Food is the last to go

I did a Guest post recently on my friend John's blog about seasonal and occasional Korean foods. You can see the post here.
He is a Korean American in that he is full Korean but was adopted by Americans.  Koreans who were adopted by Americans is fairly common.  I feel like I have met just as many adopted Koreans as I have Chinese in terms of Asians. Anyways this post is not about being an adopted Asian.  It's about Food and how no matter where you grew up there is a deep seeded culture of food that is left in your genes.

In going along with my food theme I thought it would be fun to associate some of my favorite Korean foods with their American cultural counterpart.

Kimchi Bokum bap (Kim chi fried Rice) - I once told my husband Kimchi Bokum is like and equivalent of hamburger helper.  It's a quick and dirty food that even a kid could make.  You'll almost never see it at a nice restaurant and it's very enjoyable after drinking.  Kimchi, rice (not even fresh), an egg or two and your choice of meat ( I like spam or pork). I add about a 2 tsp of butter, a little sesame oil and fry it all up.

Oojinoo (Dried Shredded Squid) - It's like potato chips or popcorn to me.  I remember in Seoul when I went to the movies with my brother or friends we would pick up the un-shreded variety outside of the theater roasted with a peanut butter.  Chewing those delicious little tentacles was much more quiet then a noisy munch of popcorn.

Dduk boki (spicy korean rice cakes) - If Kimchi Bokum Bap is like Hamburger helper then this is like a late night Mac & Cheese for college kids and drunks.  Rice cakes in Lincoln log form in a  spicy sweet sauce with onions, fishcake, spam (hotdog) and I like to top mine off with some kraft cheese.  I also had in Mandoo (dumplings) and ramen noodles.

Bap (Rice) - Seriously it's like our potatoes, it goes with everything.

Mandoo (Dumplings) - My favorite versions of mandoo is gunmandoo (fried mandoo). That crispy shell surround the delicious meat and veggies is so good.  I would pair mandoo with chicken fingers or chicken nuggets but I think the process is much more intense then breading some select cuts of chicken.  When you make mandoo you gotta clear out half a day at least to make it worth your while.

Kim-Bap (Korean version of California Roll) - I hope you all know that California rolls were invented mostly for the American consumer.  It's like the training wheels of sushi.  Kim-Bap is like a Korean version but not training wheels, it just is what it is.  Rice rolled with seasoned ground beef (or spam or hotdog), Daikwon (yellow pickled radish), carrots, spinach, rolled egg, are amongst the most common ingredients. 

Next time I talk about food on here it's going to be about Korean Drunk foods and bar foods.  Bowls of Chex be damned, that's not how they roll in Korea.