Korean Cuisine

Korean cuisine as a national cuisine known today has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Its roots can be traced back to myths and legends of antiquity. Originating from ancient agricultural and nomadic traditions in southern Manchuria and northern Korean peninsula, Korean cuisine has evolved through a complex interaction of the natural environment and different cultural trends. Korean cuisine is largely based on rice, noodles, tofu, vegetables, and meats. Traditional Korean meals are noted for the number of side dishes (banchan) that accompany steam-cooked short-grain rice. Kimchi, a fermented, spicy vegetable dish is usually served at every meal. Korean cuisine usually involves rich seasoning with sesame oil, doenjang (fermented soybean paste), soy sauce, salt, garlic, ginger, and gochujang (red chili paste).

Culture of Korean Cuisine- The Five Elements theory
Throughout history, Koreans have always believed that health and food interrelated. Based on the yin/yang and Five Elements theory, vegetables were considered yang, or positive, and meat was considered yin, or negative. To balance yin and yang, meat was always eaten with vegetables. Meanwhile, rice was considered precious because the cooking of rice created a harmony between the Five Elements of Chinese cosmology; earth, water, metal, fire, wood. In other words, earth produces rice; water boils rice in a metal kettle; fire heats the kettle; and wood makes fire. Another dish that represented Koreans and Chinese cosmology was gujeolpan, or "nine-sectioned plate". Five different colored foods represented the Five Elements were served on the plate; the number nine was regraded has a perfect number that comprised all things. Food, after all, was not only meant to be visually pleasing and delicious, but was also informed by philosophy.

Grains
Grains have been one of the most important staples to the Korean diet. During the pre-modern era, grains such as barley and millet were the main staples and were supplemented by wheat, sorghum, and buckwheat. Rice is not an indigenous crop to Korea, and it is likely that millet was the preferred grain before rice was cultivated. Rice became the grain of choice during the Three Kingdoms period, particularly in the kingdoms of Silla and Baekje in the southern regions of the peninsula. Rice was such an important commodity in Silla that it was used to pay taxes. The Sino-Korean word for "tax" is a compound character that utilizes the character for the rice plant. The preference for rice escalated into the Joseon period when new methods of cultivation and new varieties emerged that would help increase production.

As rice was prohibitively expensive when it first came to Korea, it is likely that the grain was mixed with other grains in order to "stretch" the rice; this is still done in dishes such as boribap (rice with barley) and kongbap (rice with beans). White rice, which is rice with the hull removed, has been the preferred method of eating rice since its introduction into the cuisine. The most traditional method of cooking the rice has been to cook it in an iron pot called a sot (솥) or musoe sot (무쇠솥). This method of rice cookery dates back at least to the Goryeo period, and sot have even been found in tombs from the Silla period. The sot is still used today, much in the same manner as it was in the past centuries.
Rice is used to make a number of items, outside of the traditional bowl of plain white rice. Rice is commonly ground into a flour and used to make rice cakes called tteok, of which there are over two hundred varieties. Rice is also cooked down into a congee (juk), or gruel (mieum) and mixed with other grains, meat, or seafood. Koreans also produce a number of rice wines, both in filtered and unfiltered versions.