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Minato Unesco Association

Home dishes of South Korea

World Cooking Workshop
Home dishes of South Korea

Date: Saturday, October 22, 2022
Venue: Minato Gender Equality Center Libra

Our in-person cooking workshop has been suspended for two years due to the pandemic.  We were pleased to hold this workshop, inviting Ms. KIM INA as our instructor.  KIM-sensei is originally from Seoul, South Korea and came to Japan 22 years ago with her pastor husband.  She teaches Korean and Hand Bell at different classes.  She is an “Omoni” or mother of the couple’s two children, along with two adopted children.

 At first, KIM-sensei gave a brief lecture on the Korean cooking which is diversified according to different regions.  The day’s menu, shown below, represents tastes in Seoul.:
 ①Gimbap: Recently we see this in the side-dish corner of supermarkets.  This is Korean seaweed-wrapped rice,
  seasoned with sesame oil or roasted sesame instead of vinegar
 ②Korean Oden Soup: Various ingredients are typically pierced with long skewers.  This oden is simmered with other
  vegetables in hondashi or shirodashi soy sauce.
 ③Japchae: Stir-fry gelatin noodles, which is called Chines noodles in Korea, mixed with beef and vegetables.  Season it
  with soy sauce, sesame oil, a bit of sugar, and pepper.
 ④Korean pancakes for New Year (3 kinds): This item became familiar to us because the pancake flour is on the market.
  Vegetables such as eryngii mushrooms and zucchini, mixed with minced meat and tofu are coated with powdered
  egg and grilled.
 ⑤Schisandra tea: Kim-sensei brought this tea for us.  Each kind has pleasant color and, more than anything else, it’s
  healthy.

Clockwise from top left: ③, ④, ②, ⑤ & ①
Kim-sensei & MUA staff

 A total of 24 attendees enjoyed the amicable atmosphere throughout the workshop.  We could re-convince ourselves that we can override the reported national conflicts by learning the culture and cooking tradition of foreign countries under the UNESCO spirit.

(Written by MATSUZAKI K., Standing Director, the World Cooking Committee, and Translated by TANAHASHI S., the PR & Internet Committee)