Korean Food articles on LifeInKorea.com

Deok and Related Customs
Expelling Evil Spirits
Traditional Korean toilets had two large footstools with a big and deep hole in between. It was shaped such that children sometimes fell into the hole and injured themselves. People believed that the toilet ghost was hungry and wanted a child to eat. When such an incident happened, people brought in an exorcist who performed an exorcism. They also made a special rice cake called dung deok (excrement rice cake) that they shared with neighbours for the purpose of expelling bad luck for the child.

Excrement rice cake? Ich.

Raquel · November 27, 2004

Found three interesting articles/sections on this English language website about Korea:
Korean Rice Cakes, or Deok:
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/culture/ricecake/ricecake.cfm
Everything you wanted to know about Kimchi but were afraid to ask:
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/culture/kimchi/kimchi.cfm
And all about Korean traditional alcoholic beverages, such as Soju:
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/culture/Alcohol/Alcohol.cfm
←

Wow! Thanx for the great links. A really good resource for info on Korean food...

I found my favorite Korean dish on the website... called Sundubu-jjigae (Raw Bean Curd Stew). It does not sound as good as it looks and tastes. The bean curd is so flavorful because it is cooked in an intensely flavored broth, from it's raw state. The result is an almost custard or flan-like texture floating on top... really delicate. The black pots come to your table on wooden planks... broth spitting all over the place because they are so hot. You then crack a small quail egg on top and mix it in. You can usually order different flavors: mushroom, beef, crab, etc.

I am obsessed with all the little condiments that get spread out all over the table. What's the deal with the raw crab condiment though?!?

I visited a Sundubu place in L.A. near (or on Olympic). Does anyone know the name of the place?? I can't remember and would love to go back. Sundubu is hard to find...

Or, if you have any other places in L.A. where I can find this dish, I would be eternally grateful!

melonpan · November 27, 2004

I would like to know more about these:
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Images/Food/Kyju366.jpg
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Images/Food/Kyju370.jpg
what are they?
Do you buy them already like that?
are they for special occasions?
how do you eat them?

i would like to know more too! unfortunately, i dont know too much...

i am not sure what those photos are. that first one is of dried persimmons. i think. the second one might be something called dashik and it might be the kind made from pine seed pollen and black sesame seeds. i asked my husband and he just sort of shrugged and said "you probably know better".

:sad: sorry i dont know for sure! i am working on this one though.

as for buying them, i think yeah, you do buy these set up like that. my husband and i dont know what these tall towers of food are called. (thats whats making this search so hard) i have seen plastic mock ups of these food towers at stores though. and i think ive even see the fake ones here in the states.

what i do know is that these foods are special ceremonial foods. :biggrin:

you see these sorts of stackings during weddings and possibly during: new years, ancestor rememberance ceremonies and certain specific birthdays like the <a href="http://www.family-food.co.kr/images/servic1.jpg">60th</a> (you can see "double happiness", "long life characters" and "return to the beginning"(*) -- <a href="http://www.family-food.co.kr/service_6070_2.asp">context</a>) and <a href="http://www.party119.co.kr/data/photos/jong11.jpg">100 days</a> (the food tower in the center says "congratulations 100 days" -- <a href="<a href="http://www.haeorum.com/First_Birth/Best_BBS/content.asp?idx=2554">context</a>).

you also stack up fruit and rice cakes (i know that for sure) as well as a lot of other really fussy, hard to make foods that no one really makes at home anymore. i mean these days making rice cakes and preserved fruits and nuts is not something the average middle aged korean will know much about. they will know who tom hanks is, though. i think the same can safely be said of the average middle aged american too, come to think of it!

before i posted i wanted to confirm all of this. but i wont be so uptight tonight. ill just post what i found so far.

if eunny, joon, jschyun or anyone else knows, i hope they pipe up!

(*) within the 60 year cycle.

jschyun · December 3, 2004

I would like to know more about these:
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Images/Food/Kyju366.jpg
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Images/Food/Kyju370.jpg
what are they?
Do you buy them already like that?
are they for special occasions?
how do you eat them?
i would like to know more too! unfortunately, i dont know too much...
i am not sure what those photos are. that first one is of dried persimmons. i think. the second one might be something called dashik and it might be the kind made from pine seed pollen and black sesame seeds. i asked my husband and he just sort of shrugged and said "you probably know better".
sorry i dont know for sure! i am working on this one though.
as for buying them, i think yeah, you do buy these set up like that. my husband and i dont know what these tall towers of food are called. (thats whats making this search so hard) i have seen plastic mock ups of these food towers at stores though. and i think ive even see the fake ones here in the states.
what i do know is that these foods are special ceremonial foods.
you see these sorts of stackings during weddings and possibly during: new years, ancestor rememberance ceremonies and certain specific birthdays like the <a href="http://www.family-food.co.kr/images/servic1.jpg">60th</a> (you can see "double happiness", "long life characters" and "return to the beginning"(*) -- <a href="http://www.family-food.co.kr/service_6070_2.asp">context</a>) and <a href="http://www.party119.co.kr/data/photos/jong11.jpg">100 days</a> (the food tower in the center says "congratulations 100 days" -- <a href="<a href="http://www.haeorum.com/First_Birth/Best_BBS/content.asp?idx=2554">context</a>).
you also stack up fruit and rice cakes (i know that for sure) as well as a lot of other really fussy, hard to make foods that no one really makes at home anymore. i mean these days making rice cakes and preserved fruits and nuts is not something the average middle aged korean will know much about. they will know who tom hanks is, though. i think the same can safely be said of the average middle aged american too, come to think of it!
before i posted i wanted to confirm all of this. but i wont be so uptight tonight. ill just post what i found so far.
if eunny, joon, jschyun or anyone else knows, i hope they pipe up!
(*) within the 60 year cycle.
←

Sorry, I've been really busy. Torakris' second picture looks like yakwa (korean honey cookies) in shape, but since it's colored pretty and not brown, it's probably those sugary tasteless sugar cakes. Don't know the name.

