FatManSeoul

image from 교보문구

Fatman recently took a browse through Michael Pettid’s Korean Cuisine: An Illustrated History and liked what we saw. Unlike most books about Korean food, this one is not primarily a cookbook. Pettid, an Assistant Professor of Korean and Korean Literature at SUNY Binghampton flexes his scholarly muscles to bring readers a nearly encyclopedic look at Korean food and its development.  Covering everything from ritual, seasonal, and regional specialty foods all the way on through to palace cuisine to kitchen utensils, this is the best general reference work on Korean food currently published in English.  Learn how kimchi was seasoned before new world peppers arrived on the penninsula and how to properly set up a table (literally) fit for a king.  As might be expected from a literature professor, the book is peppered with food found in songs, stories, poems, and literature, and makes liberal use of non-foodie sources like the 삼국유사 (三國遊事/samgukyusa:  Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms) to talk about the role of food in Korean history, literature, and culture.   The book is extensively referenced, has a lavish number of color plates, and an interesting if brief collection of recipes – and is quite possibly the first time Fatman has found a good 개장국 (gaejangguk:  dog soup) recipe in English.

Because the book paints such a broad, general picture of Korean food, don’t expect to find a complete and definitive account of individual dishes or ingredients.  The entire book including appendices and indeces only clocks in at a modest 223 pages, so you’re not going to find an in-depth history of the development of ddeokpokki.  Also, Pettid’s literary background means that some of the foodie aspects are a bit underdeveloped when it comes to describing tastes and flavors.  We can only hope that Pettid will someday contribute an even  more substantive and in-depth look at Korean food, but as it stands this is the best (and only) overview of Korean food in publication in English.  Fatman recommends this book strongly as a general guide to Korean cuisine.