled
tsitsaron), pork rinds that have been salted, dried,
then fried; chicharong bituka or chibab, pig intestines
that have been deep fried to a crisp; chicharong
bulaklak or chilak, similar to chicharong bituka it is
made from mesenteries of pig intestines and has a
bulaklak or flower appearance; and chicharong manok
or chink, chicken skin that has been deep fried until
crisp.
Some grilled foods include barbecue isaw, chicken or
pig intestines marinated and skewered; barbecue
tenga, pig ears that have been marinated and
skewered; pork barbecue which is skewered pork
marinated in a usually sweet blend; betamax, salted
solidified pork or chicken blood which is skewered;
adidas which is grilled or sautéed chicken feet. And
there is sisig a popular pulutan made from the pig's
cheek skin, ears and liver that is initially boiled, then
grilled over charcoal and afterwards minced and
cooked with chopped onions, chillies, and spices.
Smaller snacks such as mani (peanuts) are often sold
boiled in the shell, salted, spiced or flavored with
garlic by street vendors in the Philippines. Another
snack is kropeck which is fish crackers.
Fried tokwa't baboy is tofu fried with boiled pork then
dipped in a garlic-flavored soy sauce or vinegar dip
that is also served as a side dish to pancit luglog or
pancit palabok.
[edit] Breads and pastries
Bag of pandesal
A mille-feuille pastry
In a typical Filipino bakery, pandesal, monay and
ensaymada are often sold. Pandesal comes from the
Spanish pan de sal (literally, bread of salt) and is a
ubiquitous breakfast fare, normally eaten with (and
sometimes even dipped in) coffee. It typically takes
the form of a bread roll, and is usually baked covered
in bread crumbs. Contrary to what its name implies,
pandesal is not particularly salty as very little salt is
used in baking it. Monay is a firmer slightly denser
heavier bread. Ensaymada, from the Spanish
ensaimada, is a pastry made using butter and often
topped with sugar and shredded cheese that is
especially popular during Christmas. It is sometimes
made with fillings such as ube (purple yam) and
macapuno (a variety of coconut the meat of which is
often cut into strings, sweetened, preserved, and
served in desserts). Also commonly sold in Filipino
bakeries is pan de coco a sweet bread roll filled with
shredded coconut mixed with molasses. Putok, which
literally means "explode", refers to a small hard bread
roll whose cratered surface is glazed with sugar.
Kababayan is a small sweet gong-shaped muffin that
has a moist consistency. Spanish bread refers to a
rolled pastry which looks like a croissant prior to
being given a crescent shape and has a filling
consisting of sugar and butter.
There are also rolls like pianono which is a chiffon roll
flavored with different fillings. Brazo de mercedes, a
rolled cake or jelly roll, is made from a sheet of
meringue rolled around a custard filling. Similar to the
previous dessert, it takes on a layered presentation
instead of being rolled and typically features
caramelized sugar and nuts for sans rival. Silvañas are
oval-shaped, large cookie-sized desserts, with a thin
meringue on either side of a buttercream filling and
dusted with crumbed cookies. Not overly sweet, they
are rich, crisp, chewy, and buttery all at the same time.
Barquillos use sweet thin crunchy wafers rolled into
tubes that can be sold hollow or filled with polvoron
(sweetened and toasted flour mixed with ground
nuts). Meringues are also present in the Philippines,
due to the Spanish influence, but they are called
merengue – with all the vowels pronounced. Leche flan
is a type of caramel custard made with eggs and milk
similar to the French creme caramel.
The egg pie with a very rich egg custard filling is a
mainstay in local bakeries. It is typically baked so that
the exposed custard on top is browned. Buko pie is
made with a filling made from young coconut meat
and dairy. Mini pastries like turrones de casuy are
made up of cashew marzipan wrapped with a wafer
made to resemble a candy wrapper but take on a
miniature look of a pie in a size of about a quarter.
There is also napoleones – again with all the vowels
pronounced – a mille-feuille pastry stuffed with a
sweet milk-based filling.
There are hard pastries like biskotso a crunchy, sweet,
twice-baked bread. Another baked goody is sinipit
which is a sweet pastry covered in a crunchy sugar
glaze, made to resemble a length of rope. Similar to
sinipit is a snack eaten on roadsides colloquially called
shingaling. It is hollow but crunchy with a salty flavor.
For a softer treat there is mamon a chiffon-type cake
sprinkled with sugar, its name derived from a slang
Spanish term for breast. There's also crema de fruta
which is an elaborate sponge cake topped in
succeeding layers of cream, custard, candied fruit, and
gelatine. Similar to a sponge cake is mamoncillo which
generally refers to slices taken from a large mamon
cake, but it is unrelated to the fruit of the same name.
Sandwich pastries like inipit are made with two thin
layers of chiffon sandwiching a filling of custard that is
topped with butter and sugar. Another mamon variant
is mamon tostada, basically mamoncillo toasted to a
crunchy texture.
Stuffed pastries of both Western and Eastern
influence are common. One can find empanadas,
turnover-type pastry filled with a savory-sweet meat
filling. Typically made with ground meat and raisins, it
can be deep fried or baked. Siopao is the local version
of Chinese baozi. Buchi is another snack probably of
Chinese origin. Bite-sized, buchi is made of deep-fried
dough balls (often from rice flour) filled with a sweet
mung bean paste, and coated on the outside with
sesame seeds, some variants have ube as the filling.
There are also many varieties of the mooncake-like
hopia, which come in different shapes (from a flat,
circular stuffed form, to cubes), and have different
textures (predominantly using flaky pastry, but
sometimes like the ones in mooncakes) and fillings.
[edit] Fiesta foods
purple yam-flavored puto.
More common at celebrations than in everyday home
meals, lumpiang sariwa, sometimes referred to as
fresh lumpia, is a fresh spring roll that consists of a
soft crepe wrapped around a filling that can include
strips of kamote (sweet potato), singkamas (jicama),
bean sprouts, green beans, cabbage, carrots and meat
(often pork). It can be served warm or cold and
typically with a sweet peanut and garlic sauce. Ukoy is
shredded papaya combined with small shrimp (and
occasionally bean sprouts) and fried to make shrimp
patties. It is often eaten with vinegar seasoned with
garlic, salt and pepper. Both lumpiang sariwa and ukoy
are often accompanied together in Filipino parties.
Lumpiang sariwa has Chinese origins, having been
derived from popiah.[citation needed]
[edit] Regional specialties
Lechón being roasted in Cadiz City, Philippines.
For festive occasions, Filipino women band together
and prepare more sophisticated dishes. Tables are
often laden with expensive and labor-intensive treats
requiring hours of preparation. In Filipino
celebrations, lechón (also litson) serves as the
centerpiece of the dinner table. It is usually a whole
roasted suckling pig, but piglets (lechonillo, or lechon
de leche) or cattle calves (lechong baka) can also be
prepared in place to the popular adult pig. It is
typically served with lechon sauce. Other dishes
include hamonado (honey-cured beef, pork or
chicken), relleno (stuffed chicken or milkfish),
mechado, afritada, caldereta, puchero, paella, menudo,
morcon, embutido (referring to a meatloaf dish, not a
sausage as understood elsewhere), suman (a savory
rice and coconut milk concoction steamed in leaves
such as banana), and pancit canton. The table may also
be have various sweets and pastries such as leche flan,
ube, sapin-sapin, sorbetes (ice cream), totong (a rice,
coconut milk and mongo bean pudding), ginataan (a
coconut milk pudding with various root vegetables
and tapioca pearls), and gulaman (an agar jello-like
ingredient or dessert).
Christmas Eve, known as Noche Buena, is the most
important feast. During this evening, the star of the
table is the Christmas ham and Edam cheese (queso de
bola). Supermarkets are laden with these treats
during the Christmas season and are popular
giveaways by Filipino companies in addition to red
wine, brandy, groceries, or pastries. Available mostly
during the Christmas season and sold in front of
churches along with bibingka, puto bumbong is a
Pinakbet with shrimp
Sapin-sapin, a Filipino rice-based delicacy, sprinkled
with latik – latik is the reduction of coconut milk until
all or most of the liquid has evaporated (depending on
regional variation).
The Philippine islands are home to various ethnic
groups resulting in varied regional cuisines.
Ilocanos from the rugged Ilocos region boast of a diet
heavy in boiled or steamed vegetables and freshwater
fish, but they are particularly fond of dishes flavored
with bagoong, fermented fish that is often used
instead of salt. Ilocanos often season boiled vegetables
with bagoong monamon (fermented anchovy paste) to
produce pinakbet. Local specialties include the soft
white larvae of ants and "jumping salad" of tiny live
shrimp.
The Igorots prefer roasted meats, particularly carabao
meat, goat meat, and venison.
Due to its mild, sub-tropical climate, Baguio, along
with the outlying mountainous regions, is renowned
for its produce. Temperate-zone fruits and vegetables
(strawberries being a notable example) which would
otherwise wilt in lower regions are grown there. It is
also known for a snack called sundot-kulangot which
literally means "poke the booger." It's actually a sticky
kind of sweet made from milled glutinous rice flour
mixed with molasses, and served inside pitogo shells,
and with a stick to "poke" its sticky substance with.
The town of Calasiao in Pangasinan is known for its
puto, a type of steamed rice cake.
Pampanga is the culinary center of the Philippines.
Kapampangan cuisine makes use of all the produce in
the region available to the native cook. Among the
treats produced in Pampanga are longganisa (original
sweet and spicy sausages), calderetang kambing
(savory goat stew), and tocino (sweetened cured
pork). Combining pork cheeks and offal,
Kapampangans make sisig. Kare-kare is also thought
to have been originated from Pampanga.[citation needed]
Bicol is known for its very spicy Bicol express. The
region is also the well-known home of natong also
known as laing or pinangat (a pork or fish stew in taro
leaves).
Bulacan is popular for chicharon (pork rinds) and
steamed rice and tuber cakes like puto. It is a center
for panghimagas or desserts, like brown rice cake or
kutsinta, sapin-sapin, suman, cassava cake, halaya ube
and the king of sweets, in San Miguel, Bulacan, the
famous carabao milk candy pastillas de leche, with its
pabalat wrapper.[8]
Cainta in Rizal province east of Manila is known for its
Filipino rice cakes and puddings. These are usually
topped with latik, a mixture of coconut milk and
brown sugar, reduced to a dry crumbly texture. A
more modern, and time saving alternative to latik are
coconut flakes toasted in a frying pan.
Antipolo, straddled mid-level in the mountainous
regions of the Philippine Sierra Madre, is a town
known for its suman and cashew products.
Laguna is known for buko pie (coconut pie) and
panutsa (peanut brittle).
Batangas is home to Taal Lake, a body of water that
surrounds Taal Volcano. The lake is home to 75
species of freshwater fish. Among these, the maliputo
and tawilis are two not commonly found elsewhere.
These fish are delicious native delicacies. Batangas is
also known for its special coffee, kapeng barako.
Bacolod is known for chicken "inasal" which is a kind
of roast chicken served on skewers.
Iloilo is known for La Paz batchoy, pancit molo,
dinuguan, puto, biscocho and piyaya.[citation needed]
Cebu is known for its lechón. Lechon prepared "Cebu
style" is characterized by a crisp outer skin and a
moist juicy meat with a unique taste given by a blend
of spices. Cebu is also known for sweets like dried
mangoes and caramel tarts.
Farther south in Mindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi
dishes are filled with the spices of the rest of
Southeast Asia: turmeric, coriander, lemon grass,
cumin, and chillies — ingredients not commonly used
in the rest of Filipino cooking (except in the Bicol
Region where there is a fairly liberal use of chillies).
Being free from Hispanicization, the cuisine of the
indigenous Moro and Lumad peoples of Mindanao and
the Sulu archipelago differs greatly from much of the
cooking found throughout the rest of the Philippines,
having more in common with the rich and spicy Malay
cuisines of Malaysia, Brunei and to an extent Sumatra,
Indonesia, with well-known dishes from the region
being satti (satay) and ginataang manok (chicken
cooked in coconut milk). Since this region is
predominantly Muslim, pork is rarely if ever
consumed. Popular crops such as cassava root, sweet
potatoes, and yams are grown. Sambal is a popular
sauce in the region. Another popular dish from this
region is tiyula itum, a dark broth of beef or chicken
lightly flavored with ginger, chili, turmeric, and
toasted coconut flesh (which gives it its dark color).
[edit] Main dishes
liver or liver spread. This adds flavor and thickens the
sauce so that it starts to caramelize around the meat
by the time dish is finished cooking. Although some
versions of paksiw dishes are made using the same
basic ingredients as adobo, they are prepared
differently, with other ingredients added and the
proportions of ingredients and water being different.
Pork adobo, with vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, onions,
black pepper, and pineapples.
Kare-kare
Adobo is one of the most popular Filipino dishes and is
considered unofficially by many as the national dish. It
usually consists of pork or chicken, sometimes both,
stewed or braised in a sauce usually made from
vinegar, cooking oil, garlic, bay leaf, peppercorns, and
soy sauce. It can also be prepared "dry" by cooking out
the liquid and concentrating the flavor. Bistek, also
known as "Filipino beef steak," consists of thinly sliced
beef marinated in soy sauce and calamansi and then
fried in a skillet that is typically served with onions.
Some well-known stews are kare-kare and dinuguan.
In kare-kare, also known as "peanut stew", the oxtail
or ox tripe is the main ingredient and is cooked with
vegetables in a peanut-based preparation. It is
typically served with bagoong (fermented shrimp
paste). In dinuguan, a pig's blood, entrails, and meat
are cooked with vinegar and seasoned with chili
peppers, usually siling mahaba.
Paksiw refers to different vinegar-based stews that
differ greatly from one another based on the type of
meat used. Paksiw na isda uses fish and usually
includes the addition of ginger, fish sauce, and maybe
siling mahaba and vegetables. Paksiw na baboy is a
paksiw using pork, usually pork hocks, and often sees
the addition of sugar, banana blossoms, and water so
that the meat is stewed in a sweet sauce. A similar
Visayan dish called humba adds fermented black
beans. Both dishes are probably related to pata tim
which is of Chinese origin. Paksiw na lechon is made
from lechon meat and features the addition of ground
In crispy pata, pork knuckles (the pata) are marinated
in garlic-flavored vinegar then deep fried until crisp
and golden brown, with other parts of the pork leg
prepared in the same way. Lechon manok is the
Filipino take on rotisserie chicken. Available in many
hole-in-the-wall stands or restaurant chains (e.g.
Andok's, Baliwag, Toto's, Sr. Pedro's, G.S.
Pagtakhan's), it is typically a specially seasoned
chicken roasted over a charcoal flame served with
"sarsa" or lechon sauce made from mashed pork liver,
starch, sugar, and spices.
Mechado, kaldereta, and afritada are Spanish
influenced tomato sauce-based dishes that are
somewhat similar to one another. In these dishes
meat is cooked in tomato sauce, minced garlic, and
onions. Mechado gets its name from the pork fat that is
inserted in a slab of beef making it look like a wick
(mitsa) coming out of a beef "candle". The larded meat
is then cooked in a seasoned tomato sauce and later
sliced and served with the sauce it was cooked in.
Kaldereta can be beef but is also associated with goat.
Chunks of meat are cooked in tomato sauce, minced
garlic, chopped onions, peas, carrots, bell peppers and
potatoes to make a stew with some recipes calling for
the addition of soy sauce, fish sauce, vinegar, chilies,
ground liver or some combination thereof. Afritada
tends to be the name given to the dish when chicken
and pork is used. Another similar dish said to
originate from the Rizal area is waknatoy. Pork or beef
sirloin is combined with potatoes and cut sausages
and cooked in a tomato-based sauce sweetened with
pickles. Puchero is derived from the Spanish cocido; it
is a sweeter stew that has beef and banana or plantain
slices simmered in tomato sauce.
Filipinos also eat tocino and longganisa. Tocino is a
sweetened cured meat made with either chicken or
pork and is marinated and cured for a number of days
before being fried. Longganisa is a sweet or spicy
sausage, typically made from pork though other meats
can also be used, and are often colored red
traditionally through the use of the anatto seed but
also artificial food coloring.
Pancit bihon (bijon)
Sinigang na baboy (Pork tamarind soup)
Filipino soups tend to be very hearty and stew-like
containing large chunks of meat and vegetables or
noodles. They are usually intended to be filling and
not meant to be a light preparatory introduction for
the main course. They tend to be served with the rest
of the meal and eaten with rice when they are not
meals unto themselves. They are often referred to on
local menus under the heading sabaw (broth).
Sinigang is a popular dish in this category
distinguished by its sourness that often vies with
adobo for consideration as the national dish. It is
typically made with either pork, beef, chicken or
seafood and made sour with tamarind or other
suitable souring ingredients. Some seafood variants
for example can be made sour by the use of guava fruit
or miso. Another dish is tinola. It has large chicken
pieces and green papaya slices cooked with chili,
spinach, and moringa leaves in a ginger-flavored
broth. Nilagang baka is a beef stew made with
cabbages and other vegetables. Binacol is a warm
chicken soup cooked with coconut water and served
with strips of coconut meat. La Paz batchoy is a noodle
soup garnished with pork innards, crushed pork
cracklings, chopped vegetables, and topped with a raw
egg. Another dish with the same name uses misua,
beef heart, kidneys and intestines, but does not
contain eggs or vegetables. Mami is a noodle soup
made from chicken, beef, pork, wonton dumplings, or
intestines (called laman-loob). Ma Mon Luk was
known for it. Another chicken noodle soup is
sotanghon, consisting of cellophane noodles (also
called sotanghon and from whence the name of the
dish is derived), chicken, and sometimes mushrooms.
Noodle dishes are generally called pancit. Pancit
recipes primarily consist of noodles, vegetables, and
slices of meat or shrimp with variations often
distinguished by the type of noodles used. Some
pancit, such as mami and La Paz-styled batchoy, are
noodle soups while the "dry" varieties are comparable
to chow mein in preparation. Then there is spaghetti
or ispageti in the local parlance that is a modified
version of spaghetti bolognese. It is sometimes made
with banana ketchup instead of tomato sauce,
sweetened with sugar and topped with hot dog slices.
There are several rice porridges that are popular in
the Philippines. One is arroz caldo which is a rice
porridge cooked with chicken, ginger and sometimes
saffron, garnished with spring onions (chives), toasted
garlic, and coconut milk to make a type of gruel.
Another variant is goto which is an arroz caldo made
with ox tripe. There is also another much different
rice porridge called champorado which is sweet and
flavored with chocolate and often served at breakfast
paired with tuyo or daing.
Another rice-based dish is arroz a la valenciana, a
Spanish paella named after the Spanish region
Valencia that has been incorporated into the local
cuisine. Bringhe is a local rice dish with some
similarities to paella but using glutinous rice, coconut
milk, and turmeric. Kiampong a type of fried rice
topped with pork pieces, chives and peanuts. It can be
found in Chinese restaurants in Binondo and Manila.
For vegetarians, there is dinengdeng, a dish consisting
of moringa leaves (malunggay) and slices of
bittermelon. There is also pinakbet, stewed vegetables
heavily flavored with bagoong. A type of seafood salad
known as kinilaw is made up of raw seafood such as
fish or shrimp cooked only by steeping in local
vinegar, sometimes with coconut milk, onions, spices
and other local ingredients. It is comparable to the
Peruvian ceviche.
[edit] Side dishes and complements
Itlog na pula (red eggs) are duck eggs that have been
cured in brine or a mixture of clay-and-salt for a few
weeks making them salty. They are later hard boiled
and dyed with red food coloring, hence its name, to
distinguish them from chicken eggs before they are
sold over the shelves. They are often served mixed in
with diced tomatoes. Atchara is a side dish of pickled
papaya strips similar to sauerkraut. It's a frequent
accompaniment to fried dishes like tapa or daing.
Nata de coco is a chewy, translucent, jelly-like food
product produced by the fermentation of coconut
water can be served with pandesal. Kesong puti is a
soft white cheese made from carabao milk (although
cow milk is also used in most commercial variants).
Grated mature coconut (niyog), is normally served
with sweet rice-based desserts.
[edit] Desserts
For cold desserts there is halo-halo which can be
described as a dessert made with shaved ice, milk, and
sugar with additional ingredients like coconut, halaya
(mashed purple yam), caramel custard, plantains,
jackfruit, red beans, tapioca and pinipig being typical.
Other similar treats made with shaved ice include
saba con yelo which is shaved ice served with milk and
minatamis na saging (ripe plantains chopped and
caramelized with brown sugar); mais con yelo which is
shaved ice served with steamed corn kernels, sugar,
and milk; and buko pandan sweetened grated strips of
coconut with gulaman, milk, and the juice or extract
from pandan leaves. Sorbetes (ice cream) is popular
too. A local version uses coconut milk instead of cow
milk. Ice candy made from juice or chocolate put it in a
freezer to freeze is another treat. It can be any kind of
flavor depending on the maker; chocolate and buko
(coconut) flavored ice candy are two of the most
popular.
[edit] Dessert gallery
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Bibingkang Malagkit, rice cakes made from
glutinous rice flour.
Halo-halo
As a tropical oriental country it should come as no
surprise there are many treats made from rice and
coconuts. One often seen dessert is bibingka, a hot rice
cake optionally topped with a pat of butter, slices of
kesong puti (white cheese), itlog na maalat (salted
duck eggs), and sometimes grated coconut. There is
also glutinous rice sweets called biko made with sugar,
butter, and coconut milk. Another brown rice cake is
kutsinta. Puto is another well known example of sweet
steamed rice cakes prepared in many different sizes
and colors. Sapin-sapin are three-layered, tri-colored
sweets made with rice flour, purple yam, and coconut
milk with its gelatinous appearance. Palitaw are rice
patties covered with sesame seeds, sugar, and
coconut; pitsi-pitsi which are cassava patties coated
with cheese or coconut; and tibok-tibok is based on
carabao milk as a de leche (similar to maja blanca). As
a snack, binatog is created with corn kernels with
shredded coconut. Packaged snacks wrapped in
banana or palm leaves then steamed, suman are made
from sticky rice.

