Greg Eats a Bug for Health

I was dared too what can I say. And I'm not afraid of any bug!

The Great Places Happy Bear Visited on their tour of Jeollabukdo

Here's Team Happy Bear's Trip Roundup:

Friday

Korea House to eat Jeonju bibimbap.

Korea House

한국집
전라북도 전주시 완산구 전동 2-1
Hangukjib
Jeollabuk-do Jeonju-si Wansan-gu Jeon-dong 2-1
Tel: 063-284-2224

 White Crane Farm: to learn all about organic farming from Lee Hee-Cheon and Park Yang-yoon.

Then off to the collaborating Horong Village, where we made Kimchi and enoyed Hanjeongsik , bossam, and ddeorkkalbi for dinner

White Crane Farm / Horong Village Restaurant

백학농원 호롱마을
전북 정읍시 수성동 1030-8번지
Jeollabuk-do Jeongeup-si Suseong-dong 1030-8 Beonji
Tel: 063-531-7741

After which, we moved on to Song ChamBong Chosun Village in Jeongeup, where we slept in old-style rooms with heated stone floors.

SongChamBong Chosun Village

송참봉조선동네
전라북도 정읍시 이평면 청량 3755
Jeollabuk-do Jeongeup-si Ipyeong-myeon Cheongnyang 3755

http://www.folkvillage.co.kr/

063-532-0054

011-734-4506

Saturday,




We spent some more time at Chosun Village, learning how to make tofu, trying our hands at harvest perilla, and slaughtering and preparing chicken.

Next, we traveled forward in time and visited NunGil Village to make makeolli and side dishes.

NungGil Farmstay Village

눈길 팜스태이 마을
전복 진안군 동향면 증금리 605번지 
Jeollabuk-do Jinan-gun Donghyang-myeon Junggeup-ri 605 Beonji
Tel:063-432-0367
http://www.nungil.org

Exhausted and slightly tipsy, we retired to Demisaem Gyegok Pension, where we spent a bitof time preparing for the morning's meal (and receiving break dancing lessons from one of the dudes on the TV crew) before going to sleep.

Demisaem Gyegok Pension

전라북도 진안군 백운면 신암리 450

Jeollabuk-do Jinan-gunBaekun-myeon Sinam-ri 450

Tel: 063-433-0002

Sunday

We woke up and finished making breakfast at the pension for ourselves and the production crew. 


Then we hustled on to Gunsan to eat flounder and sushi at Saemangum Restaurant.  

Saemangun Sushi Restaurant

새만금 횟집
전라북도 군산시 비응도동 62-12 
Saemangeum Hwoetjib
Jeonbok Gunsan-si Bieungdo-dong 62-12

063-464-1001

 

Then we sped off to the bus terminal, said our goodbyes, went our own separate ways, returned home, and wrote this very blog!  Thanks so much for reading, and, once again, a big "Thank You" to Hansik for putting making it all happen!  And, of course, to the farmers, plants, and animals that fed us along the way.

Conversation with Mike

Solomon Seal Tea (둥글레차)

Happy Bear made this tea for our Sunday breakfast on our tour of Jeollabukdo.

The roots we place in the rice cooker and left on the warm setting overnight. The result was was a medicinal tonic with the body of coffee and with a mild bitter taste.

Solomon's Seal root tea is a good tonic acting on the kidneys, heart and sexual organs as well as soothing the digestive system. The tea can be drunk to stop coughs. It sooth an upset stomach. It will stimulate digestion. The infusion is also useful for cuts and scrapbs.

Personally, I have used it to help the digestion of meat and I have used when I feel my throat is becoming sore and I risk getting a cold.

The Perfect Meal is with People

We planned it to be a thank you to the production crew and Ziyeon our translator for helping take Happy Bear's plans and make them a reality. Also, it gave Happy Bear team an opportunity for the team members to make their favorite Korean foods eaten on the trip.

To do it required team work coordination and an investment of time for recipes that some in the team were unfamiliar with.

