Bibimbap, seaweed rolls please foreign palates

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Bibimbap, seaweed rolls please foreign palates

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Set aside a few minutes and think about which Korean dishes are best-suited to please foreign palates.

This is the question that the Institute of Traditional Korean Food - together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism - asked before compiling a list of the 12 dishes that best represent Korea.

The agencies surveyed Korean restaurants located in Western countries such as the United States to come up with the finalists.

Bibimbap, or rice mixed with vegetables and red pepper paste, was listed as the most popular Korean dish, followed by gimbap, dried seaweed rolls; hobakjuk, pumpkin porridge; and naengmyeon, cold noodle soup. Samgyetang, whole-chicken ginseng group, and sundubu jjigae, tofu stew, are also among the most-preferred dishes on the list.

With the growing problem of obesity gripping many areas around the world, the popularity of Korean cuisine that incorporates healthy ingredients will soar, according to Yoon Sook-ja, director of the institute. Yoon, a master of making tteok, or rice cakes, has also written several books on the traditional customs and cultures of Korean food.

“Most Korean dishes that were chosen as the best ones use fermented ingredients with beans such as soy sauce, doenjang [bean paste] and gochujang [red pepper paste],” Yoon said, noting that many of the vegetable ingredients are seasonal. “The art of Korean cuisine is that using different ingredients with numerous colors pleases the eye and reflects Korea’s dynamic culture.”

The current efforts under way to globalize Korean cuisine, however, aren’t enough, according to Yoon. More initiatives are needed.

“First of all, more culinary experts on Korean cuisine should be nurtured to be sent overseas,” she said.

“Also, instead of serving a countless number of side dishes all at once, the meal should be kept simple and we should come up with a standardized recipe format so that it can be utilized more easily by a variety of people.”

For example, many of Korean recipes use the word “a little,” “a handful” and “accordingly,” which Yoon suggests should be changed to a standard units such as grams, milliliters and minutes.


By Lee Eun-joo [angie@joongang.co.kr]
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