Basic 4 Kind of Korean food

Royal Cuisine

The most developed food culture of our country is the palace. Seasonal and holiday foods developed naturally as the first food produced in each season was put on Jongmyo Shrine, made food with it, and presented to the king.

Beef was used the most for meat, and dried seafood, abalone, sea cucumber, mixed with cooked soup or steamed soup was used a lot.

Ordinary food was handled by a female courtesan and banquet food was handled by a man, all of whom have learned their function through a thorough training process for many years.

They did not use strong spices or ugly shaped ingredients, but chose only delicious parts. The Place setting method and table manners were so strict and the royal table has separate cooking terms, which express the same food differently in the royal table.

The king’s table has three different kinds: a large table, a small table, and A discoid.

On the large table they placed white and seaweed soup, and on small table they placed red rice and soup.

The silver spoon of the royal table placed two sets side by side in a round, flat shape, using a spoon to share greasy and non-greasy food.

While the king was eating a royal table, the royal court lady were carefully watched, with cutting a large food as small pieces to be served on empty jars, and shifting distant cold food’s position forward and transferring the side dish to the main table.

The royal cuisine was served to the most prestigious royal family, so one can guess that it was a dish of utmost sincerity with decades of mastery.

Noble family food

During the Joseon Dynasty, the royal family and the household of the gentry exchanged culture through the marriage system of the royal family and the nobility.

This is how the exchange of food was achieved by offering food to the palace through wedding ceremonies and offered food from the royal palace.
Therefore, the food is colorful and hearty, similar to royal cuisine. In Korean society, where blood ties and morality have been important throughout its 5,000-year history, “jongga(the head family)” which becomes the root and symbol of a family, is the family’s core and symbolic existence

In addition, Jongbu(the wife of the eldest male descendent of the jongga) is responsible for the operation of a family’s ritualistic lifestyle culture. The food offered by jongga has a culture of “jung(affection)” culture in which food is generously distributed at various events, including dozens of ancestral rites.

As Jongga was responsible for the family’s ancestral rites and guests’ entertainment, there are managers and food for the guest being handed down at the end of the day.

Noble family food is a local dish using fresh ingredients from its area, where members of the local community gather together to make food, and give generously to customers.

Temple food

Korean food, which is historically associated with Buddhism, was influenced by temple food, which enjoys vegetarian diet and natural food.

In recent years, temple food has drawn attention from many people, including foreign tourists, vegetarians and culinary researchers.

Most of the foods used in temple food are vegetables, including wild herbs, except meat. But giving off a stimulating flavor is considered a taboo food in Buddhism.

Therefore, only salt, ginger, and pepper are added when making kimchi. The recipe for temple food is the same as the usual. There are a growing number of people visiting temple food restaurant, making a lot of fermented food and Pickled Vegetables, known as “storage food,” and using recipes from a variety of foods such as lotus leaf rice, vegetables, muk, tofu, soybeans and steamed vegetables. Recently, more foreigners are trying to experience temple culture and temple food through ‘temple stay’.

Stored fermented food

Stored fermented foods such as kimchi, salted fish, vinegar, and alcoholic beverages became an important source of nutrition for grain-oriented Korean food and were established as representative food of Korea’s food culture.

Storage fermented food means food that is produced by preserving it without processing and keeping it edible, or being processed, cooked and preserved before being eaten.

The first means chosen by mankind for food preservation was the drying method, followed by pickling and fermentation methods.

As Korea has four distinct seasons, it has traditionally been one of the annual events to buy stored food.

In spring, it contained soy sauce, red pepper paste, and other fermented sauce, intcluding salted shrimp and salted fish in the summer, and in the sunshine fall, it was seasoned with vegetables and made kimchi for the coming winter.