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Exploring local cuisine can play an important role in understanding and appreciating a new culture. Food can provide both host families and Ayusa students alike a meaningful cultural experience to discover the practices, rituals, and beliefs that surround food and its consumption. There is often deep history and meaning rooted into the gathering, preparation, and serving of food.
Ayusa student Ryoko shares some of the similarities and differences between the Japanese dish makizushi and Korean dish kimpab.
I'm exchange student from Japan. I have a Korean roommate living with me and we have made a lot of special food since we came here.
One day I was talking with my roommate if we could make some traditional food in America. So my roommate called her parents to send some Korean food to the U.S. In October, my roommate's parents sent Korean food to the house.
There were ingredients for "kimpab," a Korean traditional dish which is kind of looks like a Japanese traditional food call "makizushi". Although the ingredients were kind of different from "makizushi," the process of making "kimpab" was similar to it. I felt really familiar while making "kimpab".
Kimpab
Ingredients
- Tuna – drained from a can
- Slices of thick ham
- Steamed white rice
- Pickled radish
- Seaweed wrap
Instructions
- Spread rice over the seaweed sheet
- Put ham, tuna and pickled radish on the rice
- Roll the seaweed with ingredients
We made a bunch of "kimpab" for the dinner; it took pretty long time for us to make them. My host parents really love them! They love kimpab so much that we saw none of the remaining on the next day.
