Korean Food Blog

Ice-cold drinks are a given on hot summer days, but you can also cool off with this iced Korean cucumber soup (oi naengguk). With snappy cucumber matchsticks and a light flavored broth, it's a perfect soup for the summertime.

A handy list of Korean table manners to learn before traveling to Korea or dining as a guest in a Korean home.

David Chang was recently named NYC Best Chef of the Year by the James Beard Foundation. If you've never heard of it, it's pretty much the Oscars of the food world. The unbelievably young (30!) Korean-American Chang is the owner of three restaurants in NYC and my personal favorite is the Momofuku Ssam Bar. They use local and seasonal and their menu, which changes daily, is a mix of glorious food from everywhere. Chang uses Korean flavors all the time, but in ways never seen before (kimchi consomme? apple kimchi!?). I haven't been here in awhile and I must stop by, as completely delicious and unpretentious restaurants are hard to come by these days.

I had a working lunch scheduled on Monday with an acquaintance I worked with some years ago on a travel guide. We were exchanging a flurry of emails and texts trying to nail down a date and a time, and she finally asked if we could eat some Korean food and most importantly, some kimchi. I was surprised until she told me she spent most of her formative years in Hawaii, where kimchi is a side dish served everywhere. So we met at my house for a simple dumpling lunch that she said looked, tasted, and smelled like her childhood: beef and chive dumplings (mandoo), summer kimchi (yulmoo kimchi), sweet and salty fried seaweed (myuk twigim), Korean watercress fresh from my mother's garden (minari), and pomegranate juice. The massive amount she ate and her comment made me smile, since she's such a tiny Southern belle looking woman.

I've received a couple emails from people who thought it was funny that I called my kids omnivores. Koreans are omnivores! There are very few things that I won't eat (I eat still-wiggling raw octopus legs in Korea), although I always pass on the roasted silkworms. But I do want to say publicly that I got the description of Korean people as omnivores from Tom Perotta's novel Joe College. The main character (Danny) describes his Korean roommate as an omnivore, which I thought was hilarious when I first read it. Even more comical: Danny's ability to finally dip into his roommate's big jar of kimchi represents a big step in emotional growth.

Photo © 2008 Naomi Imatome Yun

More Wordless Wednesday Blog Posts

I used to love those silver packages of astronaut ice cream when I was a kid- we'd get them on field trips to science museums and theme parks. Now there's "space kimchi" for your next trip to the moon. If you know any first generation Koreans, then you know that many Korean people travel with kimchi, using vacuum sealed bags and other containers to contain the smell. So it's no surprise that South Korea spent millions of dollars developing astronaut kimchi to prepare for the first Korean in outer space.

I love hearing from users of this site, from the useful suggestions to the random comments and odd requests. I've received this question a few times recently and the answer is YES!

When we were on a working vacation last week, a couple asked us at the hotel restaurant how we got our kids to eat Japanese food (we were eating sushi). We thought this was funny, because well, our kids think that Japanese food is just normal food. That goes for Korean food too. And Italian. And American. My kids are omnivores, but even their non-Korean playdate friends love to eat these Korean meals:

• Chicken with Soy Honey Glaze Stir Fried Noodles (Chapchae)
• Korean "Sushi" Rolls (ham + cheese or smoked salmon + cream cheese versions)

Grilled Chicken Photo © 2008 Naomi Imatome Yun, licensed to About.com

If you're tired of throwing the same old cocktail or dinner parties, then having a themed party can be fun for both you and your guests. In general, serving tapas or just appetizers at parties keeps it fun and casual. And dumplings are good because they can be made days in advance and are also filling enough to replace a meal. My husband and I recently threw a cocktail party and served three types of dumplings from around the world: Korean dumplings (mandoo), Colombian dumplings (empanadas), and Indian dumplings (samosas). But the dumpling possibilities are endless, since there are versions in almost every cuisine.

• Korean Dumplings (Mandoo)
• Latin Dumplings (Empanadas)
• Indian Dumplings (Samosas)
• Greek Dumplings (Koulakli Manti)
• Apple Dumplings