What Does Traditional North Korean Food Taste Like? - K-Town
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 พ.ค. 2019
- On this episode of K-Town, host Matthew Kang heads to Dongmu Bapsang, and tries some traditional North Korean dishes like beef salad and cold noodles, which are quite unique in the South Korean city of Seoul.
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Pretty sure North Koreans would like to taste NK food too
😂😂😂😂
why are y’all laughing?!
@@fishstew2573 the joke is that north koreans are starving
God fvcking damn it.
I feel so bad for laughing jfc.
💀💀
You could tell the chef still has sadness for having to leave everyone behind to escape to S. Korea even though he hid it behind a laugh.
That's how most Asians (East & South East Asians-i don't know gesture customs in South Asia) generally express their true feeling, hiding behind formal laughters
The rest of his family members who didn't escape would have been executed or be sent to concentration camps
There was sadness, but I also saw tragedy in his eyes.
Unfortunely it gives happy n sad memories tis a kings feast imagine if he made a village dish
They probably be dead or in jail by now
This is more than just food, this is a story. A history, a sad untold story and a struggle put on a plate. Really emotional thing to think about.
only if you care i just dab on misery
@@_yuri The Stephen king's book?
i will fucoing piss on plate
Wow wow bruh moment jahsen 😭
North Korea food looks so sad
Came for North Korean noodles, stayed for North Korean story
And never leave
same here
slurp noodles loudly 😈
The laugh after he said he might get arrested broke my heart 😔
There are lotta NK spies inside SK. Remember that woman who was initially defected, then talks trash about NK, then after disappearing, NK released a video about her?
Also, remember that former Kim Dynasty relative who defected then died a few years later?
That's gonna be real.
this was a beautiful episode. It has so much depth on several topics
"I'd like to go back to Pyeongyang and meet with my colleagues if they're still alive." damnnnnn... living there seems like serving a life sentence to me!
Will I approach this from another angle. I mean this chef is already 60. So his colleagues maybe older than him or younger. But personally speaking if I can live to late 60 or mid 70 I will be pretty satisfied even I am living in US/Canada under this public medical situation level. I am not rich so if I got a heart attack/cancer later in my life then probably that's my end anyway lol
Considering that most people in North Korea outside of the select few that has access to medical institutions, are likely living with parasites in their body, then yes you are serving a life sentence where you can die at any moment.
Maybe they also escaped
@Manuel Delgado Western propaganda: Outlandish/surreal news story like Kim's girlfriend getting executed by anti-aircraft gun... who then shows up alive meeting foreign dignitaries.
not Western propaganda: poverty, hanger, flatworms.
Manuel Delgado really? I’d love to put you in a room full of people who escaped North Korea and dare you to say it in front of them and see what happens.
You can look at the soldier who escapes North Korea and the medical case about it and just see that had he not escaped he would’ve in fact died and this is just one of many examples
This guy is great, talking about reunification and dialogue like a human being. And his food looks great too.
Chris Green lets not lie here, the food is ass, i could make that with my eyes closed
Not depth, but i guess they made do with what they had, but this was supposed to be food for the rich so im confused af
AJ alright let’s see u pull noodles with ur eyes closed
Ew1128 😂😂😂😂 i see what you did there 😑
@@bigj2637I agree with you
Title: Traditional North Korean food
Chef 1 minute into the video: Commoners don't know about this food.
Fs Fs but middle class people are commoners
@@fs2300 He literally says he only cooked for the high ranking people
@@fs2300 You're missing the point people are trying to make. The chef said he literally created that first recipe and was only served to high ranking people. How can anyone call a dish that has probably only been tasted by a few dozen North Koreans a "traditional" dish.
@@fs2300 Don't act like you are an expert on this topic
Yeah but traditional peasant food is often gentrified and sold for exorbitant prices abroad after it goes out of fashion in its home country
Matthew, I've been a fan for a while but this was the episode that hit me hardest. I was raised by South Korean immigrants to the US, like yourself, so only know of the North through their eyes.
So while Dongmu Bapsang may be your only lens into the North, for me--and many other children of Korean immigrants--your lens is the one into which we too can only peer for this installment. Thank you.
The chef said very interesting thing people tend to forget about. Not every dish requires a ton of seasoning, sometimes it’s all about the actual taste of the ingredients
True. Also worth noting is that in the past, many common ingredients were superior to what we have today because they weren't watered down by mass production. The higher the quality of ingredients, the less chefs tend to season.
