Luxury of freedom

Another delicious BB experience

Since we have already established some of the basic rules in South Korean food culture, it's time to get more detailed about their delicious and healthy cuisine. It's not going to be easy to satisfy our sensitive palates after being pampered by our BB chefs, but we are surely excited for another unique BB experience.

Koreans definitely care about what and how they eat. The food is a source of life and energy, so they make sure that the food they consume is good, healthy, but nothing less tasty.

So, we went for another fun and adventurous trip, just like one of those we do in BIG BERRY. Wandering around the food market on the streets of Seoul, we tried to find out more about specific Korean food. While talking to local people, found out that the most commonly consumed Korean dish is kimchi - spicy, fermented vegetable.

searching for kimchi                             In a search for the best kimchi in town

Kimchi is probably the most recognizable Korean national side dish, which is served almost with every meal and is consumed on a daily basis.

This side dish is made of fermented seasonal vegetables combined with different spices. It is believed that it contains numerous ingredients which benefit the health and prevent diseases. Another fun fact is that first traces of kimchi recipe dates back to about AD 1250, what makes it one of the oldest dishes in the world.

It's really hard to escape kimchi, no matter where you go. This was one of the first dishes we tried, and we came to the conclusion that, unless we want to stay hungry, we better start loving it. Luckily, there are about 250 different types, so the guess is that it never gets boring.

differentkimchiKimchi is everywhere! Different types of this spicy dish can be found on the food markets.

39230869735 d54a44575d k                             Infinite variations and colors of kimchi

kimchiwoman                                   Women spicing up some kimchi

The taste of kimchi might seem odd at first, especially for the Westerners, but it's easy to get used to it and start enjoying it. In fact, Koreans enjoy it so much, that they dedicated the whole festival to this famous dish. Every year more than 2,000 people gather at Seoul Kimchi Festival to prepare dozens of tons of kimchi, which is being distributed to the poor.

Our next stop was a restaurant, where we decided to taste kimchi, and make our own verdict about it. First thing that popped on our mind was how cool would it be to have a Korean restaurant as a BB partner!

kimchies                         Different kinds of spicy kimchi served with rice

39418140774 5db6293d2a k                       Tasting time! And our final verdict is....delicious!

We should have suspected that kimchi is something special here, right after we realized that name contains the word 'Kim' in it, which is, by the way, the most popular Korean family name.

One final, but no less important fact is that about 1.5 million tons of kimchi is consumed every year in Korea and we are happy to enter the statistics for the following year.

Since life without kimchi in South Korea is almost impossible, we decided not to fight it, and make it a part of everyday ritual. It looks like we learned a lot from all the bloggers we hosted in BIG BERRY, because we are starting to feel like one of them!

must haves              Our must have’s in South Korea: Water, camera and kimchi

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