Korea.net has 3,432 Honorary Reporters from 105 countries who share news and stories on Korea in nine languages. They send Korea-related news from their neighborhoods to Korea.net and share articles posted on our site through their social media accounts. The following are three highlighted stories posted by such reporters last week.
By Hong Kilju and Lee Jihae
Korean food is also seeing growing global popularity along with K-pop and K-dramas. This week saw an Honorary Reporter article on making patjuk (red bean porridge) for Dongji (winter solstice), or the shortest day of the 24 solar terms, another that discussed trying a variety of Korean food through a promotional event and a third that focused on Korean vegan food.
■ Shirayuki's cooking class [9]: Korean Dongji food patjuk (Yukiko Nakanaga from Japan in Japanese)
This patjuk (red bean porridge) was made by Honorary Reporter Yukiko Nakanaga from Japan. (Yukiko Nakanaga)
Honorary Reporter Yukiko Nakanaga from Japan has a series of articles on Korean food, with the latest edition on making patjuk (red bean porridge) for Dongji (winter solstice). "In the past, Koreans shared and ate patjuk with neighbors on Dongji and prayed for longevity and health," she said.
Dongji in Japan is considered the final day of the year and people thus eat food whose name ends in "ung," the last letter of the Japanese alphabets hiragana and katakana. "I think saealsim (rice dough balls) are unique," she added, explaining the origin of the food's name and how to cook it.
■ Tasting Korean food via "K-food Road" (Bui Thai Huong from Vietnam in Vietnamese)
Honorary Reporter Bui Thai Huong from Vietnam tried galbitang (beef rib soup, left) and gomtang (ox bone soup) through the promotional event "K-food Road." (Bui Thai Huong)
Honorary Reporter Bui Thai Huong from Vietnam attended the second edition of the promotional event "K-food Road," in which participants in the Southeast Asian nation tried a variety of Korean food. Jointly organized by the Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corp., and the Korean Embassy in Vietnam, the event was held at 52 Korean restaurants in Hanoi. Participants were given a voucher worth VND 200,000 (about KRW 10,000) to use at Korean restaurants in the Vietnamese capital.
The writer tried gomtang (ox bone soup) with white rice, fried chicken and fried chicken noodles with cheese. She said Korean food is one of her favorites as it shows the "essence of variety and cooking." Her friend Phuong Uyen, who joined her at the event, said, "I wasn't that interested in Korean food because it's known as basically spicy, and I don't like spicy food. But this opportunity allowed me to taste many delicious Korean dishes."
■ Traditional Korean dishes for vegans? No problem! (Olivia Fries from Germany in German)
The growth of vegetarianism in food culture has fueled rising interest in Korean vegetarian food among Honorary Reporters, with some writing about vegan restaurants worth visiting while traveling in Korea. Honorary Reporter Olivia Fries from Germany said, "When people think of Korean food, they often think of meat but you can easily enjoy vegetarian dishes by removing or replacing certain ingredients." She cited as examples 12 dishes including jjigae (stew), japchae (stir-fried glass noodles and vegetables) and tteokbokki (spicy rice cake).
Fries also introduced Korean vegan dishes in three categories: those that are vegan on their own, those that simply require removing a few ingredients and others that simply need substitution of ingredients. For the first category, she gave as examples gamja jorim (boiled and seasoned potatoes), dubu jorim (boiled and seasoned tofu) and dubu gangjeong (tofu with fried glutinous rice crackers).
kalhong617@korea.kr
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