Royal court food popular at APEC
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Exhibitions and taste testing of more than 20 types of royal court dishes have been gaining increasing popularity among participants for the APEC conference in this southern port city.
The food comprises those that appeared in "Jewel in the Palace (Daejanggeum)," a smash-hit Korean royal cuisine drama, which is riding the Korean cultural wave.
On Nov. 13, a special exhibition of Korean royal food was held at the APEC International Media Center at BEXCO here, providing foreign officials and journalists with chances to have a glimpse of the little-known Korean food culture.
The exhibition, which started on Friday offering not only a chance to taste but also to participate in making royal court food, will continue until Nov. 20.
"Tteok (rice cake) itself is very delicious, but it is also so much fun to make it," said Huwai Chia, a Taiwanese reporter, smiling as he held up a tteok that he made of red beans mixed with non-glutinous rice.
And when Gungjungtteokbokki (royal tteokbokki), a mixture of tteok (rice cake) and vegetables, Bulgogi (beef prepared in a soy sauce-based marinade and cooked on a grill), mushrooms and vegetables, tens of journalists lined up in long queue. Gungjungtteokbokki is a varied type of tteokbokki, a popular traditional Korean snack that is spicy and sweet with red pepper sauce as its main ingredient.
"As the drama 'Jewel in the Palace,' is so popular in Taiwan, I had become very interested in Korean royal cuisine," said the Taiwanese reporter. "A harmony of tastes between tteok and beef in the food is impressive."
"It will be a good opportunity to introduce Korea's food culture to foreigners, making the most of the APEC period," said Yoon Suk-ja, an organizer of the event from the Institute of Traditional Korean Food, a state-run agency.
Other than showcasing the cuisine of the royal family, the exhibition also includes a reenactment of the royal court of Korea's Choson Kingdom, showcasing its elaborate etiquette and customs regarding the king's meal.
Royal court food possessed the essence of Korean cuisine, consisting of specialties drawn from the most remote corners of the kingdom and made by the most talented cooks. The diverse dishes were meant to reflect living conditions of people in all the regions of the kingdom.
"From the various kinds of the dishes, the king could identify what the people ate and whether their harvests were good that year," said Yoon.
The king had five meals a day, with two of them served at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. as main meals, called sura. Sura is served with 12 different dishes along with a bowl of rice, a side dish of kimchi and several kinds of porridges.
There is a balance of yin and yang among the variety of the side dishes, Yoon said.
In addition, royal dishes were always served in silver bowels and with spoons and chopsticks, the color of which would change if the contents were to contain any poisons.The source of news : Korea.net November 13, 2005