Bibingka Galapong, rice cakes with salted
duck eggs.
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Nilupak, a dessert made from mashed
cassava. sweet potatoes, or saba bananas with
butter or margarine.
Kutchinta (also known as Puto Cuchinta),
moist jelly-like rice cakes made with brown
sugar and lye. It is usually served with grated
coconut.
Aside from pastries and desserts, there are heartier
snacks for merienda that can also serve as an
appetizer or side dish for a meal.Siomai is the local
version of Chinese shaomai. Lumpia are spring rolls
that can be either fresh or fried. Fresh lumpia
(lumpiang sariwa) is usually made for fiestas or
special occasions as it can be labor-intensive to
prepare, while one version of fried lumpia (lumpiang
prito), lumpiang shanghai is usually filled with ground
pork and a combination of vegetables, and served with
a sweet and sour dipping sauce.[9] Other variations are
filled with minced pork and shrimp and accompanied
by a vinegar-based dipping sauce. Lumpia has been
commercialized in frozen food form.
Maja de ube, a dessert made from mashed
purple yam and coconut milk.
There's a distinct range of street foods available in the
Philippines. Some of these are skewered on sticks in
the manner of a kebab. One such example is bananacue which is a whole banana or plantain skewered on
a short thin bamboo stick, rolled in brown sugar, and
fried. Kamote-cue is a peeled sweet potato skewered
on a stick, covered in brown sugar and then fried. Fish
balls or squid balls are skewered on bamboo sticks
then dipped in a sweet or savory sauce to be
commonly sold frozen in markets and peddled by
street vendors.
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[edit] Street food and other snacks
Fish balls
Turon, a kind of fried lumpia consisting of an eggroll
or phyllo wrapper filled with plantain and jackfruit
and sprinkled with sugar can also be found sold in
streets.
Taho is a warm treat made up of soft beancurd which
is the taho itself, dark caramel syrup called arnibal,
and tapioca pearls. It is often sold in neighborhoods
by street vendors who yell out "taho" in a manner like
vendors in the stands at sporting events yell out
"hotdogs" or "peanuts". Sometimes taho is served
chilled or flavors have been added such as chocolate
or strawberry. Taho is derived from the original
Chinese snack food known as douhua.
There is also iskrambol (from the English "to
scramble"), that is a kind of iced-based treat like a
sorbet combined with various flavorings and usually
topped with chocolate syrup. It is eaten by
"scrambling" the contents or mixing them, then
drinking with a large straw.
A merchant selling fish balls in the Philippines
Street foods featuring eggs include kwek-kwek which
are hard-boiled quail eggs dipped in orange-dyed
batter and then deep fried similar to tempura.
Tokneneng is a larger version of kwek-kwek using
chicken or duck eggs. Another Filipino egg snack is
balut, essentially a boiled pre-hatched poultry egg,
usually duck or chicken. These fertilized eggs are
allowed to develop until the embryo reaches a predetermined size and are then boiled. There is also
another egg dish called penoy which is basically hardboiled unfertilized duck eggs. Like taho, balut is
advertised by street hawkers calling out their product.
Okoy also spelled as ukoy is another batter-covered,
deep-fried street food in the Philippines. Along with
the batter, it normally includes bean sprouts,
shredded pumpkin and very small shrimps, shells and
all. It is commonly dipped in a combination of vinegar
and chilli.
Among other street foods are already mentioned
pulutan like isaw, seasoned hog or chicken intestines;
betamax, roasted dried chicken blood served cut into
and served as small cubes for which it received its
name in resemblance to a Betamax tape; and proven,
the proventriculus of a chicken coated in cornstarch
and deep-fried. There is also pinoy fries which are fries
made from sweet potatoes.
methods and terms are listed below:
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[edit] Exotic dishes

