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“South Korean First Lady Promotes Korean Food on CNN”

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started 3 years ago by koralex90

latest reply from tastingkorea

koralex90 Davis, CA My profile page I'm a fan!!
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South Korea's first lady introduces Korean food to the world through CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/10/18/eok.lustout.korea.seoul.food.cnn?iref=videosearch

I like how she introduced Korean food but I found it unique how she used her hands to make everything. I know there is an expression that good food comes from mother's hand taste. But not sure how to respond to that. But the food was very well presented and pristine :)

Tell us what you think! Some of Maangchi's recipes are there too!
- Posted 3 years ago
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kumaxx berlin germany My profile page
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whatever i think of the current president, his wife seems very housewifey and you can hear her speaking dialect which i find very appealing, but it's just because i speak the same way...

personally, i don't mind, if my mom touches my food while cooking, but to any other person: please don't do that! or at least, don't let me see it... but really... what are big spoons and ladles and big chop sticks for?

and i don't like the idea that k-food becomes the next craze and everyone starts eating bibimbab to go and everywhere, k-food restaurants opens like sushi-bars. horrible vision

I would very much like korean food to be something of a ~secret~ tip...
- Posted 3 years ago
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powerplantop Louisiana My profile page I'm a fan!!
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kumaxx think about this quote from Julia Child next time you see a plate a beautifully arranged food.

“It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someone's fingers have been all over it.”
- Posted 3 years ago
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kumaxx berlin germany My profile page
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maybe its just me, but gloves where invented just those kind of things. I mean, you don't operate on people with your bare fingers because "it would be like mom's healing touch".

I mean, if I'm on a date, and my date wants to try something from my plate she is very welcome to do so. But if she uses her fingers to grab something, or maybe looks around on my plate what looks tasty, the date would be over so quick. I think I would even stick her with the check.

i remember when I worked in korea, there was this guy from a non-asian country. it was his first korean meal ever and when banchan came up, he said "ohh.. fingerfood!" and started digging in with his hands. do you really think, anyone ate banchen this evening?
- Posted 3 years ago
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powerplantop Louisiana My profile page I'm a fan!!
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kumaxx, the one that makes me really think is on the chef shows where the chef has a towel they use to wipe there hands ect. Then you see the chef wiping a plate with a towel. Is that the same one he just used to clean up the counter?
- Posted 3 years ago
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kumaxx berlin germany My profile page
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i dare you to go into a kitchen and have a look around. sometimes its just disgusting.

i used to cook at a pojang macha when i was younger and believe it or not, hygiene was a big priority. I used to wash everything down anytime I could, I had three towels, one around my neck, one left for wiping the counter, one right for wiping my hands.
sounds good at first, but if you are in a hurry, you don't keep track which towel you used for what and you cannot change the towels for hours because you have to churn out food. so you can imagine how even my hygiene-system breaks down. but at least, i used latex gloves...

well... maybe the mind has its issues with such sanitary disasters, but at least the human body is able to endure those most times...
- Posted 3 years ago
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koralex90 Davis, CA My profile page I'm a fan!!
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Guys please calm down. I understand both sides of your argument. Well we all make kimchi with our plain hands, including Maangchi as well as chopping up vegetables and stuff. I don't think its a big deal as long as hands are washed clean. I was just worried the first lady might burn herself doing that.. :p the food sure looks good though.
- Posted 3 years ago
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stanford USA My profile page
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Yeah she strikes me as a little odd. Using your hands is not a big deal, but she's really giving that japjae an unnecessary massage on CNN. That's uncalled for.

I'm also not following her logic here: Korea was poor and got a lot of international aid so now she wants to teach the world how to make Korean food as payback? She doesn't need such a high minded excuse. Why not just say she's promoting Korean food.

The food looks good on CNN but frankly I'm thinking of kumaxx's pojangmacha and it's making me thirsty.
- Posted 3 years ago
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kumaxx berlin germany My profile page
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oh yeah... my stall with pretty full all the time. my specialty was kimchi-steak.
you know, in korea you can't get a good steak because everyone uses chop sticks, so you can't cut the meat. thats why everything is cut in thin slices (and of course, you can feed much more people with thin sliced meat).
what i did was (but only because i was too lazy to pre-cut tons of meat), take a nice thick pork chop (at least one and a half fingers thick, or else it is gazpacho), soak it in kimchi-juice, fry it on the grill with kimchi, then cut it in chop-stick-sizeable pieces (you know.. for the chop-sticks), but leave it in steak-form, put some grilled dubu and stuff on it and serve it along with bottles of booze.

its like kim-sam-bo, but with real man-hunks of meat, not just those thinny slices.
and it tastes different if you grill meat in one big piece or in many little pieces... don't ask me why, or maybe it is just my imagination...
- Posted 3 years ago
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stanford USA My profile page
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That's how I always chose my stall - the most busy one!

Your place sounds great! Ever since I found this photo online a few days ago (from a blog maybe?), and put in on my computer wallpaper, I've had pojangmacha on the brain.

Good times.
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- Posted 3 years ago
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powerplantop Louisiana My profile page I'm a fan!!
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"take a nice thick pork chop (at least one and a half fingers thick, or else it is gazpacho), soak it in kimchi-juice, fry it on the grill with kimchi, then cut it in chop-stick-sizeable pieces (you know.. for the chop-sticks), but leave it in steak-form, put some grilled dubu and stuff on it and serve it along with bottles of booze."

kumaxx, I am going to try making that! Pork, kimchi and Chamisul only way it is better is to be at Haeundae Beach.
- Posted 3 years ago
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kumaxx berlin germany My profile page
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yeah.. and i will let you in in a little secret. rub the meat with sesame oil before AND after grilling. and use real butter to grill the meat because after all, everything tastes better with butter. I know it screams heart attack but you'll make it up with dubu and the vegetables...

and don't worry about the calories... if you listen closely to the frying sound, this is the sound of calories getting destroyed
- Posted 3 years ago
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tastingkorea CA My profile page
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There was some misunderstanding here on the part of the First Lady as well as her translator. The translator misinterpreted "손맛" as the "flavor of one's hand". This is a literal, but false interpretation as "손맛" refers to the flavor that emerges as a result of the skill of one's hands when preparing food and not the literal flavor of the hands, although that can result in the final taste of the dish, so is a part of "손맛". The First Lady got a bit carried away and took the term too literally.
- Posted 1 year ago
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