We shopped at the Geureum Market for our products.

This is a timeline of our preparation.

10pm:

It started with the rice. Many people think they can not eat brown rice but I set out to prove that anyone can eat and like it by using an ancient technique back when everyone had to eat brown rice. By soaking it in bacteria culture, the anti-nutritive plant defences are broken down and when cooked it will be transformed into something as fluffy and delicious as white rice but all the nutrition remaining. So we soaked it and put a little bit of makeoli to help break down the anti-nutrients in it.

Then Anina and I started the lotus root. To make the lotus root we boiled the root and after boiling we put it in a pot with sugar syup, soy sauce, and water and started to make a reduction sauce. We stopped it to finish the reduction in the morning.

Andy jumped in and started and made his gosari namul.

I prepped the vegetables for the soup I planned on making. Deciding on the soup that I chose was based on what options were available for us. We set out to eat only ethically raised food so at the market without knowing the origin of the pork or the beef, I settled on the mussels and mushrooms available to make a mushroom and mussels stew.

I prepped the Solomon Seal Tea for the morning.

12pm

We were asleep.

6am

Mike and I woke up. I drained the rice and then cooked it in the rice cooker.

I had to time the soup so it would be finished just before our meal.

I put the lotus root on to reduce and finish.

By 6:30am

Everyone was awake.

I steamed the mussels. Anina helped me to sepparate the mussels and add them to the pot. The vegetables, liquid, spices were added and rested.

6:35am

The lotus root was finished.

6:45am

Mike finished the garlic shoots.

7:30

The production crew started to arrive.

7:45am

The soup is heated.

The banchans is plated by the Happy Bear members and put on the table.

7:55am

The soup is finished.

The rice is plated.

The table is set.

8am

The soup pot is placed on the table.

We started eating at 8:05am. The Korean could tell foreigners made it but they liked it. They remarked that Korean would have added more salt. There were misses to be sure but there were hits as well. But what we set out to do was accomplished. We got together to eat a meal we made together and enjoy each others company.

This is something rarely done in the modern world and is quite a rebellion against  modern western eating style, because we were celebritating food made with a respect for the past. It wasn't eaten at a McDonald's driving in a car or eaten in a TGIF but in a home and eaten with a large group of people. Koreans do this all the time so it seems the perfect food style to represent this respect for the past. From that vantage of the past we believe we can move forward.

                       

                                                                           -Greg

Check out our recipe section for the recipes shown here.

                       

                                  Bellflower Root Muchim                           Gosari Namul



\

Garlic shoots by Mike             Sliced Figs

Brown Rice soaked and fermented   and Mushroom and Mussell JJigae by Greg

Pickled Lotus Root by Anina

 









Mushroom and Mussel JJigae

This was a hit at the Happy Bear Breakfast on Day Three of our Trip with the Korean production crew because of its spicy kick. The Westerners would have liked a little less spice for their breakfast, so act according to your tastes.

To make this simple and delicious simple, you will need:

1. 1kg of Mussels
2. 3T of Gochgaru
3. T of Apple Cider Vinegar
4. 10 cups of water
5. 2kg of mushrooms
6. 2 onions
7. 4 cloves of garlic
8. 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
9. Salt to taste
10. 1 medium sized radish cut into 5 cm cubes
11. 5 small potatoes, cut into 5cm cubes

1. Take the mussels and wash them. Sepparate the mussels whos shells are open and dispose. They are no good to eat.
2. Steam the mussells in very little water. In five minutes they will open and be ready.
3. Sepparate the mussels from the shells.
4. Combine all the elements together and cook all together.
5. Eat and Enjoy.

Preparing Brown Rice You Can Actually Eat

From the Happy Bear Breakfast together.

You are what you digest. Brown rice is a healthy part of diet. However, you are what you digest and if the rice isn't prepared properly you will have digestive problems and also you'll absorb less minerals, if any at all. This includes all grains. Grains that are not prepared properly put people at risk for degenerative disease. The link between mineral deficiencies and degenerative disease is well established. I love my wife, parents, sister and her family to much for that.