Some exotic dishes in the Filipino diet are camaro
which are field crickets cooked in soy sauce, salt, and
vinegar as it is popular in Pampanga; papaitan which
is goat or beef innards stew flavored with bile that
gives it a bitter (pait) taste; Soup No. 5 (Also spelled as
"Soup #5") which is a soup made out of bull's
testes,[10][11] and can be found in restaurants in Ongpin
St., Binondo, Manila; asocena or dog meat popular in
the Cordillera Administrative Region; and pinikpikan
na manok that involves having a chicken beaten to
death to tenderize the meat and to infuse it with
blood. It is then burned in fire to remove its feathers
then boiled with salt and pork.[12][13] The act of beating
the chicken in preparation of the dish apparently
violates the Philippine Animal Welfare Act 1998.[14]
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[edit] Cooking methods
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
Tinapa, smoked fish
The Filipino/Tagalog words for popular cooking


"Adobo/Inadobo" − cooked in vinegar, oil,
garlic and soy sauce.
"Babad/Binabad/Ibinabad" − to marinate.
"Banli/Binanlian/Pabanli" − blanched.
"Bagoong/Binagoongan/ – sa Bagoong" −
cooked with fermented fish paste bagoong.
"Binalot" – literally "wrapped." This generally
refers to dishes wrapped in banana leaves,
pandan leaves, or even aluminum foil. The
wrapper is generally inedible (in contrast to
lumpia — see below).
"Buro/Binuro" − fermented.
"Daing/Dinaing/Padaing" − marinated with
garlic, vinegar, and black peppers. Sometimes
dried and usually fried before eating.
"Guinataan/sa Gata" − cooked with coconut
milk.
"Guisa/Guisado/Ginisa" or "Gisado" − sautéed
with garlic, onions and/or tomatoes.
"Halabos/Hinalabos" – mostly for shellfish.
Steamed in their own juices and sometimes
carbonated soda.
"Hilaw/Sariwa" – unripe (for fruits and
vegetables), raw (for meats). Also used for
uncooked food in general (as in lumpiang
sariwa).
"Hinurno" – baked in an oven or roasted.
"Ihaw/Inihaw" − grilled over coals.
"Kinilaw" or "Kilawin" − marinated in vinegar
or calamansi juice along with garlic, onions,
ginger, tomato, peppers.
"Laga/Nilaga/Palaga" − boiled/braised.
"Nilasing" − cooked with an alcoholic
beverage like wine or beer.
"Lechon/Litson/Nilechon" − roasted on a spit.
"Lumpia" – wrapped with an edible wrapper.
"Minatamis" − sweetened.
"Pinakbet" − to cook with vegetables usually
with sitaw (yardlong beans), calabaza, talong
(eggplant), and ampalaya (bitter melon)
among others and bagoong.
"Paksiw/Pinaksiw" − cooked in vinegar.
"Pangat/Pinangat" − boiled in salted water
with fruit such as tomatoes or ripe mangoes.
"Palaman/Pinalaman" − "filled" as in siopao,
though "palaman" also refers to the filling in a
sandwich.
"Pinakuluan" – boiled.
"Prito/Pinirito" − fried or deep fried. From the
Spanish frito.
"Relleno/Relyeno" – stuffed.
"Tapa/Tinapa" – dried and smoked. Tapa
refers to meat treated in this manner, mostly
marinated and then dried and fried

