Summer Food Enjoyed by Koreans

 Looking at the rising average temperature and the thinning clothes of people walking around the streets, I realize that summer is really coming. To beat this hot weather, people try to beat the heat by looking for cool and cold food, and eating hotter food than the weather. Among them, are Patbingsu, Naengmyeon, and Samgyetang. These are the summer foods that we will be looking for today.

 First, let's talk about Patbingsu. Patbingsu is one of the most popular foods in summer. Koreans who grind ice into small pieces and put red beans, rice cakes, fruits and other ingredients plus syrup on top of it. With this popularity, there are also franchise stores in Korea that specialized in bingsu. Currently, in addition to red bean shaved ice, you can grind frozen milk instead of ice. There are more red bean shaved ice made of various ingredients such as fruit, cheese, and grain powder, so if you have a chance, try other red bean shaved ice and avoid the heat.

 The second food to look for is Naengmyeon. It is traditionally called Naengmyeon (cold noodles) in Korean tradition. This Naengmyeon is originated in North Korea at first, and was named Naengmyeon because it was the most frequently eaten form of noodles in Pyeongyang and Hwanghae-do. Usually, Naengmyeon is made of buckwheat noodles by putting various garnishes such as meat, pears, and cucumbers on top of it. The most famous types of Naengmyeon are Pyeongyang Naengmyeon and Hamheung Naengmyeon. The difference between these two foods depends on the amount of starch used. Unlike Hamheung naengmyeon, most naengmyeon is eaten with meat and vegetables on top of noodles, but Hamheung naengmyeon has raw naengmyeon with stingrays. In addition, there are many kinds of naengmyeon, so if you have Naengmyeon with your preferred ingredients, it would be good to look for it.

 The last summer food is Samgyetang. This Samgyetang is a dish made of chicken, medicinal herbs and glutinous rice. Especially ginseng is used as an essential ingredient. It is famous for Korea's representative as healthy food and is usually eaten on Dog's Day. Koreans tried to sweat and overcome the heat by eating hotter food than the heat on a hot summer day, and Samgyetang is one of them. Why don’t you try it this summer.

 In this way, we learned about Korean summer food, and in the increasingly hot weather in Korea, people develop and find cool foods to avoid the heat. Although the weather is getting hotter and people are mainly active indoors, I hope it will be summer when they take care of their health by doing outdoor activities to eat cool food like this.

Picture of 'Naengmyeon' / Photo : Lee Sangyoung