A TASTE OFKOREA

Tuesday afternoon, as always, we went to takeour Korean extended class. Differ from other language courses that we have totake, we not only need to learn this unique language in Korean class, but alsoits distinct humanistic cultures. As we stepped into the classroom, we sawwell-made Korean rice cake (do bo ki) put on the table, and we realize that itmust be another yummy period. You might ask: so this period is all abouttasting foods? Of course not, the rice cake is only an appetizer. We got thechance to learn how to make those traditional Korean foods all by ourselves,step by step with teacher’s instructions.

The lessontoday is kim pap, or the rice roll. If people travel to Korea, it’s a commonfood that Korean people make. Kim pap is very similar to the sushi in Japan,except the rice is mixed with fresh sesame oil instead of vinegar, surroundedwith a big piece of kim (laver), and it doesn’t have to be dipped into soilsauce. After watching the procedures from our Korean teacher, we were thenready to make kim pap by ourselves. We started by putting the piece of laver onthe bamboo roller and covering cooked rice on about two third of it.  We carefully arranged all the foods such asham, beet and omelets over the rice. Then it comes the tricky part, the rollingof the kim pap. By memorizing what the teacher has shown, we successfully madeour first kim pap. Although it’s not perfect, and we even mistakenly mess upsome steps, it still looks quite delicious. Practice makes better. Severaltimes of experiences result in a great improvement eventually. Since it’s madeby us, it tastes much better than what we’ve ordered in the restaurant.

Wanna learnKorean and Korean cultures? Possibly the food cultures? Why don’t you come andjoin us at the Korean class!

MYP 9(1) Eileen王依冬