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afterwards. Tinapa meanwhile is almost
exclusively associated with smoked fish.
"Sarza/Sarciado" – cooked with a thick sauce.
"Sinangag" – garlic fried rice.
"Sigang/Sinigang" − boiled in a sour broth
usually with a tamarind base. Other common
souring agents include guava, raw mangoes,
calamansi also known as calamondin.
"Tosta/Tinosta/Tostado" – toasted.
"Torta/Tinorta/Patorta" – to cook with eggs
in the manner of an omelette.
Banchan
Bokkeum • Jorim • Jjim • Seon • Gui • Hoe •
Jeon • Bugak • Po • Pyeonyuk • Jokpyeon • Muk •
Namul • Ssam • Dubu kimchi • Kimchijeon
Desserts[hide]
Tteok • Hangwa (Yumilgwa • Yeot • Gangjeong •
Jeonggwa • Suksilgwa • Gwapyeon • Dasik)
Beverages[hide]
List
of
Korean
beverages
Korean cuisine
Alcoholic • Cha • Hwachae • Sikhye • Sujeonggwa
Prehistoric
In the Jeulmun pottery period (approximately 8000
to 1500 BCE), hunter-gatherer societies engaged in
fishing and hunting, and incipient agriculture in the
later stages.[5] Since the beginning of the Mumun
pottery period (1500 BCE), agricultural traditions
began to develop with new migrant groups from the
Liao River basin of Manchuria. During the Mumun
period, people grew millet, barley, wheat, legumes
and rice, and continued to hunt and fish.
Archaeological remains point to development of
fermented beans during this period, and cultural
contact with nomadic cultures to the north
facilitated domestication of animals.
This article is part of a series on
한국 요리
[edit] Three Kingdoms period
Staples[hide]
Bap • Juk (mieum) • Guksu • Mandu • Kimchi
bokkeumbap
Ancillaries[hide]
Pickled
dishes
Kimchi • Jangajji • Jeotgal • Baek kimchi •
Dongchimi • Kkakdugi • Nabak kimchi
Soups
&
Guk • Tang • Jjigae • Jeongol • Kimchi jjigae
stews
In a mural of Gakjeochong (각저총 "Tombs of
Wrestlers"),[6] a Goguryeo tomb built around the 5th
century shows a Goguryeo nobleman having a meal
with two ladies.[7]
The Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE – 668 CE) was
one of rapid cultural evolution. The kingdom of
Goguryeo (37 BCE – 668 CE) was located in the
northern part of the peninsula along much of
modern-day Manchuria. The second kingdom,
Baekje (18 BCE – 660 CE), was in the southwestern
portion of the peninsula, and the third, Silla (57 BCE
– 935 CE), was located at the southeastern portion of
the peninsula. Each region had its own distinct set of
cultural practices and foods. For example, Baekje
was known for cold foods and fermented foods like
kimchi. The spread of Buddhism and Confucianism
from China during the fourth century CE began to
change the distinct cultures of Korea.[8]
The Three Kingdoms were followed by the Unified
Silla period (668 CE – 935 CE), during which Silla
unified most of the southern region of Korea, while
the northern region was unified by refugees from
Goguryeo, who renamed the region Balhae. These
cultures adhered to the beliefs of Buddhism with a
moderate level of peaceful coexistence.
[edit] Goryeo period
During the tenth century, however, both cultures
began to erode and were eventually unified under
the Goryeo dynasty, which drew much of its culture
from the Song Dynasty of China. It was this dynasty
that introduced the peninsula to the Western world
and it is from the word "Goryeo" that the country's
modern name of "Korea" was derived.[9]
During the latter Goryeo period, the Mongols
invaded Korea in the 13th century. Although there
was a vast loss of life in Korea, some traditional
foods found today in Korea have their origins in the
Mongol invasion. The dumpling dish, mandu, grilled
meat dishes, noodle dishes, and the use of
seasonings such as black pepper, all have their roots
in the this period.[10]
[edit] Joseon period
Confucianism continued to be the guiding influence
during the period between the 14th and 19th
century BCE. A hierarchy of human relationships
was created during this time period; lineage and
birthright were the governing forces of the time. The
majority of citizens in this period were freeborn
commoners, the cultivators of food for the society.
Butchers, called baekjeong, held the lowest cultural
status level as the work of turning animals into food
was deemed degrading.[11]
Agricultural innovations were significant and
widespread during this period, such as the invention
of the rain gauge during the 15th century. During
1429, the government began publishing books on
agriculture and farming techniques, which included
Nongsa jikseol (literally "Straight Talk on Farming"),
an agriculture book compiled under King
Sejong.[12][13][14]
A series of invasions in the earlier half of the Joseon
caused a dynamic shift in the culture during the
second half of the period. Groups of silhak ("practical
learning") scholars began to emphasize the
importance of looking outside the country for
innovation and technology to help improve the
agricultural systems. Crops from the New World
began to appear, acquired through trade with China,
Japan, Europe, and the Philippines; these crops
included corn, sweet potatoes, chili peppers,
tomatoes, peanuts, and squash. Potatoes and sweet
potatoes were particularly favored as they grew in
soils and on terrains that were previously unused.[15]
Government further developed agriculture through
technology and lower taxation. Complex irrigation
systems built by government allowed peasant
farmers to produce larger crop volumes and
produce crops not only for sustenance but also as
cash crops. Reduced taxation of the peasantry also
furthered the expanded commerce through
increasing periodic markets, usually held every five
days. One thousand such markets existed in the 19th
century, and were communal centers for economic
trade and entertainment.[16]
The end of the Joseon period was marked by
consistent encouragement to trade with the Western
world, China and Japan. In the 1860s, trade
agreements pushed by the Japanese government led
the Joseon Dynasty to open its trade ports with the
west, and to numerous treaties with the United
States, Britain, France, and other Western
countries.[17]
The opening of Korea to the Western world brought
further exchange of culture and food. Western
missionaries introduced new ingredients and dishes
to Korea. Joseon elites were introduced to these new
foods by way of foreigners who attended the royal
court as advisers or physicians. This period also saw
the introduction of various seasonings imported
from Japan via western traders and alcoholic drinks
from China.[18]
[edit] 20th century to the present
A number of internal rebellions lead to the fall of the
Joseon dynasty, followed by a thirty-five year
(1910–1945) occupation of the Korean peninsula by
the imperial government of Japan. Many of the
agricultural systems were taken over by the
Japanese to support Japan's food supply. Land
changes resulting from the Japanese included
combining small farms into large-scale farms which
led to larger yields for export to Japan. Rice
production increased during this period, but most of
it was shipped out of the country. The Koreans, in
turn, increased the production of other grains for
their own consumption.[19]
Meals during the Japanese occupation were
monotonous. Koreans usually ate two meals a day
during the cold seasons, and three during the warm
seasons. Satiety, rather than quality, was most
important. Those in the lower economic levels were
likely to enjoy only a single bowl of white rice each
year, while the remainder of the year was filled with
cheaper grains, such as millet and barley.[20] Western
food began emerging in the Korean diet, such as
white bread and commercially produced staples
such as precooked noodles. The Japanese
occupational period ended after the defeat of Japan
during World War II.[21]
commercial dairies and mechanized farms.[22] The
consumption of pork and beef increased vastly in
the 1970s. Per-capita consumption of meat was
3.6 kg in 1961 and 11 kg by 1979. The result of this
increased meat consumption brought about the rise
of bulgogi restaurants, which gave the middle class
of South Korea the ability to enjoy meat regularly.
Meat eating continued to rise, reaching 40 kg in
1997, with fish consumption at 49.5 kg in 1998. Rice
consumption continually decreased through these
years, with 128 kg consumed per person in 1985 to
106 kg in 1995 and 83 kg in 2003. The decrease in
rice consumption has been accompanied by an
increase in the consumption of bread and
noodles.[23]
[edit] Royal court cuisine
Main article: Korean royal court cuisine
See also: List of Korean dishes, Royal court dishes
Anapji Lake in Gyeongju, the capital of Silla
Kingdom.
Budae jjigae, a spicy stew originated during the
Korean War.
The country remained in a state of turmoil through
the Korean War (1950–1953) and the Cold War,
which separated the country into North Korea and
South Korea. Both of these periods continued the
limited food provisions for Koreans,[19] and the stew
called budae jjigae, which makes use of inexpensive
meats such as sausage and Spam, originated during
this period.
At this point, the history of North and South Korea
sharply diverged. In the 1960s under President Park
Chung Hee, industrialization began to give South
Korea the economic and cultural power it holds in
the global economy today. Agriculture was increased
through use of commercial fertilizers and modern
farming equipment. In the 1970s, food shortages
began to lessen. Consumption of instant and
processed foods increased, as did the overall quality
of foods. Livestock and dairy production was
increased during the 1970s through the increase of
Collectively known as kungjiung ǔmsik during the
pre-modern era, the foods of the royal palace were
reflective of the opulent nature of the past rulers of
the Korean peninsula. This nature is evidenced in
examples as far back as the Silla kingdom, where a
man-made lake (Anapji Lake, located in Gyeongju),
was created with multiple pavilions and halls for the
sole purpose of opulent banquets, and a spring fed
channel, Poseokjeong, was created for the singular
purpose of setting wine cups afloat while they wrote
poems.[24]
Reflecting the regionalism of the kingdoms and
bordering countries of the peninsula, the cuisine
borrowed portions from each of these areas to exist
as a showcase. The royalty would have the finest
regional specialties and delicacies sent to them at
the palace. Although there are records of banquets
predating the Joseon period, the majority of these
records mostly reflect the vast variety of foods, but
do not mention the specific foods presented.[25] The
meals cooked for the royal family did not reflect the
seasons, as the commoner's meals would have.
Instead, their meals varied significantly day-to-day.
Each of the eight provinces was represented each
month in the royal palace by ingredients presented
by their governors, which gave the cooks a wide
assortment of ingredients to use for royal meals.[26]
A model of the royal kitchen in the Dae Jang Geum
theme park, South Korea.
Food held a very important place in Joseon period.
Official positions were created within the Six
Ministries (Yukjo, 육조) that were charged with all
matters related to procurement and consumption of
food and drink for the royal court. The Board of
Personnel (Ijo, 이조) contained positions specific for
attaining rice for the royal family. The Board of
Rights (Yejo) were responsible for foods prepared
for ancestor rites, attaining wines and other
beverages, and medicinal foods. There were also
hundreds of slaves and women who worked in the
palace that had tasks such as making tofu, liquor,
tea, and tteok (rice cakes). The women were the
cooks to the royal palace and were of commoner or
low-born families. These women would be split into
specific skill sets or "bureau" such as the bureau of
special foods (Saenggwa-bang, 생과방) or the
bureau of cooking foods (Soju-bang, 소주방). These
female cooks may have been assisted by male cooks
from outside the palace during larger banquets
when necessary.[27]
Five meals were generally served in the royal palace
each day during the Joseon period, and records
suggest this pattern had existed from antiquity.
Three of these meals would be full meals, while the
afternoon and after dinner meals would be lighter.
The first meal, mieumsang (미음상), was served at
sunrise and was served only on days when the king
and queen were not taking herbal medicines. The
meal consisted of rice porridge (juk, 죽) made with
ingredients such as abalone (jeonbokjuk), white rice
(huinjuk), mushrooms (beoseotjuk), pine nuts
(jatjuk), and sesame (kkaejuk). The side dishes could
consist of kimchi, nabak kimchi, oysters, soy sauce,
and other items. The porridge was thought to give
vitality to the king and queen throughout the day.[28]
The sura (수라) were the main meals of the day.
Breakfast was served at ten in the morning, and the
evening meals were served between six and seven at
night. The set of three tables (surasang, 수라상),
were usually set with two types of rice, two types of
soup, two types of stew (jjigae), one dish of jjim
(meat stew), one dish of jeongol (a casserole of meat
and vegetables), three types of kimchi, three types of
jang (장) and twelve side dishes, called 12 cheop
(12첩). The meals were set in the suragan (수라간),
a room specifically used for taking meals, with the
king seated to the east and the queen to the west.
Each had their own set of tables and were attended
by three palace servant women known as sura
sanggung (수라상궁). These women would remove
bowl covers and offer the foods to the king and
queen after ensuring the dishes were not
poisoned.[29]
Banquets (궁중 연회 음식) were held on special
occasions in the Korean Royal Palace. These
included birthdays of the royal family members,
marriages, and national festivals, including
Daeborum, Dano, Chuseok, and Dongji.[30] Banquet
food was served on individual tables which varied
according to the rank of the person. Usually banquet
food consisted of ten different types of dishes. Main
dishes were prepared based on the seasonal foods.
Main dishes of the banquet included sinseollo, jeon,
hwayang jeok, honghapcho', nengmyun and
mulgimchi.[30] A typical banquet ingredient was
chogyetang (chicken broth with vinegar), which was
prepared with five different chickens, five abalones,
ten sea cucumbers, twenty eggs, half a bellflower root,
mushrooms, two cups of black pepper, two peeled pine
nuts, starch, soy sauce and vinegar. Yaksik was a
favorite banquet dessert.[31]
[edit] Foodstuffs
[edit] Grains
See also: List of Korean dishes, Grain dishes
[edit] Legumes
Dolsotbap, cooked rice in a stone pot (dolsot).
Grains have been one of the most important staples
to the Korean diet. Early myths of the foundations of
various kingdoms in Korea center on grains. One
foundation myth relates to Jumong, who received
barley seeds from two doves sent by his mother
after establishing the kingdom of Goguryeo.[32] Yet
another myth speaks of the three founding deities of
Jeju Island who were to be wed to the three
princesses of Tamna; the deities brought seeds of
five grains which were the first seeds planted, which
in turn became the first instance of farming.[33]
During the pre-modern era, grains such as barley
and millet were the main staples and were
supplemented by wheat, sorghum, and buckwheat.
Rice is not an indigenous crop to Korea, and it is
likely millet was the preferred grain before rice was
cultivated. Rice became the grain of choice during
the Three Kingdoms period, particularly in the
kingdoms of Silla and Baekje in the southern regions
of the peninsula. Rice was such an important
commodity in Silla that it was used to pay taxes. The
Sino-Korean word for "tax" is a compound character
that uses the character for the rice plant. The
preference for rice escalated into the Joseon period,
when new methods of cultivation and new varieties
emerged that would help increase production.[34]
As rice was prohibitively expensive when it first
came to Korea, it is likely the grain was mixed with
other grains to "stretch" the rice; this is still done in
dishes such as boribap (rice with barley) and
kongbap (rice with beans).[35] White rice, which is
rice with the bran removed, has been the preferred
form of rice since its introduction into the cuisine.
The most traditional method of cooking the rice has
been to cook it in an iron pot called a sot (솥) or
Kongguksu, a cold noodle dish with a broth made
from ground soy beans.
Legumes have been significant crops in Korean
history and cuisine according to earliest preserved
legumes found in archaeological sites in Korea.[37][38]
The excavation at Okbang site, Jinju, South
Gyeongsang province indicates soybeans were
cultivated as a food crop circa 1000–900 BCE.[39]
They are made into tofu (dubu), while soybean
sprouts are sauteed as a vegetable (kongnamul) and
whole soybeans are seasoned and served as a side
dish. They are also made into soy milk, which is used
as the base for the noodle dish called kongguksu. A
byproduct of soy milk production is okara (kongbiji),
which is used to thicken stews and porridges.
Soybeans may also be one of the beans in kongbap,
which boil together with several types of beans and
other grains. Soybeans are also the primary
ingredient in the production of fermented
condiments collectively referred to as jang, such as
soy bean pastes, doenjang and cheonggukjang, a soy
sauce called ganjang, chili pepper paste or
gochujang and others.[40][41]
musoe sot (무쇠솥). This method of rice cookery
dates back at least to the Goryeo period , and sot
have even been found in tombs from the Silla period.
The sot is still used today, much in the same manner
as it was in the past centuries.[36]
Rice is used to make a number of items, outside of
the traditional bowl of plain white rice. It is
commonly ground into a flour and used to make rice
cakes called tteok, of which there are over two
hundred varieties. It is also cooked down into a
congee (juk), or gruel (mieum) and mixed with other
grains, meat, or seafood. Koreans also produce a
number of rice wines, both in filtered and unfiltered
versions.[36]
Tangpyeongchae, a dish made with nokdumuk (a
mung bean starch jelly) and vegetables
Mung beans are commonly used in Korean cuisine,
where they are called nokdu (绿豆, literally "green
bean"). Mung bean sprouts, called sukju namul, are
often served as a side dish, blanched and sautéed
with sesame oil, garlic, and salt. Ground mung beans
are used to make a porridge called nokdujuk, which
is eaten as a nutritional supplement and digestive
aid, especially for ill patients.[42] A popular snack,
bindaetteok (mung bean pancake) is made with
ground mung beans and fresh mung bean sprouts.
Starch extracted from ground mung beans is used to
make transparent cellophane noodles (dangmyeon).
The noodles are the main ingredients for japchae (a
salad-like dish), and sundae (a blood sausage) or a
subsidiary ingredient for soups and stews.[43] The
starch can be also used to make jelly-like foods, such
as nokdumuk and hwangpomuk. The muk have a
bland flavor, so are served seasoned with soy sauce,
sesame oil and crumbled seaweeds or other
seasonings such as tangpyeongchae.[44]
Cultivation of azuki beans dates back to ancient
times according to an excavation from Odong-ri,
Hoeryong, North Hamgyong province, which is
assumed to be that of Mumun period (approximately
1500-300 BCE). Azuki beans are generally eaten as
patbap, which is a bowl of rice mixed with the beans,
or as a filling and covering for tteok (rice cake) and
breads. A porridge made with azuki beans, called
patjuk, is commonly eaten during the winter season.
On Dongjinal, a Korean traditional holiday which
falls on December 22, Korean people eat Donji
patjuk, which contains saealsim (새알심), a ball
made from glutinous rice flour. In old Korean
tradition, patjuk is believed to have the power to
drive evil spirits away.[45][46]
[edit] Condiments and seasoning
Condiments are divided into fermented and
nonfermented variants. Fermented condiments
include ganjang, doenjang, gochujang and vinegars.
Nonfermented condiments or spices include red
pepper, black pepper, Chinese pepper, cordifolia,
mustard, chinensis, garlic, onion, ginger, leek, and
scallion (spring onion).[47]
Hanwu galbi
Beef is the most prized of all meats, with the cattle
holding an important cultural role in the Korean
home. The cattle were regarded as servants and
seen as an equal to human servants. Cattle were also
given their own holiday during the first 'cow' day of
the lunar New Year. The importance of cattle does
not suggest Koreans ate an abundance of beef,
however, as pork and seafood were more likely
consumed on a more regular basis, as the cattle were
valued as beasts of burden. The Buddhist ruling
class of the Goryeo period forbade the consumption
of beef. The Mongols dispensed with the ban of beef
during the 13th century, and they promoted the
production of beef cattle. This increased production
continued into the Joseon period, when the
government encouraged both increased quantities
and quality of beef.[49]
Only in the latter part of the 20th century has beef
become regular table fare. Beef is prepared in
numerous ways today, including roasting, grilling
(gui) or boiling in soups. Beef can also be dried, as
with seafood, called respectively yukpo and eopo.[50]
Chicken
In antiquity, most meat in Korea was likely obtained
through hunting and fishing. Ancient records
indicate rearing of livestock began on a small scale
during the Three Kingdoms period. Meat was
consumed roasted or in soups or stews during this
period. Those who lived closer to the oceans were
able to complement their diet with more fish, while
those who lived in the interior had a diet containing
more meat.[48]
Chicken has played an important role as a protein in
Korean history, evidenced by a number of myths.
One myth tells of the birth of Kim Alji, founder of the
Kim family of Gyeongju being announced by the cry
of a white chicken. As the birth of a clan's founder is
always announced by an animal with preternatural
qualities, this myth speaks to the importance of
chicken. Chicken is often served roasted or braised
with vegetables or in soups. All parts of the chicken
are used in Korean cuisine, including the gizzard,
liver, and feet. Young chickens are braised in a
medicinal soups eaten during the summer months to
combat heat called samgyetang. The feet of the
Beef
See also: List of Korean dishes, Meat
chicken, called dakbal (닭발), are often roasted and
covered with hot and spicy gochujang-based sauce
and served as an anju, or side dish, to accompany
[edit] Meat and fish
alcoholic beverages, especially soju.[51][52]
reserved for the upper class.[54]
Pork
See also: List of Korean dishes, Meat
Both fresh and saltwater fish are popular, and are
served raw, grilled, broiled, dried or served in soups
and stews. Common grilled fish include mackerel,
hairtail, croaker and Pacific herring. Smaller fish,
shrimp, squid, mollusks and countless other seafood
can be salted as jeotgal. Fish can also be grilled
either whole or in fillets as banchan. Fish is often
dried naturally to prolong storing periods and
enable shipping over long distances. Fish commonly
dried include yellow corvina, anchovies (myeolchi)
and croaker.[54] Dried anchovies, along with kelp,
form the basis of common soup stocks.[55]
Samgyeopsal
Shellfish is widely eaten in all different types of
preparation. They can be used to prepare broth,
eaten raw with chogochujang, which is a mixture of
gochujang and vinegar, or used as a popular
ingredient in countless dishes.[56] Raw oysters and
other seafood can be used in making kimchi to
improve and vary the flavor.[57] Salted baby shrimp
are used as a seasoning agent, known as saeujeot, for
the preparation of some types of kimchi. Large
Pork has also been another important land-based
protein for Korea. Records indicate pork has been a
part of the Korean diet back to antiquity, similar to
beef.[53]
A number of foods have been avoided while eating
pork, including Chinese bellflower (doraji, 도라지)
and lotus root (yeonn ppuri, 연뿌리), as the
combinations have been thought to cause diarrhea.
All parts of the pig are used in Korean cuisine in a
variety of cooking methods including steaming,
stewing, boiling and smoking.[51]
shrimp are often grilled as daeha gui (대하구이)[58]
or dried, mixed with vegetables and served with
rice. Mollusks eaten in Korean cuisine include
octopus, cuttlefish, and squid.[59]
[edit] Vegetables
[edit] Fish and seafood
See also: List of Korean dishes, Vegetables
See also: List of Korean dishes, Fish and Jeotgal
Korean cuisine uses a wide variety of vegetables,
which are often served uncooked, either in salads or
pickles, as well as cooked in various stews, stir-fried
dishes, and other hot dishes.[60] Commonly used
vegetables include Korean radish, Napa cabbage,
cucumber, potato, sweet potato, spinach, scallions,
garlic, chili peppers, seaweed, zucchini, mushrooms
and lotus root. Several types of wild greens, known
collectively as chwinamul (such as Aster scaber), are
a popular dish, and other wild vegetables such as
bracken fern shoots (gosari) or Korean bellflower
root (doraji) are also harvested and eaten in
season.[61] Medicinal herbs, such as ginseng, reishi,
wolfberry, Codonopsis pilosula, and Angelica sinensis,
are often used as ingredients in cooking, as in
samgyetang.
A bowl of gejang, marinated crabs in soy sauce and
plates of various banchan (small side dishes).
Fish and shellfish have been a major part of Korean
cuisine because of the oceans bordering the
peninsula. Evidence from the 12th century
illustrates commoners consumed a diet mostly of
fish and shellfish, such as shrimp, clams, oysters,
abalone, and loach, while sheep and hogs were
[edit] Medical foods
Medical food (boyangsik) is a wide variety of
specialty foods prepared and eaten for medicinal
purposes, especially during the hottest 30-day
period in the lunar calendar, called sambok. Hot
foods consumed are believed to restore ki, as well as
sexual and physical stamina lost in the summer
heat[62][63] Commonly eaten boyangshik include:
ginseng, chicken, dog, abalone, eel, carp, bone
marrow, pig kidneys and black goat. These foods are
popularly consumed by groups of men as a macho,
backslapping activity.[64][65][66][67][68]
associated with some dishes (for example, the city of
Jeonju with bibimbap) either as a place of origin or
for a famous regional variety. Restaurants will often
use these famous names on their signs or menus (i.e.
"Suwon galbi").
Dog meat
See also: Dog meat and Dog meat consumption in
South Korea
See also: List of Korean dishes, Soups & stews
[edit] Soups and stews
Tteokguk, soup made with tteok, rice cake
A dish made with dog meat in South Korea
The consumption of dog meat in what is now Korea
dates back to antiquity. Today, the primary dog
breed raised for meat, the nureongi (누렁이), differs
from those breeds raised for pets, which Koreans
may keep in their homes.[69] Dog meat is usually
eaten during the summer months, in either roasted
form or prepared in soups. The most popular of
these soups is gaejang-guk (also called bosintang), a
spicy stew which is believed by consumers to
balance the body's heat during the summer months;
followers of the custom claim this is done to ensure
good health by balancing one's gi, or vital energy of
the body. A 19th century version of gaejang-guk
explains the dish is prepared by boiling dog meat
with scallions and chili powder. Variations of the
dish contain chicken and bamboo shoots. While the
dishes are still popular in Korea with a segment of
the population, dog is not as widely consumed as
beef, chicken, and pork.[62]
Soups are a common part of any Korean meal. Unlike
other cultures, in Korean culture, soup is served as
part of the main course rather than at the beginning
or the end of the meal, as an accompaniment to rice
along with other banchan. Soups known as guk are
often made with meats, shellfish and vegetables.
Soups can be made into more formal soups known
as tang, often served as the main dish of the meal.
Jjigae are a thicker, heavier seasoned soups or
stews.[70]
Some popular types of soups are:

