Traditional Korean Feast

Dinah: Mara, you already met my mom and my friends, now I like to introduce you to the rest of my family. Mara: Thank you. Dinah: This is my husband Shane. Mara: Hi. Shane: Nice to meet you. Dinah: My son Alex. Mara: Hello. Dinah: And my daughter Noelle.0 Mara: Hey Noelle, thank you guys so much for having us here, this is so special. I’m dying to eat this food. I know we all want to dig in but I’m sure that there’s some sort of Korean tradition for who eats first. Dinah: Yes Mara. Since my mom is at the head of the table, that signifies she’s the most important person today aside from you as our guest and so we will serve mom’s first the different foods and I want to talk to you a little bit about how we would set a traditional table setting. So, we would have the rice bowl on the right followed by the soup and then we would have our chopstick and spoon. So mom, lets dig in. Here are some Hobak Jun are zucchini. Mara: So tell me, what did you say that this is average meal for your house? Is this what you guys are used to having everyday? Shane Well, not everyday but on special days we definitely try to enjoy Korean food like this. We enjoy one time we get the rest of our family over. She has a brother and a sister as well and their families so we enjoy the holidays a lot with Korean food. Mara: I noticed that the utensils on the table were different than what I expected. There were only chopsticks and one long handled spoon. The chopsticks were also extra long and super skinny. Dinah said that they were a little different than Chinese chopsticks and her husband Shane was used to them by now. And Shane are you familiar with using chopsticks or did you have to learn when you got married? Shane I had to learn and one of the funniest stories is when we were first dating. I remember the first time I went to her mothers to have some food and when I first saw a Korean rice, I thought they made a mistake because I said, “I think she cooked it wrong it’s sticky”, it’s so funny and my wife says oh, well, we were dating at that time she says, “No, that’s the way it’s supposed to be she didn’t make a mistake.” Mara: Oh really? Dinah: Right, we like to eat short grain or medium grain rice and so it’s a little bit sticky. It’s more like sushi rice. Mara: Right, right. These are thinner and they’re silver—maybe you could explain a little more about the chopsticks. Female: Usually, we use our regular spoon and chopstick but today we have a guest and mother so we use the silver chopstick. Mara: Special occasion. Well, I’d like to see how you make some of the traditional Bulgogi, the grilled beef that we made, how do you serve that? I’m interested. Dinah: Well, one way you could serve it is kind of like a lettuce taco so what we’re going to do is take some beef I’m going to put here on my plate and I’ll show you we’re going to take some leaf lettuce you could use any kind of lettuce you like and then we’re going to put a little bit of rice right on the lettuce kind a like a lettuce taco and then we’re going to put a piece of the Bulgogi. . Mara: That looks delicious. Lady1 And then if you want to spice things up. Mara: Yes please. Dinah: Korean Red Pepper called Gochujang is this right here and then you put a little dub of that then you wrap it up and then there you are. Mara: So, tell me about this tray at the end of the table, is that sort of for snacks or is it part of the meal? Dinah: Well actually, that serves a dual purpose. One purpose is in the royal family, it’s a nine compartment dish and what you would use to serve in there are different seasoned vegetables and meats. So, each compartment would hold one of those items and in the middle of you would make me spin pancakes roll up these items in the pancakes and eat them in the royal family. So, it’s not for the average family but these days you would use that dish for snack tray and as you could see it’s a very decorative dish. The top is made with lock-aware and inlaid with mother of pearl and so in modern times, you use it mostly for snack. Mara: Got you. I wanted to thank you guys so much for having me here. This has been such a special day for me. I’ve learned so much about your food and your culture. I want to just say thank you again. And thank you guys for watching. We’ll see you next week.