That’s what you got out of this? 😮
In all seriousness, the fact that North Koreans are so poor, and that many of them starved, is actually killing North Korean culture. If they can't afford to eat cultural dishes, the responsibility of continuing the food tradition falls on very few hands, such as this chef's. I hope he takes an apprentice to pass down his knowledge. Although, of course what would be better is if they could reunite with SK.
your idiocy killed your brain a long time ago
this!! true lala
@@RealKull real ray of sunshine aren't you /s
Trumps cutting food stamp and social security and many Americans are going to starve too.
Is North Korean food expensive?
Fascinating, eye-opening and moving. Very sad that this guy and restaurant is one of so few windows onto N. Korea. What a subtle journalist Matthew Kang is.
That guy is such a G, seen him on other shows in SK, hes got some more really interesting stories.
I think he was in Chef and My Fridge right?
@@najuhary yepp vs Lee yeon-bok very good episode even if he lost made more than up for it with his stories
@@najuhary what episode did he appear in?
5:10 Yes. Food is way too sweet in South Korea. I’ve been waiting for a Korean person to say that but everybody and my family says “But it tastes good with 10 pound of sugar in it.”
Sounds like you might prefer living in North Korea then.
@@porkcutlet3920 Not really but ok
not too sweet.
Step 1: Open your mouth
Step 2: Inhale
Step 3: Enjoy your north Korean dinig experience
I didn't know you were supposed to inhale food
@@parsab.6331 r/wooosh
Another thing is you can eat a bug. I'M serious
Hmm yummy oxygen
I just realized.. they cant import alot spices. Couldn't afford to over season if they wanted to.
They still have trade with China, so those with money can afford different food and spices. The rest of the population has to rely on meager government rations and whatever they can grow on their own.
@@Medowokha-bp5lq North Korea replaced communism with its Juche-idology almost fifty years ago. In many key aspects, Juche is diametrically opposed to communism. For example: Communism is anti-nationalist and strive to dissolve nation states in favour of a global solidarity of the working classes. Juche is hyper-nationalist and subject everything to independence and sefl-sufficience of "the native place and motherland". In communism - admittedly more in theory than in practice - the state exists to serve the people. The state commands the economy to make sure everybody gets housing, food and whatever they need to live. In communism being provided with these things was considered a fundamental human right; though economical meant it was often impossible to realize. In Juche the people exist pretty much as property of the state, whatever the state gives people in terms of housing and food are gifts and privileges than need to be earned and can be taken away. Calling North Korea a "Communist regime" makes about as much sense as refering to the US as a muslim country.
@@Medowokha-bp5lq I don't think you know what Communism actually is.
'Alot' isn't a word.
@@KyrstOak I know that. It's a lot. But it's also the internet, not a thesis. Fill your time with something else.
5:05 sounds like the only korean word he understood was jjampong (korean/chinese fusion noodle dish) and laughed at that LMAO
lol
North Korean noodles
*Sweats profusely*
Is actually made in South Korea
*safety noise*
I really like this episode since it offers a glimpse into the situation in North Korea as well. However, I am a bit concerned with the safety of the chef. Stay safe, chef! X(
I agree that South Korean cuisine is too sweet. Traditional flavors are becoming lost.
Andrew Lee Yeah we can def do better on that front
@Michal Blaszczak restaurant owners debasing Korean cuisine to cheapest level with sugar and msg isn't really redeemable.
Spicy too
What an honor it must have been to eat at this Chef's restaurant. Incredible episode!
This is probably my favorite episode of K-Town to date. Really deep and moving to think about this stuff. As a Korean American, I find myself pretty far removed from Korean culture and find it difficult to connect. Doubly so when you incoprorate North Korea into the picture. Stuff like this is super important and deeply meaningful to me, and I'm sure many others.
This beef salad can become very popular in Pakistan as we love beef and this is a very unique way of eating it much respect to this chef
Love this series and wish to see more about the Korean cuisine in the next episodes!
Sometimes this man remind me that I ever saw him, and right I saw him in cooking show, my fridge or refrigerator celebrity in Korea and he ever join as chef and battle cooking, I never knew his full story of he came from North Korea, but he ever say that he want cooking in natural flavors, good job
Thanks for this intimate portrait of the human side of the Korean conflict and the disparity between the different sides
I really like the way you talk about North Korea being not just violence or war, but also the culinary side. There are too many media that only show the ugly side.
Thing I noticed when I was traveling for work in both north and South Korea. Is northern food tend to be more rooted to olden ingredients and spices. In the south there is more ingredients because of mass imports of spices and flavors and also because it’s more westernized so some dishes have a western hit like cheese with some pork etc. North Korean food is using ingredients and traditional recipes passed from long ago that they don’t even change them.