As melonpan mentioned, I don't think anyone makes these towers at home anymore. There might be some significance to each of the towers of food, but I don't know the meanings, sorry. These days people go to the dduk jip (uh, translation Korean bakery) and then I think they have set prices for the janchisang (party table) items. You can pick which one you want according to your budget.

Great links melonpan.

skchai · December 6, 2004

Thanks, you guys. The towers (I'm not sure what the exact name is either) come from a 60th birthday display; the index page for them is labeled "hwaegap food". They are not usually on pedastals like that - look strangely like kahili (Hawaiian royal feather standards).

As the others have mentioned, the dried fruit ones are kkotgam - dried persimmons, with pine nuts stuck into them for decorative (?) effect. The others are dashik - festive sweetened lumps made from bean and other flours, sort of like eating huge Tums tablets. Consulting a tteok and hangwa (Korean sweets) cookbook I can try to guess the specific types - the black ones are black sesame, the brown ones soybean, the yellow ones mung bean, the pink ones mung bean + omija (maximowiczia typica - not that that helps much - a kind of fragrant, tart berry often used for flavoring and coloring), and the white ones songhwa (not sure = pinecone?).

Taking the bottom row on the index page, the kahili from left to right appear to be: simpler dashik, dried persimmons, daechu (jujube - natsume in Japanese), raw peeled chestnuts (I think), more complicated dashik, and yakgwa (Korean fried cookies). The yakgwa in the picture are really soft and syrupy looking compared to the sinkers you find in the stores - the way it's arranged, doesn't it kind of remind you (weirdly enough) of croquembouche?

Soup · April 17, 2005

Some people use it for the table setting for "dor", the first Bday of a child. Just order these things today for next saturday. For me they look better than they taste. I love korean and most asian foods but when it comes to dessert, you cannot beat the west. I think its the butter. So we will also have a huge cake.

confusion · April 20, 2005

I visited a Sundubu place in L.A. near (or on Olympic). Does anyone know the name of the place?? I can't remember and would love to go back. Sundubu is hard to find...
Or, if you have any other places in L.A. where I can find this dish, I would be eternally grateful!
←

There are two well-known places on Olympic at Vermont, So Kong Dong and Beverly. SKD is in the corner of its strip mall while Beverly is on the end. Been to each once and I like So Kong Dong better, though I need to order Spicy next time to be sure.

touaregsand · April 20, 2005

There's another soon dubu place on Western (and San Marino?) across the street from the Korea town mall (or is it called plaza?). I haven't been there in a few years but I remember being very good. It's hard to miss.

Edited April 20, 2005 by touaregsand (log)

Raquel · April 21, 2005

There are two well-known places on Olympic at Vermont, So Kong Dong and Beverly. SKD is in the corner of its strip mall while Beverly is on the end. Been to each once and I like So Kong Dong better, though I need to order Spicy next time to be sure.
←
There's another soon dubu place on Western (and San Marino?) across the street from the Korea town mall (or is it called plaza?). I haven't been there in a few years but I remember being very good. It's hard to miss.

Thanx Ji-Young!

You've been a great help. I think the one that I visited a few years ago was So Kong Dong. That's the name that sounds familiar.

I'm going to go out there the first chance I get. I'm jones-ing for the stuff!

Kam Sa Hap Nee Dah...

melonpan · April 22, 2005

There's another soon dubu place on Western (and San Marino?) across the street from the Korea town mall (or is it called plaza?). I haven't been there in a few years but I remember being very good. It's hard to miss.

its in a gated strip mall called rodeo plaza (or something rodeo. im pretty sure its rodeo plaza)

anyway, it is across the street from ktown plaza and it is on western.

bookchangdong tofu (aka bcd sundubu)

북창동순두부

869 S. Western Ave. #2

Los Angeles CA, 90005

213-380-5604

nice chain. the lady who owns the chain seems to be something fierce. they also give you a grilled jogi (corvina fish) for each dubu order, a very nice touch! other places dont do that...

good luck finding it!

<a href="http://www.bcdtofu.com/location.asp">bcd web site locations page</a>

<a href="http://www.bcdtofu.com/menu.asp">bcd menu</a> (english)

melonpan · April 22, 2005

i just noticed this question was originally asked back in november! wow!

also, i looked back and realised i never posted a follow up on what i found out about those towers.

i went (over the months) to two different places that did the plastic food towers rental. and at each place, the guys running the register said that they didnt know of any <i>name</i> of these towers of food.

isnt that the weirdest thing?

i guess ill have to file that away along with ochazuke packets which also dont have a name except for ochazuke.

but really, there has to be a proper name for these things! dont you think? how can it be that no one knows?

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