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Korean
restaurants are opening at the rate of one every few weeks in the
West End, yet no one seems to know why. One theory is that more
Korean students are studying in London - but the figures don't really
bear this out. Another theory is that it's a zeitgeist thing; Korean
restaurateurs see other Koreans succeed, and decide to give it a go
too. Some restaurants such as Dong San hedge their bets by
also offering an extensive list of Japanese dishes - as a growing
number do, in an attempt to attract occidental as well as oriental
customers.
Whilst the
focus still tends to be just out of town in New Malden, good class
Korean restaurants are now to be found in Parsons Green and
increasingly in and around Soho. Ran, established in
1987, in Soho is often reckoned to be one of the best and smartest
with some others being stuck in something of a timewarp.
Korea is
surrounded on four sides by water -- so, beside rice, seafood is the
staple food. The markets overflow with fish, shrimp, crabs, clams,
oysters, squid, and octopus, which are eaten dried, pickled, crushed
into paste or sauce, stewed, steamed, and grilled. Fish is even
stirred into a common breakfast porridge. As in Japan, rice, pickles
and fish are the basis of the diet. Food is flavored with various
combinations of garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil,
dried anchovies and one of the many delicious spice pastes (changs or
jangs) that Koreans build from a base of fermented soy beans. dejan
paste, fermented soybean paste, and gochu Jang, a hot,
fermented chile paste are much like Japanese miso. Koreans also eat
meat; northerners eat more pork, while southerners prefer beef, and
the cooks are unafraid to mix meat, fish, chicken, and pork.
Koreans eat a
medium-grain "sticky" rice (as distinguished from
long-grain and short-grain, or glutinous, varieties) which is also
common in Japan. Rice is sometimes mixed with barley or soybeans for
flavor and nutrition. Unlike the crops grown in Korea's tropical
neighbors to the south, these grains and rices are more amenable to
the colder weather, longer days, and shorter growing season of Korea.
Both grain and rice are often made into noodles, which play a central
role in Korean cooking. Soups, which come in a wondrous variety, are
often noodle-based, and buckwheat noodles are distinctively local.
Kimchi is
a staple of Korean cuisine and is derived from chimchae,which
means preserved vegetables with salt, and as time went by,the word
had been changed: dimchae-kimchae- kimchi. And now it's called simply
kimchi. Kimchi in early days was simply pickled vegetables, However,
from about 12th century various flavours were used to make special
taste of Kimchi, and in 18th century, red pepper started to be used.
Red pepper contains capsaicin, which makes the hot taste and helps
the function of salt. It is assumed that the reason why red pepper
was used a lot more than others was to save salt since it was so rare
in old days. Also, in 19th century, cultivating of Korean cabbage for
kimjang: kimchi for winter came to be pervasive.
There are now
as many as 30 Korean restaurants around London to choose from. There
is even an annual festival. The Korean Festival was held on Saturday
12th August 2006. This free annual event is organised by the Korean
Residents Society. It takes place in Fairfield Recreation Ground in Kingston-upon-Thames
(in south-west London). About 40,000 Koreans are living permanently
in the UK (many of these live in this part of London, especially
around New Malden), and there are also many Korean students
temporarily in Britain. In 2006 this event took place soon before
Korea Independence Day on 15 August (this celebrating the date that
Korea regained its independence from Japan on 15 August 1945, at the
end of the Second World War; it had been occupied since 1905). The
Republic of Korea was formally created on 15 August 1948
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