Malgeunguk (맑은국), are flavored with
ganjang. Small amounts of long boiled meat
may be added to the soup, or seafood both
fresh and dried may be added, or vegetables
may be the main component for the clear
soup.

Tojangguk (토장국) are seasoned with
doenjang. Common ingredients for tojang
guk include seafood such as clams, dried
anchovies, and shrimp. For a spicier soup,
gochujang is added.[71]

Gomguk (곰국) or gomtang (곰탕), and they
are made from boiling beef bones or
cartilage. Originating as a peasant dish, all
parts of beef are used, including tail, leg and
rib bones with or without meat attached;
these are boiled in water to extract fat,
marrow, and gelatin to create a rich soup.
Some versions of this soup may also use the
beef head and intestines. The only
seasoning generally used in the soup is salt.
[edit] Dishes
Korean foods can be largely categorized into groups
of "main staple foods" (주식), "subsidiary dishes"
(부식), and "dessert" (후식). The main dishes are
made from grains such as bap (a bowl of rice), juk
(porridge), and guksu (noodles).
Many Korean banchan rely on fermentation for
flavor and preservation, resulting in a tangy, salty,
and spicy taste. Certain regions are especially

Naengguk (냉국), which are cold soups
generally eaten during the summer months
to cool the diner. A light hand is usually
used in the seasoning of these soups usually
using ganjang and sesame oil.[72]
Stews are referred to as jjigae, and are often a
shared side dish. Jjigae is often both cooked and
served in the glazed earthenware pot (ttukbaegi) in
which it is cooked. The most common version of this
stew is doenjang jjigae, which is a stew of soybean
paste, with many variations; common ingredients
include vegetables, saltwater or freshwater fish, and
tofu. The stew often changes with the seasons and
which ingredients are available. Other common
varieties of jjigae contain kimchi (kimchi jjigae) or
tofu (sundubu jjigae).[73]
[edit] Kimchi
Main article: Kimchi
Kimchi
Kimchi refers to often fermented vegetable dishes
usually made with napa cabbage, Korean radish, or
sometimes cucumber, commonly fermented in a
brine of ginger, garlic, scallions, and chili
pepper.[74][75] There are endless varieties with
regional variations, and it is served as a side dish or
cooked into soups and rice dishes. Koreans
traditionally make enough kimchi to last for the
entire winter season, as fermented foods can keep
for several years. These were stored in traditional
Korean mud pots known as Jangdokdae although
with the advent of refrigerators, special Kimchi
freezers and commercially produced kimchi, this
practice has become less common. Kimchi is packed
with vitamin A, thiamine B1, riboflavin B2, calcium,
and iron. Its main benefit though is found in the
bacteria lactobacilli, this is found in yogurt and
fermented foods. This bacteria helps with digestion.
South Koreans eat on average of 40 pounds of
Kimchi each year.[76]
[edit] Noodles
Mul naengmyeon with mandu
Main article: Korean noodles
Noodles or noodle dishes in Korean cuisine are
collectively referred to as guksu in native Korean or
myeon in hanja. While noodles were eaten in Korea
from ancient times, productions of wheat was less
than other crops, so noodles did not become a daily
food until 1945.[77][78] Buckwheat (memil guksu) and
wheat noodles (milguksu) were specialty foods for
birthdays, weddings or auspicious occasions
because the long and continued shape were thought
to be associated with the bliss for longevity and
long-lasting marriage.[77]
In Korean traditional noodle dishes are onmyeon or
guksu jangguk (noodles with a hot clear broth),
naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles), bibim guksu
(cold noodle dish mixed with vegetables), kalguksu
(knife-cut noodles), kongguksu (noodles with a cold
soybean broth) and others. In royal court,
baekmyeon (literally "white noodles") consisting of
buckwheat noodles and pheasant broth, was
regarded as the top quality noodle dish.
Naengmyeon with a cold soup mixed with dongchimi
(watery radish kimchi) and beef brisket broth was
eaten in court during summer.[77]


Jajangmyeon, a staple Koreanized Chinese
noodle dish, is extremely popular in Korea
as fast, take-out food. It is made with a black
bean sauce usually fried with diced pork or
seafood and a variety of vegetables,
including zucchini and potatoes. It is
popularly ordered and delivered, like
Chinese take-out food in other parts of the
world.
Ramyeon refers to Korean instant noodles
similar to ramen.
[edit] Banchan
Banchan is a term referring collectively to side
dishes in Korean cuisine. Soups and stews are not
considered banchan.
Bindaeddeok
Bulgogi, a grilled Korean dish; the meat and
vegetables shown here have not yet been grilled.
Gui are grilled dishes, which most commonly have
meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in
some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other
vegetable ingredients. At traditional restaurants,
meats are cooked at the center of the table over a
charcoal grill, surrounded by various banchan and
individual rice bowls. The cooked meat is then cut
into small pieces and wrapped with fresh lettuce
leaves, with rice, thinly sliced garlic, ssamjang (a
mixture of gochujang and dwenjang), and other
seasonings. The suffix gui is often omitted in the
names of meat-based gui such as galbi, the name of
which was originally galbi gui.

Jeon (or buchimgae) are savory pancakes made from
various ingredients. Chopped kimchi or seafood is
mixed into a wheat flour-based batter, and then pan
fried. This dish tastes best when it is dipped in a
mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, and red pepper
powder.

List of jeon dishes commonly found
in Korean cuisine
List of grilled dishes commonly
found in Korean cuisine
Jjim and seon (steamed dishes) are generic terms
referring to steamed or boiled dishes in Korean
cuisine. However, the former is made with meat or
seafood-based ingredients marinated in gochujang
or ganjang while seon is made with vegetable stuffed
with fillings.
Namul
List of steamed dishes commonly
found in Korean cuisine
Namul may be used to refer to either saengchae
(생채, literally "fresh vegetables") or sukchae (숙채,
literally "heated vegetables"), although the term
generally indicates the latter. Saengchae is mostly
seasoned with vinegar, chili pepper powder and salt
to give a tangy and refreshing taste. On the other
Hoe (raw dishes): although the term originally
referred to any kind of raw dish, it is generally used
hand, sukchae (숙채) is blanched and seasoned with
soy sauce, sesame oil, chopped garlic, or sometimes
chili pepper powder.

to refer to saengseonhoe (생선회, raw fish dishes). It
is dipped in gochujang, or soy sauce with wasabi,
and served with lettuce or perilla leaves.


