S P E C I a L E D I T I O N L I V I N G T H E B E S T L I
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ASIA! S P E C I A L E D I T I O N L I V I N G T H E B E S T L I F E ASIA Cuisine Hansik (Korean Cuisine) Cốm - Autumn's Special Gift Technology The History of Samsung (1938 - Present) Hidden Like Secret Bases - Automated Multistory Parking Facilities Business Asia Dreams in Skyscrapers Understanding Vietnamese Business Culture Traditional Costume Vietnamese traditional costumes Hanbok (Traditional Korean Clothing) Education Educational System of Vietnam The Japanese Way Of Disciplining Children E D I T O R CHINO MINOSA M E M B E R S PTHAO THA.LIN CHINO MINOSA TAILOC.GREY Cuisine A S I A | P A G E 1 HANSIK (KOREAN CUISINE) AN ABUNDANCE OF TASTES, INGREDIENTS, DISHES - AND SURPRISES A S I A | P A G E 2 HANSIK IS RENOWNED The history of Korean cuisine (Hansik) from home style cooking to Western THE WORLD OVER FOR favorites like Kimchi and Bibimbap. ITS EXCEPTIONAL USE OF FRESH LOCAL, Hanjeongsik, a Korean full-course meal with five surprises SEASONAL Foreigners who have experienced INGREDIENTS TO hanjeongsik, the Korean equivalent of CREATE A WIDE the Western course meal, are usually surprised a total of five times. The first VARIETY OF DELICIOUS surprise is the immense size of the DISHES SHARED WITH table. When seated, it is impossible to FAMILY AND FRIENDS. reach the opposite end of the table with one's arm. The second is the fact that the table is so completely covered with dishes that there is no space left on it; each dish holds a different food. Hanjeongsik table served for two people A S I A | P A G E 3 The third surprise is that of all the foods present, the only ones that are for one's exclusive consumption are rice and soup. The other foods are to be enjoyed with the other people present at the table in a communal interaction of spoons and chopsticks. There is no such thing as spooning out food for oneself on a separate dish. Recently, it has become common to take portions of food onto individual dishes for the sake of hygiene, but the original way of eating Korean food was the shared dipping of utensils into stews, soups and side dishes. Because of this practice, Westerners who are accustomed to eating only the food on one's plate experience a profound culture shock. The fourth surprise is the chopsticks. The act of using two thin sticks to bring food to the Our dishes are mouth is no easy task. It takes several years even for Korean children to become made from fresh accustomed to this utensil. To many foreigners seeing Korean chopsticks for the and organic first time, the fact that people actually eat with them alone is quite unbelievable. The ingredients! last surprise is the taste of the food. It is within this fifth surprise that the characteristics of Korean food shine. Korean food is not served in a time-based format of soup or salad, appetizer, and main dish in sequential order. Instead, all foods of the meal are placed on a single table at once in a "space-based" format. As a result, the Korean meal is not a single table spread in which a person eats only what is placed in front of them, but a shared table that everyone enjoys together. The Korean meal does not involve passive enjoyment of food that is served one after the other, but is an "active" table in which each person may choose what he or she likes from the diverse dishes on the table. These characteristics of the Korean meal resulted in a unique culinary culture that is rarely seen anywhere else in the world. A S I A | P A G E 4 K O R E A N F O O D : T H E The most prominent feature of Korean food is its T A S T E O F N A T U R E F R O M fermented dishes. There is virtually no country T H E M O U N T A I N S , T H E with as wide a variety of fermented dishes as S E A , A N D T H E F O U R Korea, with not only kimchi and jeotgal (fermented seafood) but also gochujang (pepper S E A S O N S paste), doenjang (soybean paste) and soy sauce. This diversity was borne out of the long and cold Seventy percent of Korea's land is covered Korean winter. For the winter, when it was with mountains, while three of the country's difficult to obtain the fresh vegetables and namul sides touch the ocean. Korea is also (seasoned vegetable dishes) available in the characterized by four distinct seasons. The spring, summer and fall, ancient Koreans came diversity and abundance of ingredients up with the ingenious solution of fermentation. provided by the mountains, fields, rivers Most countries have at least a few fermented and sea of its richly diverse geographical foods, like yogurt or cheese, but Korea is the only features are the starting points and the one in which cabbages, radishes and vegetables blessings of Korean food. are fermented to be consumed year round. With the changing of spring to summer and fall, there are different types of namul (seasoned vegetable dishes) created from ingredients found on the mountains, in the fields, and in the rivers and seas. It is literally impossible to exclude any one taste from this array of delicious tastes, which has resulted in large tables completely filled with food. Everyone uses chopsticks to eat the food they enjoy best, whatever that may be. If it is too much work to pick and choose one- by-one, all can be combined in a large bowl and mixed together, which produces a new taste that is entirely different from the taste of each individual ingredient. This mixture of ingredients is called bibimbap. Koreans love to mix foods together. Even fermented bean stew can be mixed together with several side dishes on a whim. If one has lost all desire to eat, hot pepper paste is added to the mixture to reactivate one's taste buds. Bibimbap, which recently became popular after being added to the in-flight menu of a Korean airline company, originates from the plentiful quantities of Korea's diverse local and seasonal ingredients. A S I A | P A G E 5 DOENJANG (SOYBEAN PASTE) GOCHUJANG (PEPPER PASTE) The most famous of these is kimchi, and no the jang inside from harmful spirits. A sock Korean meal is complete without it. Even pattern was sometimes pasted upside- today, before the start of winter, Koreans down onto the pot, another attempt to partake in kimjang: pickling cabbages and protect the jang from harm or evil. radishes in salt and jeotgal, and placing these inside large earthenware pots to ferment. The process of making of jang was an Kimchi-making methods vary per household, important yearly event that involved the with countless methods of pickling and types hanging up of meju (blocks of fermented of kimchi. No matter how filled a table may be bean paste), making jang and waiting for it with the delicacies of land, sea and air, if to ripen from early winter to early summer kimchi is not present, the meal is not of the following year. Soy sauce is a solution complete and feels empty. This is the nature of extracted from doenjang, which is based on the traditional Korean meal. meju, with water and salt as the main ingredients. It is made through the activity Another representative Korean fermented of microorganisms that break down food is jang. Jang is a collective term for carbohydrates and protein. In the sauces including doenjang (soybean paste), fermentation process, microorganism gochujang (pepper paste), ganjang (soy sauce) cultures are formed that produce a variety and cheonggukjang (fast-fermented bean of flavors. Due to the use of such paste). Jang is an important seasoning for all microorganisms in homemade jang, its Korean dishes as well as a major source of taste and quality vary depending on the protein. climate, environment and production method of the region in which it is made. It Folk customs provide evidence of the is also the flavor of this jang that determines importance of jang to ordinary Koreans the taste of the family's meals for an entire throughout history. The saying "a household year. falls if the taste of jang is changed" points to just how critical it was to maintain the taste of In a sense, it is no exaggeration to say that the family jang through the generations. The Korean food begins with jang and ends with day for making jang was chosen ahead of time kimchi. It is between these two bookends from among auspicious dates. After jang was that the taste of Korea resides, with its made, a rope of twisted rice straws was diverse and abundant ingredients and long draped around the earthenware pot to protect history of 5,000 years. A S I A | P A G E 6 SUMMARY Hansik, known as Korean cuisine, is popular all over the world because of the original it brings. Every meals brings five surprise to the enjoyment. First surprise is the incredible size of the table. Next, this table is always full of dishes. The third is all members eat the same dishes, except rice and soup. One more surprise is the way they use chopsticks. And the last is stand for the tasty food.