The well known spices that South Korea uses is gochujang/gochugaru which definitely isn’t imported. Also cheese is a recent fad, it’s not found in traditional South Korean foods.
naengmyeon is my favorite korean dish of all korean dishes north or south, i crave it all year round because it's so delicious. ya'll should really try, so refreshing. ps. loving this chef's story and his left arm of ink, badass!
5:08 He doesn't know what 짬뽕 means...and he laughed.
he laughed because it's a dish.
Thank you for this🙏🏽 Blessings to you both and your families
i like to describe north korean food more traditional, pre-japan and pre-USA korean food. this is most likely what my great grandparents ate.
This was a great video. Thank you.
This was an amazing interview slash review of food. IM GLAD for that man
The last few minutes of this video really speaks volumes.
This is truly meaningful, truly personal. Full of emotion, humility and respect. There is so much cuisine information on TH-cam. However this is very different from all that. May the Korean people find unity and embrace each other again. Thank you for sharing this.
A very moving segment, thank you for sharing.
Bless this guy for getting a chance to see his family history. Even if it's just a few dishes. Wow
What a rich video! Thank you Matthew for sharing this with us. Very, very nice. :)
Great video. Keep up the good work.
That was great! So much more than just cuisine
This was really well done.
I didn't know the host's family was from Pyongyang! What a neat opportunity for him.
Thank you Eater!
North Korea as we know it today didn't exist until after world War II. before that it was basically a colony of Imperial Japan. The Empire of Japan forced the Korean Empire to become a protectorate in 1905 and five years later fully annexed the Korean peninsula.
After Imperial Japan was defeated in world War II the United States and Soviet Union occupied Korea and split it between them. The Soviet Union occupied the North and gave it to the Communist Kim Il Sung. The United States occupied the South and put it in control of a capitalist dictator named Ree. Overtime the South would become a true democracy while the north remained a Communist dictatorship.
@@tonyzan5268 They did not really give it to Kim Il-Sung, Kim Il-Sung was elected in the PRK which existed before the DPRK
Pork noodle survived me throughout your video LOVE IT !
I learned so much from this video.
History served, 1 plate at a time. Hope Korea reunites.
5:00 He is right that North Korean cuisine does actually seem more similar to Chinese cuisine, the so-muchim (beef slices with cucumbers, vinegar and sugar) is quite similar to a typical Chinese "liangban" (凉拌) or cold side dish usually also marinated with vinegar, soy sauce and sugar.
Korea and China were a thing back than 😂
Korean cuisine is heavily influenced by China since it was a vassal state for centuries on and off. Once Korea got occupied by Japan in 1910 the Japanese influence began, but North Korea never got the amount of western and Japanese influence that SK did because it did not fully industrialize, and it definitely did not do so with the ability to acquire foods from those places like SK dis
The same can be said about Japanese cuisine. Much of Japanese food has Chinese origins or Western influenced.
I wish the host Matthew Kang were open to going deeper into the very political dynamics that may have been the reason his grandfather was do stoic and uncommunicative about his time in North Korea. To at once say that food is political, but then to skirt the political issues that were at play in Korea during the 1930's and 1940's does a disservice to both the North Korean history and legacy and the ways in which these food traditions do or don't translate into viable and satisfying constructions today.
never saw a food video this touching, great person ☺
Hi!, your channel is awesome
this is nice.
Lve it!
This place is my favorite restaurant! You should try kimchi here. It's just a side dish which is offered for free. But it's so good.
this is something that is hard to find
I teared up a little when he said that he wishes the koreans would reunite. It's so sad what is happening... i feel bad for this man.
My ex wife is Korean American, I've always wanted to try these Pyongyang noodles. But it's impossible to find and I don't want to waste my time trying some imitation. Thanks for the video.
I think he has a point when he says that North Korean cuisine is closer to traditional chinese or korean cuisine. Im not an expert, far from it, but I watched and read quite a few videos and articles on traditional Korean food and the slow/revivalist korean food movement and yeah...theres a lot of similiarities.
This was a great episode. Thanks Mathew Kang for giving us such a thought provoking perspective on N.Korean food.
“Most commoners in North Korea HAVENT eaten beef”
“Cooking for high ranking party officials, they had unlimited access to beef”
-.-
This was the best episode yet....very informative & so interesting. I really felt for the chef wanting to go back but being too frightened. Shame ☹️
youre not god sir and neither am i...😈🌹
This would have been the perfect moment for the chef to give him an empty plate.
zadoww that’s ridiculous.
It would of had a grass on it
not grass but dirt
Interesting video, great looking dishes and nice to talk about North Korea on a real level
For 2:26 here in the philippines, we have a dish thats quite similar to that beef dish. Its called "kinilaw". Its rather almost the same but instead we use raw fish. Also another dish called "sinuglaw"
those noodles look really good,im a big pasty fan
The (inevitable) reunification of the Koreas will be one the most emotional things ever.
or devastating.
