Two of the most famous recipes I've heard of from Korea are Korean Barbecue and Kimchi. Both are very popular dishes in Korea and have made the jump to the US.
However, one is very good, the other is very, very bad. Though, I'm guessing that opinion is clearly not universal, the disliked one was disliked by all in this household. Some even spit it out and proceeded with fake vomit noises!
Up first, Korean Barbecue. If you guessed this is the one we all liked, you'd be correct! This was fairly easy to make, mostly because we didn't make it from scratch. Rather we combined Passage to Asia's Korean BBQ Stir Fry Sauce packet with some butcher-prepared beef strips and vegetables, then we poured the combo over a bed of steamed rice. As the packet states, Korean BBQ, also known as Gogigui, is a traditional style of cooking that combines grilling meat along with sweet and smoky flavors. The end result is quite tasty.
Then came kimchi.
Kimchi is spicy,salted, fermented cabbage and radishes. If that doesn't have people lining up around a corner to get it just from that description, then I'd totally agree with all those people NOT in line. Then again, many people love it. Likely, it's an acquired taste. In Korea, it is a common side dish. Once again, we took an easy way out for this one, using pre-made kimchi. Yes, that's cheating. However, while using some recipes to teach my sons how to cook, I also want to take opportunities to show them how the Internet has made the world a much smaller place, allowing even something as a simple side dish to be ordered and shipped all the way to the US from Korea. Our kimchi order did that. Also, though, the recipe, looked a bit difficult, and I was afraid I'd mess it up. Having tasted the "real thing" as voted and approved by many on Amazon's reviews, I'm not sure I could have made it worse. Just not as authentic. Maybe.
I will note that a number of the recipes and snacks we've encountered along the way during the "World Culture Tour" have been just that, acquired tastes. I'm sure some of the things I grew up eating would be disliked by people from other countries, or even other regions, than where I grew up. First thing that comes to mind wasn't something we ate often, but I doubt pork skins are universally loved.
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