This dish is called 부대찌개, or "budae jjigae" if you prefer (sounds like BOO-DAY-JJEE-GAE). The translation of this is a little amusing; 부대(budae) refers to a military base, while 찌개(jjigae) refers to any particularly thicker Korean stew. This can be a little confusing until you hear the story of 부대찌개's inception.
Why eat this?
No one thoroughly enjoys talking about the U.S. military presence in Korea, foreigners and Koreans alike (it seems), but 부대찌개 is one lasting memory of the United States' military presence in the peninsula. How can this be?
The main ingredients are all too familiar to most Americans, and include spam, hot dogs, cheese, beans (baked, kidney), onions, mushrooms, and peppers. How do they make it into a Korean dish, you ask? During and after the Korean War (1950-53), Korea's countryside masses turned to foraging for food they could not grow themselves--as one might learn from being here, the heavily bombed landscape that already includes 70% mountains doesn't leave an ideal amount of land on which to grow food. Thus, people gathered leftovers from U.S. army rations (specifically from bases in and around my particular area, Pyeongtaek, which is loaded with these kids of restaurants), and did what many Koreans choose to do with a bevy of diverse ingredients--stew them in a soup.
What the hell am I looking at?
The result is all of those sausages, spam, beans, vegetables and cheese, plus, of course, kimchi and pepper paste that we here in the peninsula refer to as 부대찌개. Here's some visual context:
beef, onions, rice cakes, mushrooms, and...of course, kimchi.
Heat up your portable table stove, and you've got a good
broth started. Yet, you're still missing one Korean favorite
that often goes in 부대찌개: ramen. Throw it in and you're
good to go. This particular restaurant, in Seoul, provided
unlimited ramen per table!
In goes the ramen and some further onions, and it's ready to eat within
minutes. A nice little boil started, the spicy broth starting to roll...
Budae jjigae (부대찌개) restaurants don't differ too much; depending on the place and the garden ingredients available, you'll see small variations. One time I literally saw cans of Bush's Baked Beans (for the 'Merikans) being dumped into the broth, while on another occasion, I was lucky enough to have some freshly cut tofu blocks stewed in. Here, you'll see some macaroni that I failed to mention:
Even though we're working with largely familiar, American ingredients, you're
still looking at one relatively healthy dish, all things considered. This is one of
those meals that makes you feel just connected enough to come, but still very
much Korean.
So how does it taste?
I think the idea of 부대찌개 gives many an instant thought of "well, this is good, but I'm not really eating Korean food, am I?" The answer, intuitively, is no. No, you are not eating Korean food. But when you think back to the reason this is a popular, comforting dish in the first place, and you think about how proud people here are of their food--proud enough that they would keep the ingredients that some folks were allowed to subsist on when their rice fields were burned, cabbage, radishes and other crops were rotten, etc. and still find ways to "Korean-ize" it with their own tofu, kimchi, and spicy ingredients--you're not eating something that feels remotely foreign when you're finished. Let it be known, this is most certainly still Korean food.
And, as just about everything else here, it's awesome. It has that perfect amount of spice and medicinal (the kind in which your nose just clears and clears) effect of warming and giving life and spices to your whole body. And it's decidedly fun to eat, as all 부대찌개 restaurants differ from each other just a little bit.
Give it a try! Thanks for checking out this week's "Korean food spotlight."
No comments:
Post a Comment