The favorite myth of foreigners is that the Koreans eat dogs. Local chefs are famous for the ability to really prepare dishes of dog meat, but at street snackbars you will not find them: in such case you should be afraid that in the dining room instead of chicken you will be shoved a grouse. Dog meat is a delicacy, and dishes made of it are quite expensive. Koreans themselves use them on special days or for medical reasons - for example, in order to regain strength after illness.
Dog and cat meat - a traditional dish in Korea and some other countries in South-East Asia. Very useful for health food, say local doctors, of course, if the animal are correctly cooked. it is especially tasty the soup from alive skinned cat - it gives youthful strength to feeble old man, a cure for asthma and arthritis. Koreans themselves explain it in this way: "Pork and beef were previously very expensive, so we gradually got used to dog meat and cat meat.
They continue to cook dishes from this meat, even though since 1983 operates the official ban on the use of these animals for food. And the state can not do anything. Tradition ... In neighboring China, people also eat cats and dogs, but in China they were specially grown in special farms and in public, with the children, they arenot boiled alive in the markets!
A characteristic feature of traditional restaurants in Seoul and other South Korean cities is the love to the purely peasant dishes of Korea, adored by its modern inhabitants, and all social classes. The food is a little rough, devoid of sophistication, there is an abundance of garlic and onions, from it comes the heavy smell of cabbage and pickled radish. After such a meal, the visitors take at the cash register at the exit some aromatic chewing gum. But going to such a place the Koreans, tired of the hustle and the conventions of urban life, can relax and to feel relaxed, homely, somewhat rural atmosphere, an atmosphere which cannot be achieved in the fashionable restaurants.
The most famous Korean dish - kimchi.
Kimchi - is not only cabbage, but in general, any vegetables, pickled in a certain way. When and who was the first to cook this dish, it is impossible to establish for certain, but it is known that the ancestors of modern Koreans inhabited expanse of Manchuria, stocking up vegetables for a long winter marinuya them with soy sauce, vinegar and salt. Much later, namely in the XVII century, when through China from Europe to Korea was brought the red pepper, discovered by Columbus, along with America, fermented products have acquired the current intensity.
