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Click
here for some of the best restaurants in Japan
Click
here for some of the best restaurants in Korea
Japan is a not a single island a popularly
believed, but it actually a group of four large
islands and thousands of smaller ones. The
scarce farm land is used predominantly for rice
and fish plays a major dietary role, both fresh
and preserved.
"What makes Japanese dishes
Japanese?"
One can think of
good Japanese food like
Sushi, raw fish, tempura, tofu.
With Japanese restaurants and Sushi bars popping
all over the world these days,
Japanese food is no longer considered as one of
the world's unsolved mysteries it once was.
In fact, more number of people are recognizing
Japanese food as one of the world's healthiest
cuisines.
With rice and abundant marine products at it's
mainstream, the traditional Japanese diet
is impressing low in cholesterol, fat, and
calories, and high in fiber.
No wonder Japanese people have the highest
longetivity rate. Anyway,
like all other cuisines, Japanese food is a
product of the culture that produced it.
- For
centries,the Koreans have eaten the the
products of the sea,the field, and the
moutain because of the features of Korean
peninsula and a distinguish climate makes
Korean food more abundant.Korean foods are
very special,exotic,and particular. The most
distingushing feature of the Korean food is
the spiceness. The basic seasonings-red
pepper,green onion,soysauce,bean paste,
garlic,ginger,sesame,mustard,vinegar,wine
have been combined in various ways to
enhance Korean foods.
Korean food has various side dish. Favorite
side dishes are beantaste soup, broiled
beef,fish,cabbage "kimchi",
and steamed vegetables. "the full
course Korean meal "is called "Hanjoungshik".It
is composed of grilled fish, steamed short
ribs, and other meat and vegetable dishes
with steamed rice,soup,and"kimchi".
- "Kimchi"
is the best known Korean food. It is
vegetable dish, highly seasoned with
pepper,garlic,etc. It is served with every
kinds of Korean meals and it stimulates the
appetite like pickles. Large quantities of "kimchi"
are usually made in late fall or early
winter for the winter. the making at this
time is called "kimchang". "kimchi"
contains amounts of good nutritions such as
vitamin C,and fiber.
- Koreans also
like meat dishes. is
one of the famous dish to Westerners. "pulgoki"
is generally called "Korean
barbecue". It is marinated in a sause
made with soysauce,garlic,sugar,sesame oil
,and other seasonings, and cooked over a
fire in front of table. For the other
special food, "kalbi" , the
short ribs of beef or pork is also good.The
recipe is similar to "pulgoki".
- Soups
,"guk" and "cchigue"
in Korean vary in taste and potency. Through
the history, the soup culture was developed
because of the famine or cold weather.When
our ancestors were short of food, they made
soup with small amount of vegetables and
beef bones . Also the hot soup could play a
role in protecting the cold . "maeuntang"
is spicy,hot seafood soup that includes
white fish,vegetables,boybean curd,redpepper
powder. "twoenjang-guk" is
a fermented soybean paste soup with baby
clams in its broth. For the soups, there are
other kinds of soups such as "miyok-guk","kimchi-cchigue".
- Vegetable dish
is also popular in Korea. We, Korean
traditionally eat more vegetables with rice
in main meal than meats and the vegetable
dishes are various in kinds and tastes.
Korean call dishes made with only vegetables
"namool".There are two
kinds of which are "saengche" ,
cold and raw "namool" and "saengche"
, warm and steamed "namool".
- Korean table
settings are classified into the 3-"chop",the
5-"chop", the 7-"chop",9-"chop",12-"chop"
setting according to the number of side
dishes served except rice,soup, and"kimchi".
The average family takes three or four
sidishes. When a family hold celebrations or
party ,a dozon or more delightful dishes are
served. Korean food is shared by diners in
one table,except rice and soup. All the
dishes but hot soups are set at one time on
a low table at which diners sit to eat.
Chopstick and spoons are used for eating.
Different from Japanese and Chinese, Korean
use more thin chopstick made by metal, not
wood.
- Generally, the
Korean diet uses much grains and vegetables
which add fiber and protein from both
vegetables (bean curd, beansprouts,bean
paste, ,soy sauce) and meats.Korean food has
moderate calories and low fat and sweet
taste- very healthy and well-balanced. The
Korean diet is changing and the Korean food
industry is developing as fast as the speed
of train. Even though the Western style and
fast food diet are more and more famous in
Korea in terms of curiosity and convenience,
the basic diet remains.
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