Category: Heritage Food
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Right Under Your Nose – Shepherd’s Purse 냉이
Shepherd’s purse (냉이) is everywhere, and it’s early leaf shape is easy to mistake for a common dandelion. It lacks the milky liquid of the dandelion, and has a distinctive flower and seedpod, the latter from which it derives its name. Although it’s often maligned as a prolific weed, it’s a primary ingredient in one…
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Choices, Choices, Gwangju Whole Fried Chicken
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Korean whole fried chicken takes it to the next level. There are blogs and even a documentary on Netflix about it. For context, when a restaurant specializes in something here, it really specializes. If it’s beef-bone stew on the sign, it’s beef-bone stew, all-day, every-day. If it’s fried chicken, it’s all about the fried chicken.…
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Traditional Markets Offer a Slice of Life
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I could write an entry every week just about the different traditional markets (전통시장), their history, and the many facets I love about them. To me, life in Korea is not complete without a connection to the traditional markets, their vendors, the goods, sights, sounds, and smells you find there. I suppose that is true…
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Right Under Your Nose – 고들빼기
Have you ever foraged for food? Depending where you grew up, there may have been obvious plants to forage, maybe seasonal berries, leafy greens, or various other herbs, roots and mushrooms. At the end of sixth grade, our elementary school class spent a few days at an outdoor school. Amongst the skills we were introduced…
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Warming up with Winter’s Ice Cream
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Ice cream may rule the day in the summer, but how does a person scratch that itch in the winter? In Korea, sweet potato (고구마) is the perfect, creamy, cold season snack. Each variety has a different flavor, but our favorite is “honey sweet potato” (꿀고구마). You only have to crack open a freshly roasted…