A traditional way to prepare rice is through fermentation. Everywhere in the pre-industrial world were there were agro-people or hunter-gather people, wild or domesticated grains were fermented because they knew from subjective experience that their health was better.

What we know today is that the fermentation breaks down the phytates. It will help break down the phytates in the rice. The phytates are what block mineral and vitamins from being absorb. They are used by rice to keep creatures from eating them and they work very well on those who don't have the knowledge to remove them and the co-factors to prevent their effects.

When prepared properily brown rice is a great addition to your diet.

This is what you do. Take rice cover it completely with water. Then add a splash of Korean rice wine, whey, or sour dough starter.

24 hours later, remove whatever rice you are cooking with. Save the juices from the fermentation for the next batch of rice. Overtime the bacteria will bulld up in the fermented juice and it will remove more of the phytates from the substance.

Then cook the rice with some kind of fat. Add 2 parts water for 1 part rice into a pot or rice cooker. Then add a fat. I take some organic beef broth from bones that I boil and add it to the rice. You can skip this fat is nothing is available.

I hope this provides you with some help to integrate a whole food like brown rice into your diet.

The change from processed food to whole foods is not easy but the difference is fantastic. I couldn't imagine how much energy I would have when I started this journey or the traps I fell into along the way but it's been a great thing to feel healthier and in a better state of mind from it. Please try this method of preparation for yourself and your loved ones.

Saemangeum Sushi: A Different Creature for Each Eater

Our last lunch together was at Saemangeum Sushi Restaurant in Gunsan...and I would say the most ornate of all the meals. It started out downstairs in a fresh, bright/bold blue open room housing tanks of various fish, crabs, and sea squirts. Little red and white plastic flags representing different countries hung from the ceiling. It felt quite surreal, as if we had walked up a staircase that stopped suddenly in the clouds, and here was this room. We turned the corner and found the actual staircase which lead us to the restaurant. A couple banners with the logos and photos of KBS and another tv station decorated the wall, which meant good things.

We sat down on cushions on the floor of one of the few private rooms and marveled at the ocean view and the bright, sunny light coming in from windows. A perfect lunch atmosphere.

We were served first a large square platter of various sushi atop mounds of glass noodles and garnished with bright little yellow flowers with red tips, bunches of parsley and wedges of lemon. The only fish I could identify were sea squirt (which I'd been wanting to try for months!), salmon, and prawn, but there were four other varieties as well.

The sea squirt is that little orange-red, spiky-looking sea-anemone-like creature all over markets. I have seen women slicing them open at markets to reveal an inner orange meat similar to the meat inside a mussel. I was always curious but wasn't sure how to cook them. So at the restaurant they had sliced the 'squirt' open so that its outer skin fell in a blanket underneath the separate-cut pieces of raw flesh. The taste was bitter and I didn't want to take more than one as there were only a few pieces there to go around, so I never ended up finding the appropriate sauce to dip them in, if there was one. I think they could have been good had I matched them with a recommended dip, though. I always want to find a way to make an unappealing taste appealing, because I like the idea that everything can taste good, that there IS a way to make everything taste good. But maybe that is just too lofty a thought.

Next they brought out the platter of fish skin gelatin: grey gelatinous squares of pure fat from the skin of a particular fish. I was intrigued with this idea at first and wanted to try it in its pure form although they recommended it be dipped in sauce. They were right. I tried it again dipped in a soy paste. Better, but still not something I could eat more than two squares of. It literally melted into oil in my mouth and glided down my throat with no effort. I asked the waiter via translation about this dish, and he said 'if you eat this you will never need botox.' Ha.

Fish skin gelatin

Then came the side dishes: kimchi, radish marinated in chili sauce, pickled garlic cloves, cooked zucchini, lightly cooked bean sprouts, and sweetly marinated cold, shredded jellyfish salad ('hepari').

