South Korea: Healthy and Tasty Dishes

Before we went to Korea, an employee of the travel agency kindly told Mum and me, "Korean meals are very simple. Please don't expect a lot of meaty dishes like we have here in Malaysia. And you might not be used to the taste. Nonetheless, a few Chinese meals will be provided during the trip."

Having seen Mum enjoy most of the food in France and in Japan, I replied to the lady, "Don't worry, Miss. We two are not fussy about food at all." In my heart I was only looking forward to authentic South Korean dishes, not Chinese cuisine.

The Korean food I had eaten previously was limited to kimchi (fermented vegetables), gamjajeon (potato pancake), gimbap (seaweed-rice) and instant noodles, but I had never been to any Korean eatery. During the tour, I had numerous occasions to sit at typical Korean restaurants

where clients were seated at tables of four to eat with stainless-steel chopsticks.

The local specialities which we tasted among the 18 meals included in the package were dakgalbi (Chuncheon chicken stirred fried with cabbage, sweet potatoes, and rice cake)

dolsot bibimbap (rice topped with seasoned vegetables and a raw egg in the middle served in a heated stone bowl), mushrooms,

seafood,

samgyetang (ginseng-and-glutinous-rice stuffed chicken soup)

dwaeji bulgogi (grilled pork)

shabu shabu (Japanese style steamboat),

jeonbokjuk (Jeju rice porridge with abalone)

and Jeju black pork.

Our tour leader and tour guide were always busy serving us and

adding ingredients to our tables.

When they could finally settle down to have their meals, many of our group members were already leaving the restaurant to get into the bus. Jeson once said to us with a bitter smile, "Please take your time at the tables. You all eat so fast that I have to rush to finish my food to catch up with you. So I don't even chew, I just swallow! As a result, I've been going to the toilet more often these few days..."

After several meals, I realised that Mum and I were the rare ones to like various banchan (steamed, marinated, or stir-fried vegetables or shredded squid usually seasoned with sesame oil, salt, vinegar, minced garlic, chopped green onions, dried chili peppers, and soy sauce, served as side dishes) and seaweed soup besides kimchi.

I also appreciated all the dishes as they were not only visually appealing to me, they were also not oily, which suited my stomach very much. I was surprised to find that some aunties had brought sambal (chili based sauce), ikan bilis (small dried anchovies) and roasted peanuts from Malaysia and generously shared with everybody to accompany the rice at almost all the meals.

Was I missing our national dish nasi lemak in front of the colourful and delicious South Korean food?

The answer was written on my whole face.