VOL.69/2024.04

 

[Book × Food]

K-Food Captivates the World

 

2023.10.04

 

 

The world has been abuzz with the K-Food craze these days. K-Food is based on traditional Korean cuisine, which Koreans have consumed for thousands of years. Today, Korean food has evolved into a wide variety of different dishes around the world, from sophisticated modern Korean cuisine in fine dining to Korean barbecue restaurants, street food, marinated chicken, as well as mandu (a Korean dumplings), ramen, and jjajangmyeon (a Chinese-style Korean noodle dish, topped with a thick sauce made of sweet bean sauce, diced pork, and vegetables). In this article, we will look at some of the best books on Korean food that will give you an insight into the origins of this diverse K-Food.

 

Unlocking the secrets of Korean food with cultural codes

 

 

The first book we would like to introduce is K Food: The Secrets of Korean Food (Design House), which explores the secrets behind Korean food. Most importantly, it answers the question, “What makes Korean food unique?” The book uses five cultural codes to describe Korean food: “Tasteless,” “Fusion,” “Fermentation,” “Foraging,” and “Wet,” instead of the traditional criteria such as “season” or “ingredients.”
The first and second codes consider the bland, tasteless rice as the beginning of Korean food, and the “fusion” aspect, where the rice is wrapped in ssam (lettuce, cabbage, sesame, or other leaves used to wrap rice) or mixed with animal and vegetable ingredients and sesame oil. The third code looks at Korean food through fermented foods, which are neither raw nor cooked but fermented, instead of the Western culinary code based on the cooked and the raw. The fourth code, “foraging,” views Korean food through the traditions of the “hunter-gatherer” era of foraging for herbs, picking fruit, and gathering seaweed. The fifth code, “wet,” looks at brothy foods such as soup, stew, and hot pot, long-simmered foods such as yeot (Korean traditional confectionery), grain syrup, and paste, and steamed foods such as tteok (rice cake) and jjim (steamed dish). The five codes of Korean food, namely “mixing, fermenting, seasoning, and boiling,” are captured in five chapters.
In addition, the book covers the roots of Korean food, such as court food, ban-ga (noble family) food, temple food, and jong-ga (head family) food, as well as the modern Korean table. It also introduces a wide variety of Korean food, from the source to the producer, and from local to commercial products.

 

A book that teaches you Korean food from A to Z

 

 

While many people agree that Korean food is delicious, healthy, and globally appealing, they don’t really understand why. If we want to share Korean food with the world, we need to make an effort to know more about it. Here, the book The Joy of Learning Korean Food (Hollym Publishers) takes the reader through the history, philosophy, and culture of Korean food and drink in an easy and intriguing way. It introduces what exactly Korean food is, with examples and details.
Korean food is based on vegetarian and fermented foods, and was born out of the naturalistic spirit and philosophy of the Koreans, who viewed nature as a part of us. It reflects the culinary philosophy of Korean ancestors, who ate and drank frugally and modestly, with the belief that food is part of nature, not just a consumable substance.
Moreover, Korean food represents the pride of the Korean people and is their way of life. Throughout the 5,000 years of its history, Korean food has been responsible for the survival of the nation. Various herbs that provided a lifeline during times when food was scarce, rice and grains that were grown in harsh climatic conditions, and rich seafood from the sea surrounding Korea on three sides have enriched the lives of Koreans. In addition to being labeled as healthy, Korean food has a long history, philosophy, and wisdom behind it.
In the book, part 1 introduces the history, philosophy, characteristics, and table settings of Korean cuisine. Part 2 shows the diversity and possibilities of Korean food. It discusses the types of Korean food, K-Food, and Korea’s current food culture, as well as how Korean food interacts with the world. Part 3 organizes Korean alcoholic beverages that were previously unfamiliar to many. Part 4 answers a variety of questions that foreigners may have. The stories of Korean food in between add a little more fun to the book.

