Food & Fun

안녕하세요! Hello, and welcome to the third South Korea post in The Library’s Online Armchair Traveler series. This week we are looking to get a little creative and learn about food, fun, and games. Any of these three things would make a great night in, so have a read, then pick one (or three) of the suggestions to try yourself. Let’s start with the food, shall we?

Recipe Ideas

One of my favorite parts of learning about different parts of the world is the food! And Korea has some great food. Today, I recommend a recipe that is both easy and adaptable to the vegetables you have on hand – 비빔밥 (bibimbap)]! Follow New York resident and Korean native Maangchi as she makes bibimbap in her video and give it a go yourself.

This is a hearty and healthy rice dish that is easy to make. If you don’t have access to Korean hot pepper paste (gochujang) or if you don’t like spicy food, this dish is also great with the following sauce that makes enough for about 4 servings. Just mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl:

• ¼ cup soy sauce

• 2 teaspoons hot pepper flakes (optional)

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 3 green onions, chopped

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• 2 teaspoons sesame seeds

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

Fun and Games

Ddakji is a traditional Korean game that is still popular with kids today and is easy to play at home. It involves two players or two teams who throw a paper square down on the floor to flip over the opposing player or team’s paper square; it’s very similar to the game Pogs that was popular here in the United States in the 1990s.

To play, all you really need is four square pieces of paper that are different colors. If you only have white paper on hand, color them or draw fun patterns on them to add some personality. Watch the video below to learn how to fold your squares and play the game!

Movie Recommendations

Want to have a movie night instead? Hoopla Digital has a wide variety of Korean movies to choose from, including 3 from Bong Joon Ho, Academy Award Winning director of the recent movie Parasite. If you subscribe to any streaming platforms, you can check for Korean movies and tv shows there too, as they have become quite popular in the past few years!

Let us know in the comments below if you cook a Korean dish, play ddakji, watch a good Korean film or tv show, or try something else you find in your own bit of research! Check out the blog next Monday when we’ll wrap up our virtual trip to South Korea with some language learning resources. Where do you think we should travel to next?