Blogs

Cultural Post #2

Banchan

David Kim

30262888

david.kim123@richmond.edu

Weeks after having Somyung’s Kimchi-jjigae, I and my language partners went to Yewon to have more Korean food. As we entered and ordered food, water and banchan were served. Banchan is food that is eaten together to supplement other nutrients that are difficult to satisfy with main dishes or to eat more deliciously. There are many cases of translating banchan into English as side dish, but this can lead to misunderstanding the concept of banchan. A side dish refers to a dish that is simply added to the main dish like vegetables served with steak. Kimchi, black beans, and vegetables match the concept of side dish among banchan. However, main dishes like grilled fish, stir-fried pork, braised ribs, and bulgogi cannot be called side dishes. In other words, not all banchan are side dishes, so banchan should not be translated as side dishes. Because of these cultural differences, banchan is used as a word that refers only to Korean food culture. Traditionally in Korean cuisine, kimchi is a menu that is naturally served at every meal, so it is not included in counting the number of banchan. Jeollado is a local district famous for serving a lot of banchan. The name "Jeollado Table" was also created over the food culture of Jeolla-do, which has many banchan. Even though I was very familiar of banchan, I was never really curious about how Koreans started this typical way of eating. After doing research about today's Korean cuisine, I learned that people in Korea started to make and eat banchan from the end of the Goryeo Dynasty to the early Joseon Dynasty. It was usually based on the diet of upper-class families with different banchan made of special ingredients of each region or district. Places close to the beach started to make banchan with fish or seafood and eat them with rice. Seafood from the South Sea and the West Sea, which have many islands and deep oceans, is still valued as one of the best. In the south, rice is well produced and grains are developed because the temperature, climate, and rainy season are suitable for farming. In the case of winter, it was difficult to get food other than seafood or fish. People used to pick vegetables that are well grown in spring and dried them in the shade to eat them throughout the winter. This type of banchan is called namul(나물). Banchan that are made with meat existed before the Three Kingdoms Period, but it was developed in the middle of the Goryeo Dynasty. Recently, there are several banchan stores that sell only banchan for most people living alone. In Korea, banchan stores appeared in the early 2000s. People usually buy banchan and eat at home with instant food or delivery food rather than making banchan due to lack of time, lack of cooking skills, or laziness. Because this way of eating is unhealthy due to nutritional balance, banchan stores are specializing in banchan to aim for this market.

English Resource

https://koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1397

https://www.kcet.org/shows/the-migrant-kitchen/banchan-the-story-of-the-korean-side-dish

Korean Resource

http://contents.history.go.kr/front/km/print.do?levelId=km_026_0040_0060_0010&whereStr=

http://www.futurekorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=103351

Image : https://m.blog.naver.com/lljjyy1983/221904091258

Language Learning Journal #2

“Prelude” - Yun Dong-ju

David Kim

30262888

david.kim123@richmond.edu

As I said in my learning plan, I wanted to learn more about Korean literature, especially poetry. One of the famous poems that I already knew was ‘Prelude’ (Seoshi) by Yun Dong-ju. Poet Yun Dong-ju was born in Bukgando on December 30, 1917. He passed away on February 16, 1945, a few months before Korea's liberation. He wasn't a fighter leading independence movements with a gun or knife. He was not a famous poet of his time. However, he was influenced by Jeong Ji-yong's poetry and opened a new world of poetry that expressed sincere feelings in easy words. Yun Dong-ju sublimated the madness of Japanese imperialism into agony and melted it into poetry to capture his life. For that reason, his poetry contains his own life, struggles, and self-reflection. Several symbolic poetic words appear in Prelude. Natural objects like the sky, wind, stars, leaves, and night are iconic poetic terms. The poetic word Sky is expressed as an omnipotent figure that evaluates him. The term wind was used in a negative sense as a being that shakes him, a being that makes him suffer, as it is used in many poems. The word Star also means purity and ideals as the symbol of stars. Leaf Bird can be interpreted as citizens like us who are nothing special. Night means the background of the times, the Japanese colonial era. Rather than using a special method of expression, Prelude is a poem of self-reflection as if he is looking back at his life. The first sentence that makes up line one and line two is a well-known sentence in South Korea. It shows that he wants to live a life without shame that even the sky, an omnipotent being, admits. Line three and line four confess that he was distressed by small conflicts that came to him. Line five and line six show that he will not fall for these conflicts and temptations. "The heart of singing stars" will pursue hope and the ideal world. "I should love all dying" refers to the love of his people and their lives. Line seven and line eight say, "I will walk the path given to me." It means that he will carry out his destiny and mission, to make his own way for independence and liberation. The last line of the poem states that the stars keep passing by in the wind tonight. In other words, he is trying to express that it was a difficult time to dream about hope and independence. When reading and studying Prelude, I knew that it would be important to connect this poem with the Japanese colonial era due to the circumstances when it was written. Prelude emphasizes that it was written during a negative period. It also emphasizes the writer's willingness not to be swayed by any suffering or struggles. Reading Yun Dong-ju's prelude made me want to know more about the poet Yun Dong-ju. It was impressive to see how someone could write such a beautiful poem in this frustrating situation. Through more literature work, I not only want to improve my language ability but also have a better understanding of Korean culture and history.

Korean Resource

http://www.theviews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=459

https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0027887

English Resource

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/life-and-poetry-of-the-eternal-young-poet-yoon-dongju/ZQVxOv5SmmRsAw