I don't really sad that summer is ending because I don't really summer to be honest. It's too hot (not this year though) and too humid. I missed the cicadas already. Sometimes they sounded annoying but they were the charm of summer.
Today I am going to share a Korean culture that I found out during my internship. I usually spent my summer holiday with my Indonesian friends and thus I didn't really know about their summer culture. Turned out, they had 3 special days to mark the hottest days in summer.
Okay, probably some of my friends already knew about it but I just found out about it this year, which is fine, better late than never right?
So back in the old days, when Korean people was in difficulty to find anything to eat, they wanted to eat a delicious food. However because they didn't really have much money and food, they decided on 3 days: 초복 (read: chobok), 중복 (read: jungbok), and 말복 (read: malbok). 'Cho' means 'the beginning', 'jung' means 'the middle', and 'mal' means 'the end', and they are used to define the beginning of month, middle of month, and the end of month. In this context, they defined the beginning of summer, middle of summer, and end of summer. Beef and pork were practically more expensive because it took some time until the cow and pig became bigger so eating chicken became part of the culture. Chicken grew up faster, and it was easier to breed. That's why most Korean eat chicken during these 3 special days.
Even though I said they were 3 hottest days in summer, actually during this year's jungbok, it was quite chilly. Haha.
I spent my summer in the office and my company really celebrated these days.
On chobok, which fall on 18 July 2014, the company took out all of the workers to eat Samgyetang (삼계탕).
This is one of my favorite food in Korea. It literary means 'ginseng chicken soup'. It consists of a whole young chicken, Korean ginseng, and rice.
This is what wikipedia wrote about it:
A whole young chicken is stuffed with glutinous rice and boiled in a broth of Korean ginseng, dried seeded jujube fruits, garlic, and ginger. Depending on the recipe, other medicinal herbs such as Astragalus propinquus (hwanggi), wolfberry (gugija), Codonopsis pilosula (dangsam), and Angelica sinensis (danggwi) may also be added.Usually a bowl costs 13.000 KRW—considering my student budget, this was a very luxurious meal.
*gulp*
Next, on jungbok, which fall on 28 July 2014, my company gave a simple, but sweet, watermelon. It would be too much if they treat all the workers to Samgyetang again hahaha XD.
Lastly, on malbok, which fall on 7 August 2014, my company gave a cup of fried chicken.
Yum yum yum~ Too bad the photos were so-so. I took all of these with my Galaxy Note 2.
During these 3 hottest days in summer, many chicken restaurant offered discount.
If there are any Korean people reading this post, please correct me if I'm wrong. I heard the story from my Korean friend with Korean language, so I might make some mistakes.
See you on the next adventure!
Gabriela Tio.
No comments:
Post a Comment