Then the raw oysters in a small black and sea green ceramic bowl nestled in glass noodles on a matching square dish, with a wedge of lemon on the side. Yum!

And finally, a delightful, savory, red-sauced medley of thin tentacle mushrooms, spring onions, garlic, various spices, and the most amazingly tender fish I've ever eaten! As opposed to many other restaurants I've been to in the west, where they skimp on fish, this stew was packed with both short and long fillets of fish. I was already quite full, but I had a difficult time putting my spoon down, as most everyone was finished by this point, and there was still fish left in the pot!

Fantastic Fish Stew!

What I liked most about this restaurant was that we got to try a few different fish both in their raw and cooked forms. It was satisfying to be able to taste them in both styles. Different flavors come out, different nutritional properties are available depending on whether it's cooked or not, just as it is with any food.

The beautiful sushi platter (orange creature above is the sea squirt!)

Flat-fish, simple and delicious in flavor - no need for much flavoring

The lunch spread

Flat-fish cooked in a savory chili-pepper sauce

Oysters! Atop glass noodles that apparently weren't for eating.

Saemangeum Sushi Restaurant

군산시 비응도동 62-12번지

063-464-1000

-Anina

Dotorimuk: An Acorn-based Treat

Acorns were eaten by many indigenous people such as Native American tribes. The Oak trees that grow in America are capable of making what is in the picture here. The acorns are soaked to remove most of their bitterness and then are dried and ground to a powder. The cook who gathered them herself after soaking, drying and grinding added seasoning and water and boiled the mixture until it start to firm up. Then she put it in a mold.

The flavor was more complicated than chestnuts and are easier to grow than grain. Acorns are a sustainable eat which retain healthy medicinal value. Harrong Village Restaurant has an amazing tasting Dotorimuk.

We couldn't get the amazing recipe of Dotorimuk from Harong Village, but here is a recipe adapted slightly from the NYTimes recipe.

FOR THE JELLY

2 cups quartered and shelled acorns

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

sesame oil

For the dressing

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon kochukaru (Korean red pepper flakes) or other red pepper flakes to taste

1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1 scallion, cut into 2-inch lengths and julienned.

For the dressing

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon kochukaru (Korean red pepper flakes) or other red pepper flakes to taste

1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1 scallion, cut into 2-inch lengths and julienned.

1. For the jelly: In a blender, combine the acorns with 1 cup water. Process to a rough paste. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with water and stir. Let sit, covered, in a cool place. (The acorn starch will fall to the bottom of the bowl while the water will become stained brown from tannins.) After three hours, drain water from bowl, being careful not to disturb acorn sediment. Cover with more fresh water and stir. Repeat process as often as possible, at least twice a day, until the water runs clear, from three days up to one week.

2. After the last drain, combine acorn meal with 5 cups of water in a large pot. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to a low boil. Keep stirring to prevent acorn meal from burning. Whisk cornstarch and salt with 3 tablespoons water until smooth. Add to pot. Continue stirring until volume is reduced by half and liquid is thickened, about 30 minutes.

3. Coat four small serving bowls with vegetable oil. Strain acorn mixture through a fine-meshed sieve and divide among the bowls. Allow to rest at room temperature until set, about 2 hours.

4. For the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, pepper flakes, sesame seeds and garlic. Add scallion, and mix.

5. To serve, invert a bowl of jelly onto a serving plate, and remove bowl. Top with a spoonful of dressing. Repeat with remaining jelly and dressing, and serve.

Yield: 4 servings.

-Greg

Nungil Village: An Unsung Hero to Makeoli Drinkers Everywhere

The Happy Bears went to Nungil Village to make Makeoli. We did it for our health, taste, enjoyment, and self-knowledge. 

Makeoli has the alcohol percentage above a standard lager( 6%) with the sweetness of a soft drink and milky texture with an acidic kick. Some even are carbonated to have the fizzyness of soda. We love its taste.