 

 

Searching for original Korean food

 

 

The book Onjium’s Cookbooks: Roots and Wings (Joongang Books), by Onjium, a group dedicated to the study of traditional culture, traces the origins of Korean food dating back to Goryeo, about 1,000 years ago, as it has been transformed and developed over thousands of years of history. It seeks to broaden the spectrum of Korean food, which has recently become known as K-Food. Also, the book looks for answers to the “roots” of Korean food by focusing on the food of Gaeseong, the capital of the Goryeo Dynasty, a dynasty that flourished with a brilliant culture.
The book introduces some of the foods from Gaeseong that are still enjoyed up to date, such as Joraengitteok-guk, which shows the daily life of the Goryeo people; Gaeseong-bo-kimchi, which is considered the most beautiful of Korean kimchi; Gaeseong-mandu and pyeonsu, which are featured in the Korean song titled Ssanghwajeom (meaning dumpling shop); and Gaeseong-jangttaengi, a deeply flavored dish made by grinding meat and fermenting it; Honghaesam, which was mainly served as a ceremonial food; Oi-seon, a Gaeseong specialty; and Gaeseong Ju-ak, which was enjoyed at Buddhist ceremonies and in the royal family. It also talks about some of the dishes that are getting forgotten these days.

 

A humanities series on Korean food that explores the history, culture, and sentiments of the Korean people

 

 

This series, published by Tabi Books, a publisher specializing in food, explores the history, culture, and sentiment of the Korean people through their cuisine, and is organized by the core components of Korean food: rice, vegetables, meat, and seafood. The book The Humanities of Rice: The Story of Rice That Has Been Tied Together with Korean History, Culture, and Sentiment first examines rice, an ingredient that is no longer as important to Koreans as it once was. Starting with the question, “Was the craving for steamed rice just a habit that annoyed housewives?”, this book explores what rice really means to Koreans today, when rice consumption is at a historically low level. When discussing Korean food, fermented foods like kimchi and soy sauce are often mentioned. We also talk a lot about spicy food. But this misses the point of what Korean food is all about. The king of Korean food is rice. Koreans eat fermented foods like kimchi and soy sauce as a side dish to eat rice, not to eat rice as a side dish. Korean food is not complete without rice, and this book is devoted to Korean rice.

 

* K-Book Trends Vol. 39 – Go to the interview with Tabi Books

 

The Humanities of Vegetables: Vegetables in People’s Lives and History presents a rediscovery of vegetables at the center of Korean cuisine. Vegetables have been at the heart of Korean food and the lifeblood of the Korean people. In the thousands of years of Korea’s dietary history, vegetables were as important as grains. The Korean word for hunger is ki-keun (famine, 飢饉). The word ki refers to hunger caused by a lack of grain, and keun refers to hunger caused by a lack of vegetables. In other words, people starved when grain was scarce as well as when there were no vegetables. Even in the modern era, when hunger has all but disappeared, it is hard to imagine a meal without vegetables.

 

 

The book The Humanities of Meat: The History of Meat, with Sad, Disturbing, but Irresistible Charms explores the meat culture in Korea. Why meat? Eating meat inevitably involves harming other beings that are alive, moving, and feeling pain. The concern that eating meat leads to obesity and other adult diseases is widespread in Korean society as well as in the West. However, the craving for meat overcomes all these feelings of guilt and anxiety. The difficult balance between hunger for meat and inadequate meat supply is embedded in the religions, institutions, and politics of many civilizations. How have we, as a people who have never had enough of even the staple food of rice until recently, managed to quench this thirst for meat? Here, the book explores the history of meat from prehistoric times to the Japanese occupation of Korea.
The book The Humanities of Seafood: Korean Food Culture Seen Through Fresh Ocean encompasses the history of seafood as a lifeline for the people of the Korean Peninsula and the sentiments of those who sought and ate it. A community’s food culture is inevitably most influenced by its natural environment. They eat what’s most abundant in the area, and there are often food taboos based on the soil and climate of the region. So, it is no surprise that the food culture of Mongolia or Switzerland is very different from that of Japan or the UK, which are island nations. But what about the Korean Peninsula, which is bordered by the sea on three sides? The diverse use of sea fish and shellfish, as well as seaweed, is what makes Korea’s food culture unique.

 

 

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Written by Jung Hye-Kyung (Professor Emeritus at the Department of Food and Nutrition, Hoseo University)