“There's never been a Korean food book like this before"

As the first Minister of Culture, Lee O-young, states, people who say 'eat age' (which means getting older), 'eat money' (that is, earning it), 'eat insults' (being bad-mouthed), 'eat hardship' (exerting yourself), 'eat fear' (getting scared), ‘eat your mind' (making up one’s mind), 'eat a championship' (winning one), and 'eat feelings' (when one is really touched) are Koreans. In dealing with food, time, space, emotions, and goods, Koreans have been inseparable from the activity of eating. However, there were not many books that explored the way they ate and lived. Above all, it is rare to find a book that properly answers the question of people outside the country, 'What are the characteristics of Korean food?'

Five Codes to Examine Korean Food: ‘Flavorlessness,’ ‘Fusion,’ ‘Fermentation,’ ‘Gathering,’ and ‘Moist-Heat’

『K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors』 is the result of an effort to examine the spirit and substance, and the past and the present, that has taken root in the Korean table, with a dense and bold eye. Above all, this book looks at Korean food in terms of cultural codes such, as 'flavorlessness,' 'fusion,' 'fermentation,' 'gathering,' and 'moist-heat' instead of traditional standards, such as 'season' and 'ingredients.' Korean food begins with a bland and mild ‘tasteless’ rice, and that rice is wrapped up in a ssam or mixed with meat and vegetable ingredients, sesame oil, and red pepper paste for ‘fusion’ properties, which are the first and second codes. While the Western cooking code consists of the confrontation between cooked and raw, and meat diet and vegetarianism, the third code examines the taste of fermented Korean food, that is, Korean food through ‘fermentation.’ The fourth code, ‘namul culture,’ looks into Korean food through the tradition of the ‘gathering era’ of digging for namul (greens), picking tree fruits, and plucking marine plants.

The fifth code, ‘wet culture’, focuses on foods that are always included in Koreans' meals. They are broth-based foods such as soup, tang, stew, and hot pot, foods that need to be simmered, such as yeot (Korean taffy), grain syrup, and syrup, and foods cooked with steam, such as rice cakes and other steamed foods. Former Minister of Culture Lee O-young, “Korea’s best scholar,” took on the task of coding through this insight into the spirit and matter, and the past and the present of Korean food. Han Bokryeo, the director of the Institute of Korean Royal Cuisine, Chung Haekyung, Professor in the Department of Food and Nutrition at Hoseo University, Park Chaelin, Ph.D. at the World Institute of Kimchi, and Cha Gyunghee, Professor of Korean Cuisine at Jeonju University, were responsible for the task of specifying and presenting the code in detail across each volume.

The two-year-long journey bundled into five volumes originated from the idea that food, especially Korean food, is not just a material substance that fills the stomach but somewhat of a 'media' with strong communication powers. This is the result of a comprehensive examination from the roots of Korean food such as royal cuisine, temple food, and Jongga food, to the scenery of the dining table where Koreans live in 2021, and from the source of ingredients to producers, from representative local foods to popular products on the market.

Korean food, which is prepared by mixing, fermenting, seasoning, and boiling, harmonizes with the principles of circulation and paradox. They do not ‘exclude’ but ‘include,’ and embrace and harmonize with each other. It not only adheres to the memories of the past or the taste of tradition, but also fuses and develops with the present taste and foreign culture, and as this book struggled to find this, it would be very reasonable to name this book ‘K-food,’ like ‘K-pop,’ ‘K-drama,’ and ‘K-beauty.’

A cookbook co-created by the ‘Korean Food Avengers’

『K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors』 consists of the ‘Food Humanities’ section at the beginning of each book which unravels Korean food by code. At the back of each volume, according to the code, there are ‘everyday Korean recipes’ that Koreans enjoy these days. A total of 158 recipes were recorded in detail, from the selection of ingredients to recipes: 33 everyday Korean food made by wrapping and mixing, 54 recipes of everyday Korean food made by pickling and fermenting, 36 recipes of everyday Korean food prepared by digging, pickling and plucking, and 35 recipes of everyday Korean food made by boiling, simmering and steaming. Korean food chef Cho Heesuk (2 volumes), Lee Hayeon (3 volumes), the Kimchi Association of Korea’s president and Food Master designated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (3 volumes), Korean food chef Roh Younghee (4 volumes), and Han Bokryeo (5 volumes), a master of royal cuisine of the Joseon Dynasty, participated in this work. It can be said that it is a work in which the ‘Korean Avengers’ participated. As a result, Korean recipes that started from the authenticity that captured the present and daily life were completed. This cookbook, 『K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors』 has the attitude of seeking truth from facts.