Differences and Comparison between Korean Snacks and China Snacks

When it comes to Korean food, many people think of hot kimchi, colorful bibimbap and smooth cakes ... These exquisite foods are not only unique in taste, but also bright in color and delicious.

Compared with China's diet, Korean diet seems to pay more attention to color. Whether it's nine-color dishes at banquets, fairy stoves, or kimchi and miso soup in daily cooking, they all pursue five colors. Take kimchi as an example. Its trunk is white. The leaves of onions and cabbages are green; Ginger and garlic are yellow; Chili powder is red; Shrimp sauce, fish sauce, etc. They are all black, but they are all five colors. Why pay so much attention to diet color and pursue five colors? Through investigation, it is found that South Korea's pursuit of food color is closely related to China's Yin-Yang and Five Elements.

According to Korean custom, pregnant women should drink black Undaria soup when giving birth. Because from the perspective of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, blood belongs to the heart, the center of the five elements belongs to fire, and the black five elements belong to water. According to the principle that water can stop bleeding and replenish blood. Maternal women are often weak because of excessive bleeding, and drinking Undaria soup is of course the most appropriate.

On the fifteenth day of the first month, Koreans eat "Ku cake", which is said to be a custom originated from thanking birds. According to "Carnivores in Forest Gardens", the important feature of retort pouch is to wrap japonica rice on the leaves and stems of Nandianzhu, making it blue, which was interpreted as "bird rice" by Tang Herbal Medicine. Of the five elements, cyan is the east, where the sun rises. The ancients thought that birds flew towards the sun, so people with bird totems called birds "bluebirds".

Among these five colors, red is the most widely used and recognized color by Koreans. According to the five elements of yin and yang, red is fire, which is the symbol color of summer and the south. The sun, fire and blood related to red are full of vitality, so it is the strongest positive color. "Yang Can suppresses Yin", so red things, especially red food, of course have the function of "exorcising ghosts and evil spirits". In traditional customs, Koreans have to cross the threshold of life many times with the help of red. After the baby is born, put the red pepper on various jars; On the day of the bride's dowry, red dates should be put in the wedding cake; At the birthday ceremony, the cock's mouth is also full of red dates, and so on, so people seek peace and happiness.

Similarly, the custom of putting pepper or jujube on a newly-made sauce jar or pickled pickle jar also relies on its red color to ward off evil spirits. At the same time, people often eat red food on days when they need to ward off evil spirits or when Yin qi is heavy. According to the theory of knowing the wind, when it is hottest in summer, it is called "three volts" because it is "sunny, but not out, and Yin Fu, but not steaming". At this time, Yin is the most abundant. In order to avoid ghosts and exorcism, people not only eat aphrodisiac dog broth, but also add a lot of red pepper noodles to the dog broth to enhance the yang of the body and achieve the purpose of strengthening the body and avoiding evil spirits. There are also beef soup without dog broth, but with enough Chili powder.

The Korean custom of drinking red bean porridge from winter solstice also comes from this. On this day, people scatter the cooked red bean porridge at the gate, courtyard wall, kitchen, pigsty and other corners to ward off evil spirits. This practice continued to develop after the Convention. When people build new houses or encounter infectious diseases, they will also sprinkle red bean porridge on every corner or road to pray for safety and health. Later generations even divined farming in the form of adzuki bean porridge: they put adzuki bean porridge in 1 year and1February's 12 plates respectively, and after the adzuki bean porridge cooled down, we could judge whether the farming was smooth or not and the meteorological conditions in that month according to its surface shape.

The pursuit of five colors in Korean diet is another embodiment of the color concept of Yin-Yang and Five Elements. The five-color "bibimbap" that many people like is a representative food for Koreans to sacrifice their ancestors. "Bibimbap" means adding all kinds of shredded vegetables, fried pork, Undaria pinnatifida and fried fruits. Put it on the rice, then beat a raw egg on the steaming rice, then add Chili sauce and sesame oil and stir and eat. Ye Yi's Complete Book points out that "one-pot rice" means putting all kinds of vegetables on cooked rice, instead of mixing vegetables with rice and steaming it. The advantages of the former can keep the fresh color of vegetables. 1. 1% rice changes with seasons. In early spring, we eat spiced vegetables "bibimbap", and in March, we eat the "cover plate" of azalea leaves and pine nuts, but the color of vegetables always contains basic five colors to express our respect and mourning for our ancestors. Because in the five elements of yin and yang, although the five colors have different meanings, they are all yang and symbols of good luck, so people often pray for things to go smoothly with the five-color diet. According to historical records, when Li Chenggui, the founding king of North Korea, moved his capital from Kaesong to Hanyang, he placed red, blue, white, black and yellow sacrifices on the circular altar for worship.

The five-color beauty of Korean cuisine has finally formed a unique ingredient-five-color food code. In Korea, almost every dish has a name code, which not only matches the taste of the main course, but also matches the color of the main course to enhance the visual beauty of the diet. Korean cold noodles are well-known traditional dishes. The main raw material is buckwheat noodles, and the ingredients are boiled eggs, beef slices, cucumbers, apples, pears and Chili powder. Undoubtedly, beef is black with sauce; The cut cooked eggs are white and yellow; Cucumber, apple and pear slices are green and milky white respectively; Chili powder is red, of course, that is, red. All five colors are available, and all five flavors are good. People get a kind of spiritual beauty while enjoying delicious food to meet their physiological needs. At the same time, this feeling also strengthens the Korean concept of "five colors".

Koreans' deep love for five colors can be seen from their eating buckwheat jelly. The main raw material of buckwheat bean jelly is filtered starch, with salt, oil, sesame salt, Chili powder and so on. This seemingly ordinary flavor snack was interpreted by Li Guitai with great cultural connotation. "Buckwheat leaves are lush, flowers are white, stems are red, roots are yellow, and fruits are black, so it is known as the spirit of the five parties. People love it beyond the scope of food. Women and unmarried girls in the village often chip in to buy five-color buckwheat jelly. It is said that eating can improve five postures such as chest and buttocks and help to have children. "

It can be seen that Koreans' preference for five colors in diet has surpassed visual beauty, and their pursuit of five colors is a supernatural and mysterious force. Therefore, at the baby's centenary banquet, we should also put five-color muffins, symbolizing the five elements, five virtues and five flavors, and expressing people's wishes for the healthy growth of the baby. So far, Koreans prefer rice mixed with red beans, sesame seeds and soybeans to white rice. Koreans even think that "eating white rice alone is very poor", which is obviously influenced by the "five-color view".