K FOOD : Secrets of Korean Flavors

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“There's never been a Korean food book like this before”
As the first Minister of Culture, Lee O-young, states, people who say 'eat age' (which means getting older), 'eat money' (that is, earning it), 'eat insults' (being bad-mouthed), 'eat hardship' (exerting yourself), 'eat fear' (getting scared), ‘eat your mind' (making up one’s mind), 'eat a championship' (winning one), and 'eat feelings' (when one is really touched) are Koreans. In dealing with food, time, space, emotions, and goods, Koreans have been inseparable from the activity of eating. However, there were not many books that explored the way they ate and lived. Above all, it is rare to find a book that properly answers the question of people outside the country, 'What are the characteristics of Korean food?'

Five Codes to Examine Korean Food: ‘Flavorlessness,’ ‘Fusion,’ ‘Fermentation,’ ‘Gathering,’ and ‘Moist-Heat’

〈K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors〉 is the result of an effort to examine the spirit and substance, and the past and the present, that has taken root in the Korean table, with a dense and bold eye. Above all, this book looks at Korean food in terms of cultural codes such, as 'flavorlessness,' 'fusion,' 'fermentation,' 'gathering,' and 'moist-heat' instead of traditional standards, such as 'season' and 'ingredients.' Korean food begins with a bland and mild ‘tasteless’ rice, and that rice is wrapped up in a ssam or mixed with meat and vegetable ingredients, sesame oil, and red pepper paste for ‘fusion’ properties, which are the first and second codes. While the Western cooking code consists of the confrontation between cooked and raw, and meat diet and vegetarianism, the third code examines the taste of fermented Korean food, that is, Korean food through ‘fermentation.’ The fourth code, ‘namul culture,’ looks into Korean food through the tradition of the ‘gathering era’ of digging for namul (greens), picking tree fruits, and plucking marine plants. The fifth code, ‘wet culture’, focuses on foods that are always included in Koreans' meals. They are broth-based foods such as soup, tang, stew, and hot pot, foods that need to be simmered, such as yeot (Korean taffy), grain syrup, and syrup, and foods cooked with steam, such as rice cakes and other steamed foods. Former Minister of Culture Lee O-young, “Korea’s best scholar,” took on the task of coding through this insight into the spirit and matter, and the past and the present of Korean food. Han Bokryeo, the director of the Institute of Korean Royal Cuisine, Chung Haekyung, Professor in the Department of Food and Nutrition at Hoseo University, Park Chaelin, Ph.D. at the World Institute of Kimchi, and Cha Gyunghee, Professor of Korean Cuisine at Jeonju University, were responsible for the task of specifying and presenting the code in detail across each volume.
The two-year-long journey bundled into five volumes originated from the idea that food, especially Korean food, is not just a material substance that fills the stomach but somewhat of a 'media' with strong communication powers. This is the result of a comprehensive examination from the roots of Korean food such as royal cuisine, temple food, and Jongga food, to the scenery of the dining table where Koreans live in 2021, and from the source of ingredients to producers, from representative local foods to popular products on the market.
Korean food, which is prepared by mixing, fermenting, seasoning, and boiling, harmonizes with the principles of circulation and paradox. They do not ‘exclude’ but ‘include,’ and embrace and harmonize with each other. It not only adheres to the memories of the past or the taste of tradition, but also fuses and develops with the present taste and foreign culture, and as this book struggled to find this, it would be very reasonable to name this book ‘K-food,’ like ‘K-pop,’ ‘K-drama,’ and ‘K-beauty.’



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"Il n'y a jamais eu de livre de cuisine coréen comme ça avant"Comme l'affirme Lee O-young, premier ministre de la Culture, les gens qui disent "manger de l'âge" (ce qui veut dire vieillir), "manger de l'argent" (c'est-à-dire le gagner), "manger de l'insulte" (être mal dit), "manger de la peur", "manger de l'esprit" (faire gagner un championnat), et "manger des sentiments" (quand on est vraiment touché) sont coréens. Pour ce qui est de la nourriture, du temps, de l'espace, des émotions et des biens, les Coréens ont été inséparables de l'activité alimentaire. Cependant, peu de livres exploraient leur façon de manger et de vivre. Surtout, il est rare de trouver un livre qui réponde adéquatement à la question des gens à l'extérieur du pays : « Quelles sont les caractéristiques de l'alimentation coréenne? »Five Codes to Examining Korean Food: 'Flavority', 'Fusion', 'Fermentation', 'Gathering' et 'Moist-Heat' 〈 K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors 〉 est le résultat d'un effort d'examen de l'esprit et de la substance, et du passé et du présent, qui a pris racine dans la table coréenne, d'un œil dense et audacieux. Par-dessus tout, ce livre traite de l'alimentation coréenne en termes de codes culturels tels que « sans saveur », « fusion », « fermentation », « rassemblement » et « chaleur humide » au lieu de normes traditionnelles, comme « saison » et « ingrédients ». et que le riz est enveloppé dans de l'assam ou mélangé avec de la viande et des ingrédients végétaux, de l'huile de sésame et de la pâte de poivre rouge pour les propriétés « fusion », qui sont les premier et deuxième codes. Alors que le code de la cuisine occidentale consiste en la confrontation entre la cuisine cuite et la viande crue, et le régime alimentaire et le végétarisme, le troisième code examine le goût des aliments coréens fermentés, c'est-à-dire les aliments coréens par « fermentation ». Le quatrième code, « culture de namul », examine la nourriture coréenne à travers la tradition de « l'ère de la cueillette » de namul (verts), de cueillette de fruits d'arbres et de cueillette de plantes marines. Le cinquième code, « culture humide », est axé sur les aliments qui sont toujours inclus dans les repas coréens. Il s'agit d'aliments à base de bouillon comme la soupe, le tang, le ragoût et le pot chaud, des aliments qui doivent être mijotés, comme le yeot (taffy coréen), le sirop de grain et le sirop, et des aliments cuits à la vapeur, comme les gâteaux de riz et autres aliments cuits à la vapeur. L'ancien ministre de la Culture, Lee O-young, « meilleur chercheur de Corée », s'est chargé de coder à travers cette vision de l'esprit et de la matière, ainsi que du passé et du présent de l'alimentation coréenne.