Makeoli is particularly special to me. It's an example of what can be called healthy alcohol. When traditionally made, its taste is amazing and it contains many beneficial bacteria and yeast. Just like how kimchi, and yogurt have symbiotic healthy lactobacilli bacteria for our gastrointestinal track, so does Makeoli. However,  Makeoli also has the added benefit of yeast.

Most commercial Makeoli is pasteurized and artificially sweetened with Aspartame, which is a known neurotoxin. Fortunately, there are people who are bringing back the old style of making alcohol, such as  commercial brewers or individuals and groups who are doing it themselves for themselves or their families. They are heros to us for doing something that costs a little more but is safe and healthy for us.

Nungil Village is one of those heros.

Nungil Makeoli is not a brewer of commercial makeoli, but a school to teach people how to make nutritious and delicious Makeoli, food, and how to grow food. 

So we went to learn.

We were not disapointed.

The Happy Bear drove to the Nungil Restaurant and entered the school.

Our teacher, had already the materials laid out before we arrived. On stepping into the room, there was a container of yeast in liquid, nuruk(누룩), a cake wheat, barley, and rice, which has wild gathered lactobacilli bacteria and yeast from the air that accumulated on the cake. Both rested on a tablecloth spread across a long folding table.

I'm a homebrewer so while my Korean is spotty I'm familiar with the brewing process and I felt comfortable as our translator translated the teachers words to us.

Our teacher brought out the steamed rice.

Our teacher told us what to do and we listened.

"The rice must be steamed in a steamer and not a rice cooker so it does not lose sugar. It must be slightly hard."

We spread the rice out and allowed it too cool. When the rice was the temperature of our hand, we would add the nuruk.

"If too hot, the bacteria will die," the teacher said.

He then showed us the nuruk which sat in a metal bowl shown in the picture on the right.  Nuruk is made traditionally by wrapping a wet cake of wheat, barley, and rice in a husk and putting it in a barn or someplace else to gather the wild yeasts and bacteria.

We mixed the nuruk into the rice. The nuruk will break the rice into simple sugars for the yeast to eat and produce the alcohol. Without the nuruk, the complex sugars cannot be broken down into simpler sugars for the yeast to eat and make alcohol.




Then the teacher showed us the yeast, which was simply Fleichers Bread yeast prepared in warm water with some sugar. The yeast is not necessary as it is airborn, everywhere on Earth, but it shortens the process of Makeoli making from 1 and half weeks to four days.



A texture of yeast.


We added water over the rice to just over the rice and then sealed the pot with a lid with an air gauge attached. We carried the pot to a stone cellar with thick stone walls which keeps the temperature inside cool and keeps the temperature from fluctuating extremely.

The stabilization is important according to our teacher to keep the Makeoli ph balance between base and acid. If too much of one or the other, then the wonderful flavor will be bad.

After four days water, the yeasts outcompete and kill all the unhealthy bacteria and the healthy bacteria remain.

The value of alcohol as a safe source of water was appreciated by European colonists of America. The Pilgrims refused to drink water for fear of diseases remembered from plagues in the past  and drank beer instead because they knew that it would keep them healthy.

After the four days, water is added at a 3:1, water:rice ratio and the Makeoli is aged for a week so the flavors mingle and the taste improves.

The Happy Bears were lucky to get to drink the Makeoli available. Before drinking it our teacher reminded us to not drink commercial makeoli with Aspartame in it.

The Makeoli he served was special because it was made from the extract of Jerusalem Artichoke leaves (돼지 감자 or pig potato). It has many medicinal effects some of which are pain relief, antioxidization, and stomach soothing.

The taste was amazing so we happily drank two or three glasses before we were went on to our next adventure.


Jerusalem Artichoke Roots





Jerusalem Artichoke Makeoli

-Greg

NungGil Makeoli

JinAhn Nungil MaEul(Village)

http://www.nungil.org/

JunBok Jinahn-Goon DongHyang-Myun NunGumL-Lee Nungil MaEul





Raw Trout: A Rare Eat

There's a certain silence that comes with exhaustion. In my day-to-day life, I can never quiet my mind enough to meditate unless its after a intense and focused yoga class. Well, it was a different kind of exhaustion at the end of our very long and active second day on the 1st Korean Traditional Food Tour for Foreign Foodies that had me meditating over our last meal of the day.

