10 South Korean Food Facts!
We all love food. It’s a universal language, but we love Korean food. It’s delicious, full of flavor, and embedded with thousands of years of culture! There are so many exciting things about Korean food facts that I have learned over the years, and now I would like to share them with you.
10 Korean Food Facts!
1. There are hundreds of different types of kimchi.
Our first item from the Korean food facts is kimchi. As most people already know, kimchi is South Korea's national dish. It may surprise some that there is more than just one type of kimchi and others consider it as a pregnancy superfood too!
They are so delicious and fun to make that it is not enough to simply introduce kimchi through restaurants. Gwangju even held a world kimchi festival to highlight the process of kimchi making.
2. Rice was used to pay taxes.
Rice has always been fundamental in Korean cooking and Korean life in general since its cultivation. The following information in our South Korean food facts is about the use of rice not only in cooking rice dishes.
The value of rice became so high that it was once used as currency and to pay taxes during the Three Kingdoms Period (it is called Three Kingdoms Period, but there were four) in Silla.
Rice was seen as a luxury dish, and the farmers who produced it couldn’t eat it. But nowadays, we get to cook and eat rice and even create amazing rice cooker recipes!
3. You can find some of the same foods from the royal cuisine in temple food
You can find menu items in temple food similar to royal cuisines. When kitchen maids from the palace retired, they worked in temples as nuns. Thus, the transfer of royal cuisines to the temple food menu.
4. Korea is one of the world’s largest consumers of garlic.
One of the most interesting Korean food facts I found was about garlic. I have yet to have a Korean dish that did not have garlic in it. It is in soups, served raw with grilling meats, marinades, and even in some drinks! Data shows that Korea has averaged 7.6 kilograms per capita from 2011 to 2017 (the highest year being 8.9 in 2013).
5. The number of banchan given during meals was equal to the diner’s status.
Historically, the number of banchan (side dishes) given during a meal used to be based on your status! Anywhere from four to twelve different sides were a part of the meal—sometimes kings would have 100 varieties! This is just one of the South Korean food facts you need to know about banchan. Can you imagine how big the table must have been?
6. Koreans use metal chopsticks.
There are some fascinating food facts about Korean chopsticks, such as that Korean chopsticks are metal. Another unique attribute of Korean chopsticks is that they come in different shapes: round and square.
7. The type of banchan you’ll receive depends on the meat or noodles dish being served, as well as the season.
Besides being a symbol of status, another Korean food fact about our favorite part of Korean meals: Did you know that the banchan you receive depends on the meat or noodle dish you order and the season? No wonder my favorite meals didn’t have the exact words in the winter as they did in the summer!
8. The most popular sauce in Korea is gochujang.
I’m sure this Korean food fact comes as no surprise that the number one sauce is gochujang. The red pepper paste can be used with soups, most meats, vegetables, and rice dishes, like the ultimate comfort food, bibimbap!
9. Koreans don’t have a Western approach to dessert.
In the west, we see dessert as sweet treats like cakes, pies, ice cream, and other fun, sugary foods. In Korea, however, that's not the case. Our Korean food facts take a turn into desserts in the country.
Before western food began to influence the culinary scene, traditional Korean desserts were mostly fresh-cut fruit, teas, and sometimes old, traditional cookies or rice cakes for special occasions.
You can still get and eat traditional Korean desserts everywhere in the country, especially during festivals, but western desserts are more prevalent now in cafes.
10. You can find exact replicas of menu items displayed outside of restaurants.
This Korean food fact is the most interesting to me! I love restaurants with display cases filled with plastic replicas of every menu item when I walk around the mall.
It’s the best thing ever when I’m unsure of what I want to eat, while also the worst thing ever for my wallet because it all looks so good! Even more impressive than the realistic look of these displays is that the food comes out looking like the replicas outside the restaurants.
If you are surprised by some Korean food facts, how about tasting snacks from South Korea? The Daebak Company wants to bring the food experience to you with the Korean snack box subscription: Snackfever!
You can get a little bit of everything from South Korea, from kbeauty and kpop to Korean culture items, when you subscribe to the Daebak Box!
And there you have it! Here are some interesting Korean food facts to share with your friends! How many of these did you know about? Are there any other facts that we missed? Share them in the comments!
Written by matchalexie
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