One of the most important cultural aspects of Korea is the food and cooking. Since I moved into the apartments, I am able to cook whatever I can. So, I started learning how to cook a lot of Korean dishes. One of my favorite Korean dishes is my mom’s kimchi pork rib stew. However, kimchi is very hard to store due to its strong funky smell. My roommate once bought kimchi and we had to throw it out as the “stinky” smell was taking over the entire kitchen. Because of this I had to find new dishes that I could possibly make without disturbing anyone. One stew that is very similar to the kimchi stew is the gochujang stew. Gochujang is now a very popular sauce/paste that is used globally. Gochujang stew (jjigae) normally contains tofu, green onions, pork or stew meat, and mushrooms. I make this dish quite frequently whenever I crave jjigae. I also go to Trader Joes for frozen Korean food. They recently released frozen kimbap (Korean sushi) that went viral on TikTok, selling out immediately. Other than kimbap, they also have Korean bulgogi, dumplings, and gochujang.
A good resource for easy Korean food recipes is Baek Jong Won’s YouTube cooking channel. I first encountered his channel when I saw that my brother was relying on it whenever he was making a Korean dish. Baek Jong Won is one of the most popular cooks in Korea and owns multiple restaurants that are cheap and good. He also helps restaurants that are struggling by consulting for them and providing them with resources. He makes the tutorial videos easy to follow even when you have limited materials.
Korean food has been influenced by many other countries. To list a few popular ones there is jjajangmyeon (짜장면, black bean noodles) from China, ramen influenced from Japan, and a lot of Italian foods. One crucial part of a Korean meal are banchans (side dishes). But sadly it is really hard to create all these side dishes in a dorm apartment. There are a variety of side dishes that are unlimited including fish, meat, and just vegetables. Food is one of my favorite cultural aspects of Korea.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoABXt5mipg6mIdGKBuJlv5tmQFAQ3OYr
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