List of namul dishes commonly
found in Korean cuisine
list of raw dishes commonly found
in Korean cuisine
[edit] Anju (side dishes accompanying alcoholic
beverages)
cuisine, 193 items of eumcheongnyu are recorded.[80]
Eumcheongnyu can be divided into the following
categories: tea, hwachae (fruit punch), sikhye (sweet
rice drink), sujeonggwa (persimmon punch), tang
(탕, boiled water), jang (장, fermented grain juice
with a sour taste), suksu (숙수, beverage made of
Jokbal, a type of pig's feet Anju.
* Anju is a general term for a Korean side dish
consumed with alcohol (often with soju). It is
commonly served at bars, noraebang (karaoke)
establishments, and restaurants that serve alcohol.
These side dishes can also be ordered as appetizers
or even a main dish. Some examples of anju include
steamed squid with gochujang, assorted fruit, dubu
kimchi (tofu with kimchi), peanuts, odeng/ohmuk,
sora (소라) (a kind of shellfish popular in street food
tents), and nakji (small octopus). Soondae is also a
kind of anju, as is samgyeopsal, or dwejigalbi. Most
Korean foods may be served as anju, depending on
availability and the diner's taste. However, anju is
considered different from the banchan served with a
regular Korean meal. Jokbal is pig's feet served with
saeujeot (salted fermented shrimp sauce).
herbs), galsu (갈수, drink made of fruit extract, and
Oriental medicine), honeyed water, juice and milk by
their ingredient materials and preparation methods.
Among the varieties, tea, hwachae, sikhye, and
sujeonggwa are still widely favored and consumed;
however, the others almost disappeared by the end
of the 20th century.[81][82]
In Korean cuisine, tea, or cha, refers to various types
of tisane that can be served hot or cold. Not
necessarily related to the leaves, leaf buds, and
internodes of the Camellia sinensis plant, they are
made from diverse substances, including fruits (e.g.
yujacha), flowers (e.g. gukhwacha), leaves, roots, and
grains (e.g. boricha, hyeonmi cha) or herbs and
substances used in traditional Korean medicine,
such as ginseng (e.g. Insam cha) and ginger (e.g.
saenggang cha).[83]
[edit] Alcoholic beverages
Main article: Korean alcoholic beverages
See also: Korean beer and List of Korean beverages
[edit] Beverages
[edit] Nonalcoholic beverages
Main article: Korean tea
See also: List of Korean dishes, nonalcoholic
beverages
A bowl of makgeolli, a type of takju
Daechu cha (jujube tea)
All Korean traditional nonalcoholic beverages are
referred to as eumcheong or eumcheongnyu (음청류
飮淸類) which literally means "clear beverages".[79]
According to historical documents regarding Korean
While soju is the best known liquor, there are well
over 100 different alcoholic beverages, such as
beers, rice and fruit wines, and liquors produced in
South Korea. The top-selling domestic beers (the
Korean term for beer being maekju) are lagers,
which differ from Western beers in that they are
brewed from rice, rather than barley. Consequently,
Korean beers are lighter, sweeter and have less head
than their Western counterparts. The South Korean
beer market is dominated by the three major
brands: Cass, Hite, and OB. Taedonggang is a North
Korean beer produced at a brewery based in
Pyongyang since 2002.[84] Microbrewery beers and
bars are growing in popularity after 2002.[85]
Soju is a clear spirit which was originally made from
grain, especially rice, and is now also made from
sweet potatoes or barley. Soju made from grain is
considered superior (as is also the case with grain
vs. potato vodka). Soju is around 22% ABV, and is a
favorite beverage of hard-up college students, harddrinking businessmen, and blue-collar workers.
Yakju is a refined pure liquor fermented from rice,
with the best known being cheongju. Takju is a thick
unrefined liquor made with grains, with the best
known being makgeolli, a white, milky rice wine
traditionally drunk by farmers.[86]
In addition to the rice wine, various fruit wines and
herbal wines exist in Korean cuisine. Acacia, maesil
plum, Chinese quince, cherry, pine fruits, and
pomegranate are most popular. Majuang wine (a
blended wine of Korean grapes with French or
American wines) and ginseng-based wines are also
available.
[edit] Sweets
Tteok
cakes made from either pounded rice (메떡,
metteok), pounded glutinous rice (찰떡, chaltteok),
or glutinous rice left whole, without pounding. It is
served either filled or covered with sweetened mung
bean paste, red bean paste, mashed red beans,
raisins, a sweetened filling made with sesame seeds,
sweet pumpkin, beans, jujubes, pine nuts, and/or
honey). Tteok is usually served as dessert or snack.
Among varieties, songpyeon is a chewy stuffed tteok
served at Chuseok. Honey or another soft sweet
material such as sweetened sesame or black beans
are used as fillings. Pine needles can be used for
imparting flavor during the steaming process.[87]
Yaksik is a sweet rice cake made with glutinous rice,
chestnuts, pine nuts, jujubes, and other ingredients,
while chapssaltteok is a tteok filled with sweet bean
paste.
On the other hand, hangwa is a general term
referring to all types of Korean traditional
confectionery. The ingredients of hahngwa mainly
consist of grain flour, honey, yeot, and sugar, or of
fruit and edible roots. Hangwa is largely divided into
yumilgwa (fried confectionery), suksilgwa, jeonggwa,
gwapyeon, dasik (tea food) and yeot. Yumilgwa is
made by stir frying or frying pieces of dough, such as
maejakgwa and yakgwa. Maejakgwa is a ring-shaped
confection made of wheat flour, vegetable oil,
cinnamon, ginger juice, jocheong, and pine nuts,
while yakgwa, literally "medicinal confectionery", is
a flower-shaped biscuit made of honey, sesame oil
and wheat flour.
Suksilgwa is made by boiling fruits, ginger, or nuts in
water, and then forming the mix into the original
fruit's shape, or other shapes. Gwapyeon is a jellylike confection made by boiling sour fruits, starch,
and sugar. Dasik, literally "eatery for tea", is made by
kneading rice flour, honey, and various types of flour
from nuts, herbs, sesame, or jujubes. Jeonggwa, or
jeongwa, is made by boiling fruits, plant roots and
seeds in honey, mulyeot (물엿, liquid candy) or
sugar. It is similar to
marmalade or
jam/jelly.[88][89][90] Yeot is a Korean traditional candy
in liquid or solid form made from steamed rice,
glutinous rice, glutinous kaoliang, corn, sweet
potatoes or mixed grains. The steamed ingredients
are lightly fermented and boiled in a large pot called
sot (솥) for a long time.
Various hahngwa
Traditional rice cakes, tteok and Korean
confectionery hangwa are eaten as treats during
holidays and festivals. Tteok refers to all kind of rice
[edit] Regional and variant cuisines
Main article: Korean regional cuisine
A traditional meal in Kaesong, North Korea.
Korean regional cuisines (Korean: hyangto eumsik,
literally "native local foods")[91] are characterized by
local specialties and distinctive styles within Korean
cuisine. The divisions reflected historical boundaries
of the provinces where these food and culinary
traditions were preserved until modern times.
Although Korea has been divided into two nationstates since 1948 (North Korea and South Korea), it
was once divided into eight provinces (paldo)
according to the administrative districts of the
Joseon Dynasty. The northern region consisted of
Hamgyeong province, Pyeongan province and
Hwanghae province. The central region comprised
Gyeonggi province, Chungcheong province, and
Gangwon province. Gyeongsang province and Jeolla
province made up the southern region.[92]
Until the late 19th century, transportation networks
were not well developed, and each provincial region
preserved its own characteristic tastes and cooking
methods. Geographic differences are also reflected
by the local specialty foodstuffs depending on the
climate and types of agriculture, as well as the
natural foods available. With the modern
development of transportation and the introduction
of foreign foods, Korean regional cuisines have
tended to overlap and integrate. However, many
unique traditional dishes in Korean regional cuisine
have
been
handed
down
through
the
generations.[93][94]
[edit] Buddhist cuisine
Korean temple cuisine at Sanchon, a restaurant
located in Insadong, Seoul.
Further
information:
Korean
temple
cuisine and Buddhist cuisine
Korean temple cuisine originated in Buddhist
temples of Korea. Since Buddhism was introduced
into Korea, Buddhist traditions have strongly
influenced Korean cuisine, as well. During the Silla
period (57 BC – 935 AD), chalbap (찰밥, a bowl of
cooked glutinous rice) yakgwa (a fried dessert) and
yumilgwa (a fried and puffed rice snack) were
served for Buddhist altars and have been developed
into types of hangwa, Korean traditional
confectionery. During the Goryeo Dynasty, sangchu
ssam (wraps made with lettuce), yaksik, and yakgwa
were developed, and since spread to China and other
countries. Since the Joseon Dynasty, Buddhist
cuisine has been established in Korea according to
regions and temples.[95][96]
On the other hand, royal court cuisine is closely
related to Korean temple cuisine. In the past, when
the royal court maids, sanggung, who were assigned
to Suragan (hangul: 수라간; hanja: 水剌間; the name
of the royal kitchen), where they prepared the king's
meals, became old, they had to leave the royal
palace. Therefore, many of them entered Buddhist
temples to become nuns. As the result, culinary
techniques and recipes of the royal cuisine were
integrated into Buddhist cuisine.[97]
[edit] Vegetarian cuisine
An array of bap (rice) and banchan at a vegetarian
restaurant in Anguk-dong, Seoul, South Korea
Vegetarian cookery in Korea may be linked to the
Buddhist traditions that influenced Korean culture
from the Goryeo dynasty onwards. There are
hundreds of vegetarian restaurants in Korea,
although historically they have been local
restaurants that are unknown to tourists. Most have
buffets, with cold food, and vegetarian kimchi and
tofu being the main features. Bibimbap is a common
vegan dish. Menus change with seasons. Wine with
the alcohol removed and fine teas are also served.
The Korean tea ceremony is suitable for all
vegetarians and vegans, and began with Buddhist
influences. All food is eaten with a combination of
rather slippery stainless steel oval chopsticks and a
long-handled shallow spoon called together sujeo.
[edit] Ritual and seasonal foods
Korean chopsticks made of silver.
See also: Korean Traditional Festivals
Dining etiquette in Korea can be traced back to the
Confucian philosophies of the Joseon period.
Guidebooks, such as Sasojeol (士小節, Elementary
Etiquette for Scholar Families), written in 1775 by Yi
Deokmu (李德懋), comment on the dining etiquette
for the period. Suggestions include items such as
"when you see a fat cow, goat, pig, or chicken, do not
immediately speak of slaughtering, cooking or eating
it",[99] "when you are having a meal with others, do
not speak of smelly or dirty things, such as boils or
diarrhea,"[99] "when eating a meal, neither eat so
slowly as to appear to be eating against your will nor
so fast as if to be taking someone else's food. Do not
throw chopsticks on the table. Spoons should not
touch plates, making a clashing sound",[99] amongst
many other recommendations which emphasized
proper table etiquette.
Rituals are mainly performed on the anniversary of
deceased ancestors, called jesa. Ritual food include
rice, liquor, soup, vinegar and soy sauce (1st row);
noodles, skewered meat, vegetable and fish dishes,
and rice cake (2nd row); three types of hot soup,
meat and vegetable dishes (3rd row); dried snacks,
kimchi, and sweet rice drink (4th row); and variety
of fruit (5th row).[98]
[edit] Street food
In South Korea, food may be purchased from street
carts during the day, where customers may eat
standing beside the cart or have their food wrapped
up to take home. At night, many streets are filled
with small tents that sell inexpensive foods, drinks,
and alcoholic beverages. Seasonal foods include
hotteok, and bungeoppang, which are enjoyed in
autumn and winter. Gimbap is also a very popular
street food.
[edit] Dining etiquette
The eldest male at the table was always served first,
commonly served to them in the men's quarters by
the women of the house. Women usually dined in a
separate portion of the house after the men were
served. The eldest men or women always ate before
the younger family members. The meal was usually
quiet, as conversation was discouraged during
meals. In modern times, these rules have become
lax, as families usually dine together now and use
the time to converse. Of the remaining elements of
this decorum, one is that the younger members of
the table should not pick up their chopsticks or start
eating before the elders of the table.[100]
In Korea, unlike in China and Japan, the rice bowl is
not lifted from the table when eating from it. This is
due to the fact that each diner is given a metal spoon
along with the chopsticks known collectively as
sujeo. The use of the spoon for eating rice and soups
is expected. There are rules which reflect the
decorum of sharing communal side dishes; rules
include not picking through the dishes for certain
items while leaving others, and the spoon used
should be clean, because usually diners put their
spoons in the same serving bowl on the table. Diners
should also cover their mouths when using a
toothpick after the meal.[100]
The table setup is important as well, and individual
place settings, moving from the diner's left should be
as follows: rice bowl, spoon, then chopsticks. Hot
foods are set to the right side of the table, with the
cold foods to the left. Soup must remain on the right
side of the diner along with stews. Vegetables
remain on the left along with the rice, and kimchi is
set to the back while sauces remain in the front.[100]
Rituals & Festivals[hide]
Doljanchi • Hwangab
Other[hide]
Kimchi Field Museum • Kimchi refrigerator • List of
Korean dishes • List of Korean beverages • Korean
royal court cuisine
Korea portal
v·d·e
Korean cuisine
[edit] Drinking etiquette
The manner of drinking alcoholic drinks at dining is
particularly important in Korean dining etiquette.
Each diner is expected to face away from the eldest
male and cover his mouth when drinking alcohol. In
the most formal situations, when the eldest male
offers a drink, the diner should politely refuse it
three times. After three refusals, when the eldest
male offers one more time, then finally the diner can
receive it.
Condiments[hide]
Hanjeongsik, a full-course Korean meal with a varied array
of banchan (side dishes)[1]
Korean name
Hangul
한국요리 or 한식
Hanja
韓國料理 or 韓食
Revised Romanization
Hanguk yori or Hansik
McCune–Reischauer
Hankuk yori or Hansik
Doenjang • Gochujang • Ssamjang • Ganjang •
Vinegar • Mustard sauce • Oil • Jocheong
Utensils[hide]
Onggi • Jangdok
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine is any of several styles originating in the regions of China, some of which have become highly popular in other
parts of the world – from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa. Traditional Chinese cuisines
include Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Szechuan, and Zhejiang.
Regional cuisines
a number of different styles contribute to Chinese cuisine, but perhaps the best known and most influential are Sichuan cuisine,
Shandong cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine and Guangdong (Cantonese) cuisine.[2][3][4] These styles are distinctive from one another due
to factors such as available resources, climate, geography, history, cooking techniques and lifestyle. One style may favour the
use of lots of garlic and shallots over lots of chilli and spices, while another may favour preparing seafood over other meats
and fowl. Jiangsu cuisine favours cooking techniques such as braising and stewing, while Sichuan cuisine employs baking,
scalding, and wrapping, just to name a few.[2] Hairy crab is a highly sought after local delicacy in Shanghai, as it can be found in
lakes within the region. Beijing Roast Duck (otherwise known as 'Peking Duck') is another popular dish that's well known
outside of China.[2] Based on the raw materials and ingredients used, the method of preparation, and cultural differences, a
variety of foods with different flavours and textures are prepared in different regions of the country. Many traditional regional
cuisines rely on basic methods of preservation such as drying, salting, pickling and fermentation.[5]
[edit] Lu (Shandong)
This is a traditional food served in China.
[edit] Su (Jiangsu, Huaiyang cuisine)
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it.
[edit] Yue (Hong Kong and Guangdong)
This section requires expansion.
Dim Sum, literally "touch your heart", is a Cantonese term for small hearty dishes.[2] These bite-sized portions are prepared
using traditional cooking methods such as frying, steaming, stewing and baking. It is designed so that one person may taste a
variety of different dishes. Some of these may include rice rolls, lotus leaf rice, turnip cakes, buns, shui jiao-style dumplings,
stir-fried green vegetables, congee porridge, soups, etc. The Cantonese style of dining, yum cha, combines the variety of dim
sum dishes with the drinking of tea. Yum cha literally means 'drink tea'.[2]
[edit] Chuan (Sichuan)
Main article: Szechuan cuisine
Szechuan cuisine, also called Sichuan cuisine, is a style of Chinese cuisine originating in the Sichuan Province of southwestern
China famed for bold flavors, particularly the pungency and spiciness resulting from liberal use of garlic and chili peppers, as
well as the unique flavour of the Sichuan peppercorn (花椒). Peanuts, sesame paste and ginger are also prominent ingredients
in Szechuan cooking
[edit] Xiang (Hunan)
Hunan cuisine is well known for its hot spicy flavor,[6] fresh aroma and deep color. Common cooking techniques include
stewing, frying, pot-roasting, braising, and smoking. Due to the high agricultural output of the region, ingredients for Hunan
dishes are many and varied.
[edit] Min (Fujian)
A bowl of Fujian thick soup, or geng (羹)
Main article: Fujian cuisine
Fujian cuisine is a traditional Chinese cuisine.[1] Many diverse seafoods are used, including hundreds of types of fish, shellfish
and turtles, provided by the Fujian coastal region. [1] Woodland delicacies such as edible mushrooms and bamboo shoots are
also utilized.[1] Slicing techniques are valued in the cuisine, and utilized to enhance the flavor, aroma and texture of seafood
and other foods.[1] Fujian cuisine is often served in a broth or soup, and cooking techniques include braising, stewing, steaming
and boiling.[1]
[edit] Ze (Zejiang)
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it.
[edit] Hui (Anhui)
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it.
[edit] Xinjiang
Main article: Cuisine of Xinjiang
The cuisine of Xinjiang reflects the region's many ethnic groups, and refers particularly to Uyghur cuisine. Signature
ingredients include roast mutton, kebabs, roast fish and rice.[7] Because of the Islamic population, the food is predominantly
halal.[citation needed]
[edit] Staple foods
[edit] Rice
Rice is a major staple food for people from rice farming areas in southern China.[citation needed] It is most commonly eaten in the
form of steamed rice. Rice is also used to produce beers, wines and vinegars.
[edit] Noodles
Misua noodle making in Lukang, Taiwan
Chinese noodles come dry or fresh in a variety of sizes, shapes and textures and are often served in soups or fried as toppings.
Some varieties, such as Shou Mien (壽麵, literally noodles of longevity), are symbolic of long life and good health according to
Chinese tradition.[2]
[edit] Soybeans
Tofu, made of soybeans, is another popular product that supplies protein.[5]
[edit] Wheat
In wheat farming areas in Northern China, people largely rely on flour based food such as noodles, breads, dumplings and
steamed buns.[2]
[edit] Vegetables
Cooked Chinese cabbage
Some common vegetables used in Chinese cuisine include bok choy (Chinese cabbage), Chinese Spinach (dao-mieu), On Choy,
Yu Choy, and gailan (guy-lahn).
[edit] Herbs
Herbs were important to the Chinese people, especially during the Han Dynasty.[citation needed]
[edit] Seasonings
When comes to sauces, China is home to soy sauce, which is made from fermented soya beans and wheat. Oyster sauce,
transparent rice vinegar, Chinkiang black rice vinegar, fish sauce and fermented tofu (furu) are also widely used. A number of
sauces are based on fermented soybeans, including Hoisin sauce, ground bean sauce and yellow bean sauce. Spices and
seasonings such as fresh root ginger, garlic, spring onion, white pepper, sesame oil are widely used in many regional cuisines.
Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, fennel, cloves.[8] To provide extra flavors to dishes, many Chinese cuisines also
contain dried Chinese mushrooms, dried baby shrimps, dried tangerine peel, [9] dried Sichuan chillies as well.
[edit] Desserts
Deep-fried mantou, a popular Chinese dessert, served with sweetened condensed milk
Panfried water chestnut cake (馬蹄糕), a type of Chinese gao dessert
Main article: Chinese desserts
Chinese desserts are sweet foods and dishes that are served with tea, along with meals[10] or at the end of meals in Chinese
cuisine.[citation needed] Bings are baked wheat flour based confections, and include moon cake Red bean paste pancake and sun
cakes. Chinese candies and sweets, called táng [10] are usually made with cane sugar, malt sugar, honey, nuts and fruit. Gao or
Guo are rice based snacks that are typically steamed [10] and may be made from glutinous or normal rice. Ice cream is
commonly available throughout China.[10] Another cold dessert is called baobing, which is shaved ice with sweet syrup.[10]
Chinese jellies are known collectively in the language as ices. Many jelly desserts are traditionally set with agar and are
flavored with fruits, though gelatin based jellies are also common in contemporary desserts. Chinese dessert soups typically
consist of sweet and usually hot soups[10] and custards.
[edit] Beverages
[edit] Tea
Longjing tea, also known as Dragon Well tea, is a variety of roasted green tea from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, where
it is produced mostly by hand and has been renowned for its high quality, earning the China Famous Tea title.
Main article: Chinese tea
As well as with dim sum, many Chinese drink their tea with snacks such as nuts, plums, dried fruit, small sweets, melon seeds,
and waxberry.[2] China was the earliest country to cultivate and drink tea and it is enjoyed by people from all social classes. [11]
Tea processing began after the Qin and Han Dynasties.[11] Chinese tea is often classified into several different categories
according to the species of plant from which it is sourced, the region in which it is grown, and the method of production used.
Some of these are green tea, oolong tea, black tea, scented tea, white tea, and compressed tea. There are four major tea
plantation regions in China. They are Jiangbei, Jiangnan, Huanan and the southwestern region.[11] Well known types of green
tea include Longjing, Huangshan, Mao Feng, Bilochun, Putuofeng Cha, and Liu'an Guapian.[12] China is the world’s largest
exporter of green tea.[12]
[edit] Liquor
Main article: Chinese alcoholic beverages
Yellow wine has a long history in China, where the unique beverage is produced from rice and ranges between 10–15%
alcohol content.[2] The most popular brands include Shaoxing Lao Jiu, Shaoxing Hua Diao and Te Jia Fan.[2] Wheat, corn and rice
are used to produce Chinese liquor which is clear and aromatic, containing approximately 60% alcohol. This also has a long
history in China, with production believed to date back to the Song Dynasty.[2] Some popular brands of liquor include Er guo
tou, Du Kang, Mao Tai, Lu Zhou Te Qu and Wu Liang Ye.[2]
[edit] Herbal drinks
Main article: Chinese herb tea
Chinese herb tea, also known as medicinal herbal tea, is a kind of tea-soup made from purely Chinese medicinal herbs.[citation
needed]
[edit] Styles
In most dishes in Chinese cuisine, food is prepared in bite-sized pieces, ready for direct picking up and eating. In traditional
Chinese cultures, chopsticks are used at the table. Traditional Chinese cuisine is also based on opposites, whereby hot balances
cold, pickled balances fresh and spicy balances mild.[citation needed]
[edit] Recent trends
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates for 2001–2003, 12% of the population of the
People’s Republic of China was undernourished.[13] The number of undernourished people in the country has fallen from 386.6
million in 1969–1971 to 150.0 million in 2001–2003.[14] Prior to the increased industrialization and modernization following
the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 (and the late 1950s famine), a typical Chinese peasant would have
eaten meat or animal products (including eggs) rarely and most meals would have consisted of rice accompanied with green
vegetables, with protein coming from foods like peanuts and soy products.[citation needed] Fats and sugar were luxuries not eaten
on a regular basis by most of the population. With increasing wealth, Chinese diets have become richer over time, consuming
more meats, fats, and sugar.
[edit] Variations
Where there are historical immigrant Chinese populations, the style of food has evolved and been adapted to local tastes and
ingredients, and modified by the local cuisine, to greater or lesser extents. This has resulted in a number of forms of fusion
cuisine, often very popular in the country in question, and some of these, such as ramen (Japanese Chinese) have become
popular internationally. These include:








