By Honorary Reporter John Paul Serraon from Philippines
Photos = Thoraia Gamal

Egyptians have embraced elements of Korean culture in daily life as a result of viewing Korean dramas, listening to K-pop and watching documentaries on Korea. I searched for Egyptian fans of Korean food and found Thoraia Gamal, a Hansik aficionado who has made kimchi for over 10 years. I conducted an email interview with her on Dec. 19.

Gamal introduces Korean culture in her country by teaching her neighbors to make tasty and nutritious kimchi. Since high school, she has been a fan of Korean culture and her interest in Hansik stemmed from her fondness for watching Korean shows. Assisting her parents in the kitchen since childhood, she visited numerous Korean restaurants in Egypt to learn and get familiar with Korean cuisine.

Egyptian media and TV have featured Gamal for her cooking of Korean cuisine. Her social media showcases her Korean culinary expertise through recipe videos and food photography. Moreover, she impressed visitors at events sponsored by the Korean Cultural Center in Cairo and the Dubai office of the Korean Tourism Organization in the United Arab Emirates.

When asked to recommend several simple dishes using kimchi, she gave the following four examples whose recipes can be found on her YouTube channel: vegetarian kimchi, a halal-friendly version she developed with no fish sauce or anchovies; gimbap (seaweed rice rolls) with kimchi, an easy-to-make dish that requires only sesame oil, rice, lettuce and kimchi; kimchi fried rice, a stir-fried dish using leftover rice with kimchi, two ingredients almost always at a Korean household; and kimchi jeon (fried pancake), which can be cooked with just flour, kimchi, water and gochujang (spicy red pepper sauce) in five minutes.

Gamal said consuming spicy food in daily life is a point of convergence between Korea and Egypt, adding, "Egyptians have grown to love kimchi and everyone looks for this food and asks how to make it. Because Koreans use kimchi cabbage that is available in Egypt, we can fully embrace Korean food."

kalhong617@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.