Our day had started early. Before noon we had already participated in kettle-cooked tofu making, perilla seed harvesting, chicken slaughtering and butchering, an expansive lunch, and had begun our transit to the market. After the joy and excitement of the market, more long (nauseating) transit, makkeoli-making, banchan-making, even more long (and still nauseating) transit, I felt our tour van finally pull into a parking lot. I looked out the windows: pitch black. We got out of the van: still nearly pitch black. And quiet! Haunted by the faint rush of river water nearby and the dark night sky, it felt almost eerily desolate. I had no idea where we were, but it truly felt like the middle of nowhere to me. An occasional rustle of invisible autumn leaves, cold outdoor toilets, not a single other patron except for our group... we lumbered into a cold, long room whose sleepy under-floor heating system was slowly, slowly waking from its slumber.

I sat the end of our long, low table, still very much in my quiet, meditative state as my body worked overtime to digest the feast we had had at lunch. A long day of action and excitement will do this to you. A long day of travel will do this to you. A long day of intelligent and enthused discussion in great company will do this to you. But it was in this very quiet state that I saw the brilliant food brought to our table with utter clarity.

Most restaurants in Korea specialize in just one thing. This restaurant did raw trout. As the plates arrived, the warm coral orange flesh glimmered with silver remnants of skin. Flanked by raw garlic, hot pepper and a plate full of raw cut vegetables for making "ssam" wraps, I unexpectedly found my appetite again. Sure, we eat with our eyes first and these platters we gorgeous, but this was actually the food my body had been craving. Totally whole, fresh food.

Wasabi and other assertive ingredients compliment slices of raw trout


Its a shame that there's a major grocery chain that shares the same name because real whole foods are far more significant that that and deserve more understanding and appreciation in the mainstream public. Some people extol vegetarianism as a virtual solution to so many important issues today. Some firmly believe that organics are the way to planetary and bodily health. I don't discount either of those but I do believe that switching to whole foods is the single, most powerful dietary choice any person eating a conventional, SAD (Standard American Diet) or otherwise highly-processed diet can make. Whole, unprocessed food makes the body think, makes it work the way it was designed to. Contrasted with processed foods that consist mainly of just corn, wheat, soy and a complementary mix of synthetic preservatives and processing agents, whole food forces seasonal eating, varied eating, enzymatic and nutritionally rich eating that wakens the taste buds, the spirit, and the body. Its easy and it feels good great.
This revival is what happened to me that night and it is one of the most exciting things about Korean traditional food. It may be safe to say that nearly all traditional foods around the world are, by default, usually whole or only marginally processed. And in Korean many of them are often naturally preserved or even raw, which offer additional benefits. The particularly impressive thing about Korean traditional, whole foods, however, is that even though Korea is a rather developed country, they are still TOTALLY a part of every day life. Korean traditional foods are are still what is served at the majority of restaurants in any city, at family dinners at home, even in the lunch trays at school. To be clear, processed junk food has made its place in the contemporary Korean lifestyle as well, but in 12 trips abroad, of all the developed countries I have visited, Korea has certainly made the biggest impression when it comes to the perseverance of whole, traditional cuisine in the face of globalization, marketing, monocrop subsidies and artificial food technology.

Lettuce, carrot, cucumber, cabbage and bean powder await a spot in my trout lettuce wrap.

