What Is Korean Food Famous For

When was the last time you ate an entire meal that filled you up without damaging your heart with salt and fat or loading you up with empty carbohydrates? If you are honest about it, you will probably have to admit that it has been a long time.

Korean food is flavorful, colorful, and meaty, but it also nourishes the body like few other cuisines. Eating Korean barbeque in Korean restaurant in NYC can be a real eye-opener because you wrap each morsel of meat in antioxidant-rich leaves and spiced up with tiny slices of garlic. On the side you always get probiotic Kimchi, rich in lactic acid, and usually hot green chili peppers full of vitamin C. The best side dish might be "myul-chi" which is a kind of small anchovy dried out. It is full of calcium, protein, omega fish oil — and it tastes sweet and salty. It's like eating beef jerky that is actually good for you.

One more word about kimchi: This stuff is amazingly good for you, and Koreans make more than 20 kinds of kimchi. It is well known as "World's Healthiest Foods." It's not just the cabbage. Koreans seem to be able to ferment just about anything. A word of advice on kimchi if you are not accustomed to it: It is exotic and strange at first, but by the second time you eat it, you will not want to live without it. In fact, most Korean people say that they can't live without kimchi — and they are only half-joking.

One big difference you will notice between Korean food and Western food is the dessert. Typically, you will be given a cup of cold and refreshing cinnamon tea, along with a plate of fruit. This cleans the palate, but it is also full of nutritious goodness because of the fruit. The heaviest dessert you will ever get in a Korean restaurant is "pat-bing-su" — a kind of crushed ice with red beans and sugary stuff in it. The sugar is not good for you, but at least it does not clog your arteries like cheesecake.

Here Is A Great List Of Top Famous Korean Food

Korean food has become so popular that people from every culture increasingly enjoy these savory, spicy and almost soul-healing dishes. So what are some of these dishes that are so popular universally? Every culture has their own uniquely weird food but also some of the mainstream hits that almost represent as they identify of those cuisines. Following list is a great list of top six Korean food appreciated by Koreans, Americans, Europeans, other Asians and everyone else. So what are they?

1. Kimchi

Must I say more? If you don't know where kimchi came from, perhaps you need to go back to learn the most basics about Korean culture. These amazing yet addicting cabbage pieces strangely not only have been winning all the love on dinner tables throughout Korean history but have boldly stepped up to represent Korean food internationally. Koreans take their kimchi seriously. Every household proudly brags about their unique concoction in kimchi to dinner guests as if better the flavor of it, more cultured and somehow more dedicated to preserving their treasures of ancestry. If you haven't tried kimchi yet, maybe I will put going to a Korean restaurant on my to-do-list this week.

2. Galbi

If kimchi represents Korean food as a whole, galbi represents Korean barbecue. This soy sauce marinated, fruity and savory grilled short ribs are the biggest treat for any Korean families as their top choice of occasional eat outs. I remember the excitement and salivation whenever he got paid from work and decided to take us out for some galbi. Traditionally, galbi had been a choice of food for the privileged as beef was expensive in old day Korea. Not surprisingly, short rib is the part of beef that is one of the most expensive parts in Korea due to a high demand level. In the United States, not so much yet although in restaurants they still may be. Like every Korean barbecue dish, galbi comes with a variety of side dishes and lettuce wraps at restaurants.

3. Bulgogi

Beef teriyaki with kicks? Or perhaps is it totally different? My answer to that about bulgogi - same category with distinctive differences. Bulgogi is tender, savory, juicy and sometimes grilled. It's soupier than teriyaki. This popular dish has been one of the most commonly popular dishes universally. Any meat eating human being would appreciate the experience of eating bulgogi as I would say this is the least edgy mainstream hit in Korean food.

4. Samgyupsal

Korean bacon or unsalted bacon? Yes, the accurate answer is pork belly. Simple and fatty, samgyupsal is the runner-up in the Korean barbecue category, perhaps a threatening figure to replace galbi the winner. Why so popular? It's cheap. Really that's it? No, obviously by that standard, dirt would be the most popular. Samgyupsal is just amazing. Its flavor and all the side dishes and sauces you can add to it blow any hungry person to an outer space of joy. Moreover, it's so easy to prepare. If you can unwrap a pack of meat, you can prepare samgyupsal. As a boy, I tried samgyup sal cooked instantly on a shovel prepared by a group of furnace workers. It was just so good I did not have time to think about what they used the shovel for until now.

5. Seafood pancake

This dish is also called Hemul Pajeon. This is probably what represents Korean appetizers. It's a thinly fried pancake with vegetables and seafood such as shrimp, squid and oysters. Usually, when I eat pajeon before the main course, I get to take all my main course home since I have some self-control issues. The dipping sauce is the killer. It's a mix of soy sauce, vinegar and spices.

6. Soon tofu stew

This spicy bowl of stew is just full of kicks and joy. Soon tofu is ironically the least tasty ingredient in this bowl. It's the variety of other ingredients you can choose to put in there such as beef, pork, shrimp, squid, mushrooms, vegetables, kimchi, seafood and the list goes on. A cracked raw egg diving into a boiling stew still boiling in a heat-preserved earthen bowl, cooks to perfection. I like mine fishy and seafoody. I am a sucker for soon tofu stew whenever it rains. Watch out for msg usage at some Korean restaurants though if you're sensitive to msg. Apparently, some places without much expertise in cooking this stew uses a handful of it.