gloii Recruiting Services

Few fall in love with Korean food at first bite, but like most acquired tastes, it's an addictive one once you get used to it. While there are obvious influences from both China and Japan, Korean food is definitely in a class of its own, mixing spicy chillies and copious amounts of garlic with delicate ingredients like raw fish. Although Korean food is quite low in fat, a fact attested to by the observation that very few South Koreans are overweight, those with sodium-limited diets should beware, as Korean cuisine has extremely high salt contents.

A Korean meal is centered around rice and soup, invariably served with a vast assortment of side dishes known as banchan (반 찬). The humblest meal comes with three types while a royal banquet may well feature twelve. There will normally be a couple of vegetable dishes other than some form of kimchi that will always be present such as bean sprouts (콩나물 kongnamul) or spinach (시금치 shigeumchi) and a meat dish such as fried fish.

The ubiquitous kimchi (김치 gimchi), made from fermented cabbage and chili, accompanies nearly every meal and may be a bit of an acquired taste for visitors as it can be quite spicy. In addition to the common cabbage type, kimchi can be made from white radish (깍두기 ggakdugi), cucumbers (오이 소박이 oi-sobagi), chives (부추 김치 buchu gimchi) or pretty much any vegetable that can be pickled. Many different dishes are made using kimchi for flavoring, and kimchi is served as a side dish as well. It is not uncommon to find Korean tourists carrying a stash of tightly packed Kimchi when travelling.

Drink

Compared to Western drinking habits, Koreans have adopted slightly different ways to enjoy their night out. Sure, you can find Western style bars easily, but going to a Korean style bar (a "hof" or a booking-club as they call them) can be an interesting experience. Hofs (a German word, pronounced "hop" in Korean) are just normal beer places, which serve beer and side dishes. Customers are supposed to order some side dish to go along their drinks at most drinking establishments in Korea. Recently, due to growing competition, many hofs have started to install various gadgets for entertainment.