Korean Food Documentary Part II – My Interview

Hello!

Korean Food Documentary Part II by YTV America is finally up on my youtube channel!  The whole piece is 30 min long so I edited it down to 8 min or so, (showing mainly my interview, haha) – hope you’ll watch it!! Also at the end of the video, I have included a video of Jonathan Gold, an LA Times food critic who was the first one to receive a Pulitzer prize as a food critic in 2007. He has some really spot-on observations about Korean food.

Besides the video, I also wanted to share some survey results that YTV America did on Korean food. At the beginning of the full documentary, they include some survey results that are pretty interesting so I will share them here.

Korean Food Documentary Survey about Korean Food of 100 people found near Korean restaurants in LA.

Favorite dishes between Americans (non-Koreans) in general and Asian Americans differ quite a bit.

Top Favorite Korean dishes among Asian Americans:

Tteokbokki 떡뽁이, Kimbap 김밥 and Jjajangmyeon 짜장면.

Top Favorite Korean dishes among Americans (non-Koreans) in general:

Korean BBQ, Kimchi Jjigae 김치찌게, Bulgogi 불고기, Bibimbap 비빔밥, Japchae 잡채 and Kimchi 김치.

Surprisingly, Seolleongtang 설렁탕, Samgyetang 삼계탕 and Dak Bokkeumtang 닭볶음탕 were also pretty popular.

Besides these answers, what I found most encouraging were the answers to the following question-

What do you find most difficult about Korean cooking?

1. Ingredients list (I wrote a post about Korean Ingredients)
2. It takes too long ( I always try to find ways to reduce time while not sacrificing the flavor)
3. Hard to understand different meat cuts (I wrote Korean Beef Cuts, Korean Pork Cuts)
4. Sauces (Two posts about Korean Sauces 1 for dipping, Korean Sauces 2 for seasoning)

WOW – I was SO EXCITED when I saw this!!!

I was so HAPPY that I HAVE already written posts about Korean Ingredients, Meat (Beef and Pork) Cuts, and Sauces!!! If you were struggling with similar issues, I hope they will be helpful to you in some way.

Then next question was –

What is your image of Korean Food? or What is Korean Food like?

Survey results were as follows:

1. Hot, Spicy, Strong
2. Salty
3. Sweet
4. Hot (temperature)

and then some answered Complex, Nutty and Garlicky.

I was kind of sad to hear that fewer people thought Korean food was complex. Yes, Korean food is sometimes spicy; yes, Korean food is sometimes salty; yes, also sweet and boiling hot – but only SOMETIMES…To me most of all, Korean food has such a depth of flavor that is complex but also delicate when properly prepared. Korean food can also be the most simply prepared dishes that let’s the ingredient shine through like namul.

So I am now excited, more then ever, to continue my blog to share more authentic Korean recipes including the informational posts that can help you understand Korean cooking better.

If you have any requests on future informational posts or recipes, I would LOVE to hear about them!!

Thank you always,

XOXO ❤️

JinJoo