American Chinese cuisine
Canadian Chinese cuisine
Caribbean Chinese cuisine
Filipino Chinese cuisine
Indian Chinese cuisine
Japanese Chinese cuisine
Korean Chinese cuisine
Pakistani Chinese cuisine
[edit] See also
Japanese cuisine
Japanese cuisine has developed over the centuries as a result of many political and social changes throughout Japan. The
cuisine eventually changed with the advent of the Medieval age which ushered in a shedding of elitism with the age of shogun
rule. In the early modern era significant changes occurred resulting in the introduction of non-Japanese cultures, most notably
Western culture, to Japan.
The modern term "Japanese cuisine" (nihon ryōri (日本料理?) or washoku (和食?)) means traditional-style Japanese food,
similar to that already existing before the end of national seclusion in 1868. In a broader sense of the word, it could also
include foods whose ingredients or cooking methods were subsequently introduced from abroad, but which have been
developed by Japanese people who have made these methods their own. Japanese cuisine is known for its emphasis on
seasonality of food (旬, shun),[1] quality of ingredients and presentation. The Michelin Guide has awarded Japanese cities by far
the most Michelin stars of any country in the world (for example, Tokyo alone has more Michelin stars than Paris, Hong Kong,
New York, LA and London combined)
Common staple foods found on a national level (Shushoku)
There are many staple foods that are considered part of Japan's national cuisine today. Below are listed some of the most
common.
Tamago kake gohan (left), tsukemono and miso-shiru (miso soup).
Rice (gohan, 御飯)
Since its cultivation in Japan about 2000 years ago, rice has been Japan's most important crop. Its fundamental
importance to the country and its culture is reflected by the facts that rice was once used as a currency, and that the
Japanese word for cooked rice gohan (御飯) or meshi (飯) also has the general meaning of "meal". The literal meaning
of breakfast (asagohan), for example, is "morning rice".
Japanese rice is short grain and becomes sticky when cooked. Most rice is sold as hakumai ("white rice"), with the
outer portion of the grains (nuka) polished away. Unpolished rice (genmai) is considered less delicious by most
people, but its popularity has been increasing recently because gemmai is more nutritious and healthier than hakumai.
A second major rice variety used in Japan is mochi rice. Cooked mochi rice is more sticky than conventional Japanese
rice, and it is commonly used for sekihan (cooked mochi rice with red beans), or for pounding into rice cakes.
Rice is processed and prepared in many different ways. Some popular processed rice products are listed below, while
a list of popular ways to use rice can be found here. okayu, sake, wagashi, senbei, mochi, donburi (どんぶり, "bowl")
and sushi.[24]
Noodles (men-rui, 麺類)
Noodles often take the place of rice in a meal. They are featured in many soup dishes, or served chilled with a sauce
for dipping.
Bread (pan, パン)
Bread/Pan is not native to Japan and is not considered traditional Japanese food, but since its introduction in the 19th
century it has become common. The word pan is a loanword originally taken from Portuguese.
[edit] Common foods and dishes found on a national level
There are many dishes that are considered part of Japan's national cuisine today. Below are listed some of the most common.

Common Japanese savory main and side dishes (okazu, おかず) found on a national level
Grilled and pan-fried dishes (yakimono (焼き物)), stewed/simmered dishes (nimono (煮物)), stir-fried dishes
(itamemono (炒め物)), steamed dishes (mushimono (蒸し物)), deep-fried dishes (agemono (揚げ物)), sashimi, soups
(suimono (吸い物) and shirumono (汁物)), pickled, salted, and dressed foods (tsukemono (漬け物), aemono (和え物),
sunomono (酢の物)), chinmi

Common Japanese sweets and snacks (okashi (おかし), oyatsu (おやつ)) found on a national level
Japanese-style sweets (wagashi, 和菓子), old-fashioned Japanese-style sweets (dagashi, 駄菓子), Western-style sweets
(yōgashi, 洋菓子), sweets bread (kashi pan, 菓子パン)


Teas and other drinks found on a national level
Flavorings used on a national level
[edit] Imported and adapted foods
Japan has incorporated imported food from across the world (mostly from Asia, Europe and to a lesser extent the Americas),
and have historically adapted many to make them their own.
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Foods imported from Portugal in the 16th century
Other adapted cuisines in Japan
Fusion dishes
[edit] Yōshoku
Main article: Yōshoku
Japan today abounds with home-grown, loosely western-style food. Many of these were invented in the wake of the 1868 Meiji
restoration and the end of national seclusion, when the sudden influx of foreign (in particular, western) culture led to many
restaurants serving western food, known as yōshoku (洋食), a shortened form of seiyōshoku (西洋食) lit. Western cuisine,
opening up in cities. Restaurants that serve these foods are called yōshokuya (洋食屋), lit. Western cuisine restaurants.
Many yōshoku items from that time have been adapted to a degree that they are now considered Japanese and are an integral
part of any Japanese family menu. Many are served alongside rice and miso soup, and eaten with chopsticks. Yet, due to their
origins these are still categorized as yōshoku as opposed to the more traditional washoku (和食), lit. Japanese cuisine.

