Korea is a country with distinctive national characteristics. Its distinctive national costumes and unique food culture have become the country's business card and are going to the world. South Korea is also a country with strong brand awareness, advanced manufacturing industry and products all over the world; His film and television works and pop music are also popular in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and are called "Korean Wave".
What is commendable is that the brands launched by Koreans are not blindly introducing and imitating western models and forms, but are advanced in packaging and introduced to the world, so they are particularly attractive. The long TV series Dae Jang Geum is an example. It shows the Korean food culture through the life of a group of ancient Korean court chefs. Once the play was broadcast, it caused strong repercussions in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Li Yingai, the heroine, is not only famous, but also promotes Korean food tourism. Tasting Korean food, appreciating Korean customs and feeling Korean culture has become the pursuit goal of tourists in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Koreans' strong sense of "independent innovation" is worth learning from.
Three treasures of Korean cuisine: kimchi, soy sauce and sauce jar.
Korean diet is based on nature. Sauce and kimchi in Korea have a history of thousands of years and contain a long tradition. Sometimes it is original and plain; Sometimes it tastes gorgeous. From luxurious court banquets to simple four-season dishes, Korean cuisine has its own unique flavor and charm.
The first treasure: kimchi
Anthropologist Marvin Harris wrote in The Mysteries of Food and Culture: "Tell me what you eat, and then I will know who you are". Koreans will say, "We eat kimchi, so we are Koreans". In Korea, it's hard to imagine a table without kimchi. Koreans have a special liking for kimchi, and every family has a "kimchi refrigerator" dedicated to preserving kimchi. Kimchi tastes very spicy, and the seasoning is very strong and refreshing. Even kimchi fermented all winter tastes as crisp as fresh cabbage. Eating kimchi when eating greasy things can refresh you; Eating light food makes people feel lighter. Korean kimchi is different from China kimchi, which is mainly sour, and even more different from Japanese kimchi without fermentation technology. Kimchi made by natural fermentation is not so much food as medicine. Lactic acid bacteria produced in the fermentation process help digestion and are said to have anti-cancer effects. Kimchi contains the national soul of Koreans and is another generation of Korean nouns.
The second treasure: soy sauce
Koreans have always believed that "the taste of food depends entirely on the taste of sauce" and that without the taste of sauce, no matter how good the raw materials are, they will never make good dishes. Therefore, soy sauce, Chili sauce and soy sauce are the most important possessions of Korean families in a year. These three sauces contain the secrets of Korean diet. Soy sauce is rich in nutrients such as protein and vegetable fat, and vitamin E, which can eliminate cholesterol. It is very effective in preventing diseases. Soy sauce, Chili sauce and soy sauce can be seen everywhere in shops now. However, many people living in rural areas still use their own unique secret recipes to make their own sauces.
The third treasure: sauce jar
In the sunny places of Korean rural families, you can always see large and small sauce jars neatly placed. Korean sauce, which has lasted for thousands of years, tastes more and more intense in the sauce jar. The sauce jar can suck away toxins harmful to human body. If filled with water, harmful components in the water can be filtered out. Although the climate changes all the year round, the sauce jar can keep the internal temperature, so the sauce taste will not change and the food can keep fresh for a long time. The sauce jar can be said to be a treasure house for storing Korean flavor.
Korean sticky cakes have three hearts: sincerity, love and filial piety.
Korean sticky cake, also known as "rice cake", is made of steamed glutinous rice flour balls. It can be called the "pillar" of holiday food in Korean traditional diet, such as children's first birthday, wedding and 60th birthday (in Korean traditional concept, 60th birthday means a new beginning of life). People make and eat sticky cakes to pray for peace.
Although Korean sticky cake is also called "rice cake" in English, its making method is completely different from that of western cakes. The raw material of Korean sticky cake is glutinous rice flour instead of flour, and there are no raw materials such as butter, milk and eggs. According to other ingredients used, there are three or four hundred kinds of sticky cakes in Korea, including grains, soybeans, peanuts, red dates, mugwort, pumpkins, sesame seeds and citron.
The production technology of Korean sticky cakes is also varied, but most of them are very traditional methods:
Firstly, glutinous rice is ground into glutinous rice flour. The next step can be to adopt different methods according to the different sticky cakes made. Some people like to wet glutinous rice flour and steam it directly in a clay pot. Others like to add some hot water to glutinous rice flour, then knead it into dumplings, and then steam or cook the kneaded dumplings. Then, the steamed dumplings can be shaped or fried.
Other techniques, such as painting sticky cakes with various colors or decorating them with some colorful foods, can make various Korean sticky cakes.
Korean sticky cakes play an important role in Korean traditional history. According to research, South Korea ate sticky cakes almost as long as whole grains, which existed before the Three Kingdoms Period in China. It is said that sticky cakes also mean sincerity, friendship and filial piety. Sticky cakes are indispensable for holiday gifts, especially those sent home. When moving, there is also the custom of making sticky cakes for neighbors.