[K-Food Story] This is a REALLY typical Korean daily meal

Whenever I see a Korean food-themed blog posting or youtube video, some part of myself always feel kind of puzzeled. Honestly, those pictures are absolutely filtered and look so fancy! So, here I am to show the real and typical Korean daily meal today. 

[A really typical Korean Meal]

We, Koreans, are serious. Trulyserious about eating rather than housing or clothes for surviving. Especially for the elderly, having a 'proper and regular' meal, including steamed rice, of course, is the top priority of their lives, so that we greet saying 'Did you have a meal?' instead of 'How are you?'. Yes, 'Having a meal' means 'how are you' here. This is where I live in.   

If you see any fancy filtered pic of Korean meal, get that out of your mind. This picture above is all about typical Korean home meal; Steamed rice with mixed grain, stew made with soy bean paste, one main dish (fish or meat), some stir fried vegetables (called 나물) and yes, Kimchi. 

Because of the harsh winter season, it must have been almost impossible to get any fresh crispy salad dish on a  dinner table and that's the reason why we always have Kimchi on the table for the regular consumption of vegetables over the winter.  

Aside from Kimchi, another 'must-eat' item on this humble daily meal is 'garlic'. Koreans are well-known as garlic lovers. When we say a spoonful of garlic, it comes in a huge metal dipper, and when we make Gambas al ajillo, it always comes with only a few shrimps and a panful of garlic sunken under the oil. Even most of the dishes from the picture above include garlic in it (except the rice and the stirred fried radish on the left). Garlic is not condiment, but a kind of 'side' vegetable for 'main' vegetable dish. 

So, here we are. Here is the world of garlic and Kimchi and what I would like to do is to show and introduce some daily humble meals for typical Koreans like me. We don't eat Bul-go-gi(불고기) all the time. We don't eat Job-chae(잡채) all the time. But we eat something everyday for sure, and this blog is for those ordinary foods for ordinary people.