Common yōshoku dishes
[edit] Regional cuisine
Main article: Japanese regional cuisine
Japanese cuisine offers a vast array of regional specialties known as kyōdo ryōri (郷土料理), many of them originating from
dishes prepared using traditional recipes with local ingredients. Mainly, there are Kanto region food and Kansai region food.
Kanto region foods taste very strong. For example the dashi-based broth for serving udon noodles is heavy on dark soy sauce,
similar to soba broth. On the other hand Kansai region foods are lightly seasoned, with clear udon noodles made with light soy
sauce.[25]
While "local" ingredients are now available nationwide, and some originally regional dishes such as okonomiyaki and Edostyle sushi have spread throughout Japan and is no longer considered as such, many regional specialties survive to this day,
with some new ones still being created.
[edit] Ingredients
See also: List of Japanese ingredients, Category:Japanese ingredients
The following is a list of ingredients found in Japanese cuisine:
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Rice
Beans
Eggs
Flour
Fruits
Fu (wheat gluten)
Meats
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Mushrooms
Noodles
Soy products
Vegetables
Many types of seafood are part of Japanese cuisine. Only the most common are in the list below. Includes freshwater varieties:
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Seafood
Finned fish
Sea mammals
Shellfish
Crab (Kani)
Roe
Processed seafood
Seaweed
[edit] Traditional table settings
The traditional Japanese table setting has varied considerably over the centuries, depending primarily on the type of table
common during a given era. Before the 19th century, small individual box tables (hadoken, 箱膳) or flat floor trays were set
before each diner. Larger low tables (chabudai, ちゃぶ台) that accommodated entire families were gaining popularity by the
beginning of the 20th century, but these gave way to western style dining tables and chairs by the end of the 20th century.
Traditional Japanese table setting is to place a bowl of rice on your left and to place a bowl of miso soup on your right side at
the table. Behind these, each okazu is served on its own individual plate. Based on the standard three okazu formula, behind
the rice and soup are three flat plates to hold the three okazu; one to far back left, one at far back right, and one in the center.
Pickled vegetables are often served on the side but are not counted as part of the three okazu. Chopsticks are generally placed
at the very front of the tray near the diner with pointed ends facing left and supported by a chopstick rest, or hashioki.[25]
[edit] Dining etiquette
See also: Japanese etiquette#Eating and drinking
It is customary to say itadakimasu, いただきます (literally "I [humbly] receive") before starting to eat a meal, and gochisōsama
deshita, ごちそうさまでした (literally "It was a feast") to the host after the meal and the restaurant staff when leaving.
Hot towel
Before eating, most dining places will provide either a hot towel or a plastic-wrapped wet napkin (an oshibori). This is
for cleaning hands before eating (and not after). It is rude to use them to wash the face or any part of the body other
than the hands.[citation needed]
Bowls
The rice or the soup is eaten by picking up the bowl with the left hand and using chopsticks with the right, or vice
versa if you are left-handed. Traditionally, chopsticks were held in the right hand and the bowl in the left – in fact,
Japanese children were taught to distinguish left from right as "the right hand holds the chopsticks, the left hand holds
the bowl" – but left-handed eating is acceptable today. Bowls may be lifted to the mouth, but should not be touched by
the mouth except when drinking soup.
Soy sauce
Soy sauce is not usually poured over most foods at the table; a dipping dish is usually provided. Soy sauce is, however,
meant to be poured directly onto tofu and grated daikon dishes, and in the raw egg when preparing tamago kake
gohan ("egg on rice"). In particular, soy sauce should never be poured onto rice or soup. It's considered rude to waste
soy sauce so moderation should be used when pouring into dishes.
Chopsticks
Chopsticks are never left sticking vertically into rice, as this resembles incense sticks (which are usually placed
vertically in sand) during offerings to the dead. Using chopsticks to spear food or to point is frowned upon. It is very
bad manners to bite chopsticks.
Communal dish
When taking food from a communal dish, unless they are family or very close friends, one should turn the chopsticks
around to grab the food; it is considered more sanitary. Alternatively, one could have a separate set of chopsticks for
communal dishes.
Sharing
If sharing food with someone else, move it directly from one plate to another. Never pass food from one pair of
chopsticks to another, as this recalls passing bones during a funeral.
Eat what is given
It is customary to eat rice to the last grain. Being a picky eater is frowned on, and it is not customary to ask for special
requests or substitutions at restaurants. It is considered ungrateful to make these requests especially in
circumstances where you are being hosted, as in a business dinner environment. Good manners dictate that you
respect the selections of the host.
Drinking
Even in informal situations, drinking alcohol starts with a toast (kanpai, 乾杯) when everyone is ready. It is not
customary to pour oneself a drink; rather, people are expected to keep each other's drinks topped up. When someone
moves to pour your drink you should hold your glass with both hands and thank them.
[edit] Dishes for special occasions
In Japanese tradition some dishes are strongly tied to a festival or event. These dishes include:
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Botamochi, a sticky rice dumpling with sweet azuki paste served in spring, while the term Hagi/Ohagi is used in the
fall season.
Chimaki (steamed sweet rice cake): Tango no Sekku and Gion Festival.
Hamo (a kind of fish) and somen: Gion Festival.
Osechi: New Year.
Sekihan, literally "red rice", is served for any celebratory occasion. It is usually sticky rice cooked with azuki, or red
bean, which gives the rice its distinctive red color.
Soba: New Year's Eve. This is called toshi koshi soba (ja:年越しそば) (literally "year crossing soba").
Chirashizushi, Ushiojiru (clear soup of clams) and amazake: Hinamatsuri.
In some regions every 1st and 15th day of the month people eat a mixture of rice and azuki (azuki meshi (小豆飯), see Sekihan).
[edit] Sake and shōchū
Sake is a rice wine that typically contains 12%~20% alcohol and is made by multiple fermentation of rice. At traditional meals,
it is considered an equivalent to rice and is not simultaneously taken with other rice-based dishes. Side dishes for sake are
particularly called sakana or otsumami.
Shōchū is a spirit most commonly distilled from barley, sweet potato, or rice.
Foreign food
A McDonald's in Narita, Japan. The sign reads: "MacDonald Hamburger".
Main article: Yōshoku
Foods from other countries vary in their authenticity. In Tokyo, it is quite easy to find restaurants serving authentic foreign
cuisine. However, in most of the country, in many ways, the variety of imported food is limited; for example, it is rare to find
pasta that is not of the spaghetti or macaroni varieties in supermarkets or restaurants; bread is very rarely of any variety but
white; and varieties of imported breakfast cereals are very limited, usually either frosted or chocolate flavored.
Japanese rice is usually used instead of indigenous rice (in dishes from Thailand, India, Italy, etc.) or including it in dishes
when originally it would not be eaten with it (in dishes like hamburger, steak, omelettes, etc.).
Chinese food is the most popular foreign cuisine throughout Japan. It is closely followed by Korean barbecue and Italian
pasta.[26]
"Italian" restaurants tend to only have pizza and pasta on their menus. The cheaper Italian places in Japan tend to serve more
Americanized versions of Italian foods, which often vary wildly from the versions found in Italy or in other countries. For pizza
delivery, Pizza Hut and Domino's can easily be found in major cities, although the menus are localized. Corn, mayonnaise, and
seafood toppings are popular. In sit-down restaurants, the vast majority of pizzas have crusts that are thinner and crispier, and
have far less cheese and other toppings than in the U.S.
Many Italian dishes are changed, however Japanese chefs have preserved many Italian seafood dishes that are forgotten in
other countries. These include pasta with prawns, lobster (a specialty known in Italy as pasta all'aragosta), crab (an Italian
specialty; in Japan it is served with a different species of crab), and pasta with sea urchin sauce (sea urchin pasta being a
specialty of the Puglia region).
Hamburger chains include McDonald's, First Kitchen, Lotteria and MOS Burger. Many chains developed uniquely Japanese
versions of American fast food such as teriyaki burger, kinpira rice burger, fried shrimp burgers, and green tea milkshakes.
Curry, which was originally imported from India into Japan by the British in the Meiji era, was first adopted by the Imperial
Japanese Army, eventually leading to its presence in Japanese cuisine. Japanese curry is unlike Indian or any other forms of
curry. Unique Japanese ingredients include apples and honey. Even Japanese curry branded as Indian curry is quite different.
For instance, some Japanese "Indian-style" curries contain beef and pork, making them unacceptable to most Hindus, Jains,
and Muslims. Japanese versions of curry powder and sauces can be found in many foods, among them curry udon, curry bread,
and curry tonkatsu.
[edit] Cuisine outside of Japan
Cold soba noodles with dipping sauce.
Many countries have imported portions of Japanese cuisine. Some may adhere to the traditional preparations of the cuisines,
but in some cultures the dishes have been adapted to fit the palate of the local populace.
In Canada, Japanese cuisine has become quite popular in all medium and major cities, so that it is very unusual not to find one
or more Japanese restaurants in cities above 100,000 population. Sushi, sashimi, and ramen are highly popular at opposite
ends of the income scale, with ramen being a common low-budget meal. Sushi and sashimi takeout began in Toronto and
Vancouver, but is now common throughout Canada. The largest supermarket chains all carry basic sushi and sashimi, and
Japanese ingredients and ramen are readily available in most supermarkets. Most mid-sized mall food courts feature fast-food
teppan cooking. Izakaya restaurants have gained a surge of popularity.
Japanese cuisine is an integral part of food culture in Hawaii as well as in other parts of the United States. Popular items are
sushi, sashimi and teriyaki. Kamaboko, known locally as fish cake, is a staple of saimin, a noodle soup invented in and
extremely popular in the state. Sushi, long regarded as quite exotic in the west until the 1970s, has become a popular health
food in parts of North America, Western Europe and Asia.
In Mexico, certain Japanese restaurants have created what is known as "Sushi Mexicano", in which spicy sauces and
ingredients accompany the dish or are integrated in sushi rolls. The habanero and serrano chiles have become nearly standard
and are referred to as chiles toreados, as they are fried, diced and tossed over a dish upon request. A popular sushi topping,
"Tampico", is made by blending chiles, mayonnaise, and crab imitation. Cream cheese and avocado is usually added to
makizushi.
Kamaboko is popular street food in South Korea, where it is known as eomuk (어묵) or odeng (오뎅). It is usually boiled on a
skewer in broth and sold from street restaurant carts where they can be eaten with alcoholic beverage, especially soju. In the
winter, deep-fried eomuk-on-a-stick (known alternatively as "hot-bar") is a popular treat.
Taiwan has adapted many Japanese food items. Taiwanese versions of tempura, only barely resembling the original, is known
as 天婦羅 or 甜不辣 (tianbula) and is a famous staple in night markets in northern Taiwan. Taiwanese versions of oden is
known locally as oren (黑輪) or 關東煮 Kwantung stew, after the Kansai area.
Ramen, of Chinese origin, has been exported back to China in recent years where it is known as ri shi la mian (日式拉麵,
"Japanese lamian"). Popular Japanese ramen chains serve ramen alongside distinctly Japanese dishes such as tempura and
yakitori, something which would be seen as odd in Japan. Ramen has gained popularity elsewhere in part due to the success of
the Wagamama chain, although they are quite different from Japanese ramen. Instant ramen, invented in 1958, has now
spread throughout the world. Skewered versions of oden is a common convenience store item in Shanghai where it is known
as aódiǎn (熬点).
In Australia, sushi is considered a very popular lunch/snack option with one or two sushi bars in every shopping center. It
would be hard to find a metropolitan area where it is not available, with some major supermarkets stocking pre-packaged
options. There are also many casual 'food court' restaurants that cook fast food such as soft shell crab udon, tempura, and
many other dishes. Also found are a great variety of 'sushi train' restaurants for a fun dining experience. In the city and
surrounding suburbs there are many Japanese restaurants for formal dining.
In Brazil, Japanese food is widespread due to the large Japanese-Brazilian population living in the country, which represents
the largest Japanese community living outside Japan. Over the past years, many restaurant chains such as Koni Store[27] have
opened, selling typical dishes such as the popular temaki. Brazilians are particularly fond of yakisoba, which is readily
available in all supermarkets, and often included in non-Japanese restaurant menus.