This brings me back to our meal. And the restaurant. Our dinner was like a mini-retreat for my entire self. Subdued and simple, but delicious and unexpectedly/exactly what I needed. And possibly just what the rest of the team and our crew needed as well. Our meal together in the deep, dark countryside fostered candid discussions, quiet reflection and authentic exchanges with every new plate that graced our table. In addition to the glimmering raw trout, our table also experienced the house's selection of side dishes, their hearty trout-head jjigae, juicy and crisp cut Asian pears, and gorgeous glowing trout roe. Wrapped with rice, wasabi and soy sauce in a fresh lettuce leaf, the little tender, translucent beads burst silky omega-rich fish oil between my teeth in one nourishing, flavorful mouthful. It gave me energy for a night that was not yet finished and it carried me contently past midnight at our pension as we prepared for the events to come.

Who ate all the fish head and all the robust broth from our jjigae stew? ;-)

Trout, roe, kimchi, pepper and a one messy mixing dish make for a bright-colored array.

Our rare adventure into the depths of Jeolla province resulted in a rare treat that turned out to be exactly, precisely what my weary self needed. I am grateful every little treasure Korea shares with me.

~Tanya

Team Happy Bear Cooks: Mike's Garlic Stems

As the point of the whole 1KFTFFF was to help Hansik popularize Korean food, we Happy Bears figured that we ought to supplement our packed eating schedule with a bit of cooking, too. After all, though everyone deserves to be introduced to all the wonders of Korean cuisine, not everybody is fortunate to live close to a Korean restaurant. While we can't deliver to everyone in the world, the least we can do is spread the word.

Andy and Anina have both already posted about their contributions: Gosari (Fern Bracken) and Yeongeun (Lotus Root).

I myself contributed two dishes, both of them quite easy. First off, a very simple salad I learned from my friend Mina, the chef of the weekly "Vegetarian Dinner for the Earth" at my local branch of the Green Consumers Network. Just take a sweet cabbage (단배추, pretty similar to a Napa) and chop it up into chopstick-friendly chunks. Then, make a sauce of perilla oil, perilla seed powder, and salt. Once you've matched the proportions to your preferences, pour the dressing onto the leaves, then mix with your hands, squeezing everything with just enough pressure that the sauce evenly coats and permeates the cabbage, but not so hard that you crush them into a mush. The result: a rich, oily, and yet light salad that fits right in with the sweet, salty, and pungent side dishes around it. Unfortunately, my coworkers were busy cooking and my hands were busy squishing, so I didn't get any pictures of this one.

Second, another one of my favorites: sautéed garlic stems (마늘쫑 볶음). These were complete news to me the first time I tried them, but I immediately fell for their savory simplicity. To get started, chop the stems up into pieces about 1.5 inches long; again, just right to be picked up with chopsticks. Fill a frying pan with just enough water to cover them, then boil for about two or three minutes, just to soften them up. Move them over to a colander, drain out the water, and heat up a bit of sesame oil. One it's warm, drop in the garlic stems, and, if you are a big garlic fan, slice up a few bulbs and drop those in as well. Lightly brown the outsides of the stems, and before they get too droopy, pour in a bit of soy sauce. If you've got a sweet tooth, now's the time to add the sugar. Either way, once the liquid has mostly cooked off, remove the stems from the pan and sprinkle them with sesame seeds - for extra punch, crush them as you sprinkle, as this will release more flavors, in addition to making it easier for your stomach to absorb all the goodness.

That's all! Serve with rice, soup, and other side dishes for a splendid meal.

Garlic stems pre-sauté



The finished product

Also present:



Seasoned bellflower/balloonflower root (도라지 무침)



Don't recall exactly, but this looks to me like 시금치나물 (blanched spinach with garlic and sesame oil)



A bit of fresh fruit. We were lucky to find local figs in the market the previous afternoon.




All the side dishes in one shot! Those are Tanya's tiny little sweet-n-spicyy anchovies in the top-left, a mayo/sunchoke/carrot/cuke salad at top-center, and my cabbage and perilla salad at top-right.



The spread, including Greg's spicy oyster and mushroom soup!

We were truly happy to be able to share our food with one another and with the translator, driver, and TV crew who worked so hard to make our food tour possible. Thanks, Hansik and KBS^^

Mike