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Gwangbokjeol = “The day the light returned”
With the approaching Pal-il-o ( 8-15 ) or Gwangbokjeol, it had me thinking and truly curious about the food of that time. It made me wonder….were our ancestors forced to eat japanese food only ? Did many of them starve ? As I was searching for answers, the first to appear was info on the beginning of none early than kimbap, another favored of mine ! Both the budae jjigae and kimbap are listed in this interesting article, “ The surprise worldly concern of wartime food “ .
Kim = seaweed sheet
Bap = cooked rice
Spelling variations :
Kimbap
Kimbab
kimbop
Gimbap
Gimbop
I am sure there are many more, but the ones above are some of the main ones I have seen. FYI, my prefer spell for it is kimbap, indeed for simplicity, let ’ s fair adhere with that on here .
The origin of kimbap seems to be debatable. It popped up in my search due to the popular belief that kimbap was what had become a product of japanese influence during japanese occupation. It is believed that the japanese sushi roll, rolled in nori, was introduced and adapted. Norimaki, the japanese version, became a condition that was interchangeably used with kimbap during the prison term when speaking Korean was prohibited. One of the major differences is with the flavorer of the cook rice, -standard korean season uses sesame oil while vinegar is used with the japanese rolls.
But another coarse belief about the kimbap is that it is what has become a overhaul version of bokssam ( dating back to the Joseun era ). With korean food, there is a longtime tradition of wrapping kim in cook rice and banchan. “ Ssam ” refers to food that is wrapped.
I am not certain what to believe. Maybe it could be a combination of both theories. What are your thoughts ?
Kimbap being referred to as “ Korean sushi ” always puzzled me. When I was around eight years old or so, I was munching on some kimbap and person asked me what I was eating. Another person chimed in and said that what I was eating was sushi. This confused the sleep together out of me. There was no raw fish in the kimbap that I was eating… Why were they calling it sushi ? Over the years, I kept hearing kimbap being referred to as sushi by others. To me, this reference point is about like referring to kimchi as “ korean sauerkraut ”. I mean, kimbap rightfully should have its own identity and name. And I ’ m beaming to see it being more universally recognized as its own entity .
Kimbap varieties are dateless and under are 12 of some of the most popular styles that I came across on Dom and Hyo. I equitable recently came across their blog and am loving it ! It ’ south entire of enlightening posts if you are interest in learning more on all things Korean, particularly food .
I can ’ t say what my favored kimbap is. But whatever kimbap that I am making, I can not leave out a couple of the full of life ingredients, danmuji and cucumbers. I love tuna kimbap. It ’ sulfur delectable when cheddar tall mallow is added, along with the vital ingredients I barely mentioned. Steak kimbap is another favorite. So is odeng ! These are good some of the standard types, but you can badly put practically anything in kimbap !
Kimbap is my favored road trip food. It is frequently associated with outings and trips. And it ’ s probably the most commodious dish to pack. The last time I packed kimbap to take somewhere was when I went to Universal Studios and it was a life saver ! I don ’ thymine know what the Heck happened over there, but the food choices there sucked, overpriced and nothing at all I wanted to eat. I had packed some kimbap rolls to munch on more therefore as snacks but it ended up becoming full meals. We munched on some upon arrival, saving money for lunch. When we got athirst again, we opted to eat something at the ballpark but was stumped on what to eat but ended up eating hot dogs and left palpate ripped off and unsated. We got athirst again not long after and came back to the car to finish the rest of the kimbap. Kimbap to the rescue ! I remember packing possibly about 6-7 ( cut ) rolls of kimbap in foil and packaging them in a ziploc pocket. It was during the freeze winter months, so no ice box or such was needed at the time. I had assorted kimbaps of tuna and steak. When I was a kid, kimbap was packed for every amusement park visit, back when they actually allowed outside food into parks .
Another amazing thing about kimbap is that it is super easy to make ! Find Maangchi ’ s recipe here .
Below are some cool items to get you started .
Read more: Fruit Bowl Sundae
If you follow me on Instagram, you have probably seen this post before with the image below. I posted this last class around Gwangbokjeol .
Cuz all the cool Korean kids had this sticker on their car back in the day lol.
For some, it was about following the trend. It was all about KP ( #koreanpride ). During the 1990’s, the KP phase was in full swing and merchandise displaying k pride were hot commodity.
The taiwanese characters hera say “ dae han guk in ”, which translates to “ bad korean ”. even though I sported this dagger on my cable car, at first, I didn ’ metric ton know what the handwriting symbolized until person criticized that I had put that dagger on my Civic that I was driving at the prison term, a japanese made cable car. I was just a kid that was following the drift and thought that the dagger looked cool..and of course, because I had KP .
late, I learned what the hand symbolizes and it ’ s quite deplorable and patriotic. Independence activist, Ahn Jung Geun, cut off his ring finger to write in blood, the words, “ 대한 동립 ”, which means “ korean independence ”. During colonization, Koreans were viciously tormented by the Japanese, in all sorts of unthinkable and inhumane ways. Women were used as arouse slaves ( comfort women ), live bodies were stuffed into coffins, hot pepper flakes were flicked into eyeballs, and many many more unthinkable ways .
Koreans weren’t even able to speak freely in Korean since they were forced to speak Japanese. I remember my grandmother (who lived through that era) occasionally had Japanese words mixed in her vocabulary. So I grew up using certain imperialism era influenced words too. It took me some time to stop referring to yellow pickled radish as “daggwang” and to start calling it “danmuji”. I didn’t grow up in Korea, so I’ve never celebrated Liberation Day. But I understand that it’s way different than the way Americans celebrate Fourth of July. And it just reminded me of this sticker with the hand.
The truth is, I have seen people from my grandparents ’ generation ( most no longer living ) continue on with resentment towards the Japanese. I ’ ve listen stories about some of them wanting to disown a grandchild because he/she wanted to marry a japanese. The scars are unmanageable to erase. fortunately, the animosity subsided over the generations. But it does placid exist with some, sad to say. In more late years, I heard about a korean woman unfriending her japanese acquaintance after watching some movie depicting japanese brutality towards Koreans. I have no idea how commodity of friends they were or which movie she watched anterior to the unfriending .
One of the movies that I watched on that era is Spirits Homecoming. It is harebrained. It is fabulously disturbing and raw…and sol real .
When my name was Keoko tells a story of surviving in Korea during japanese occupation. I ’ d recommend it to anyone who is interest in learning more about this dark fourth dimension in korean history.
Sorry if I went off lead, as common. I forget if this post was supposed to focus more on Gwangbokjeol or kimbap ! Regardless, happy Gwangbokjeol and let ’ s eat some kimbap !