@@genericalias5756 you're not wrong
2 different ideologies...who will be the more dominant? thats the question
@Azzury Street There's lot of unemployment in the East, and East Germany was a much stronger economy than North Korea
The Iron Curtain fell...this one will also: I can’t wait.
Nice closing thoughts. Kudos
2:21 perfectly balcenced, as all things should be
My mom is from South Korea. I recently became vegan a couple years ago. She’s adapted several Korean dishes to be vegan. If you cut out meat, it’s fairly easy. There isn’t a lot of dairy used in cooking (well, now it is since Koreans are obsessed with American food). Could you show some vegan Korean food? I think there is a niche market for vegan Korean restaurants in the US, especially in our big cities like NYC and LA.
this was a profound episode.
Reminds me of the time Cesar Milan went to North Korea and tried to train a plate of food to obey him.
i am Indian I travel south Korea and south Korean foods are very tasty
That looks like a mix between a samovar and a hotpot. The chef looks like George Takei. That restaurant looks like a nice hole-in-a-wall in Seoul. Kang seems articulate, deep, and interesting, which is unusual for a TH-camr.
My mom as a South Korean got an opportunity to go to North Korea and perform with the Pyongyang orchestra. She said the food in North Korea was much cleaner.
The simplicity of pear slide and beef slide are also found popular in South Korean version of this dish. Also same condiment of vinegar and mustard on the side. Perhaps the difference is no ice on broth?
No he is right! The broth and the noodles are so litle seasoned! At first it was a shock, like eating cold watery pasta. But after that initial shock i could finally taste how deep the flavours were. Its one of my favorite dishes, but its a extremely subtle taste. Oh and usually the people who like the south korean version hate the north korean one and vicecersea. I think that mike from strictly dumpling made a video on both and absolutely hated the north korean one xD.
My *dad's family* live in a suburb of *Ho Chi Minh City* in Vietnam, where *their new nextdoor neighbours are North Koreans.*
*Vietnam* is one of the *countries that DPRK citizens are allowed to travel* to, and everyone "acts" like they're poor, even among the privileged enough to travel abroad : and *culinary tourism is a huge thing!* Some *North Koreans go to Vietnam for a long weekend* basically *just to stock up on food like no tomorrow!*
Mathew,
I really like your videos.
My Father was also from the North Korea and my Mother is from Seoul.
South Korea has many different "Boo-chee-gae" or " Boo-chim-gae" meaning " Pancakes".
There are Kimchi Boo-chi-gae, Ho-bock-jeon(squash), Paa-jeon(green onions), Gam-ja-jeon(potatos), Hae-mool-pa-jeon(mixed seafood pancake), Go-choo-jang-tteoak(korean chili paste), Doen-jang-tteoak(korean bean paste) and Nok-doo-bin-dae-tteok(mung bean with pork slices) etc.
They can open Khop(not Ihop) the Korean House Of Pancakes.
that beef dish looks amazing
I would love to visit this place and est one day
i love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Makes me wanna go out and buy buckwheat noodles and appreciate beef on em
I am Korean from Russia, it was very interesting to see the NK cuisine
next biggest food craze!
YESSSSS FINALLY MY FAVORITE FOOD!!! Word is, a famous chef is opening a nengmyun place in New York this year or next, very stoked about this.
Pretty sure the pyeonyuk used in the eobokjaengban was from beef shank, not chuck. It has the telltale marbling pattern of sinewy connective tissue between the muscle that chuck doesn't have.
I would want to come to this restaurant to try it since Im a fan of Asian culture
This guy just might be the only representative of North Korean cuisine in this world at this point.
Wow I would love to be there...
This is a very serious Netflix original
how many korean producers we got at Eater lmao
Why did my guards let him leave my country
they got some good cold noodles
At first I was like, golly gee, the guy looks awfully young for someone who escaped to South Korea before Korea was split into north and south. LOL!!!
Nobody knows; the Great Lider (be praised) eats it all
PD: what an amazing story
2:21 as all thing should be
Rip Thanos 2019
I hope they remember him
great ¡¡ i love that chef
Beautiful !
I think "traditional" is a little misleading... This is gourmet, luxury north Korean food that 99% of north koreans have never had.
North Korea hasn't always had famine or the level of poverty seen with the modern leader
@@Bbbowdens Even before the famine (which I was aware of) the impression I get is that they were bombed to hell and back during the war and never really got back on their feet all the way, especially since all of their leaders were promoting austere communism and self reliance. You have a Korean name, though, perhaps you have first-hand knowledge that I dont?
@@shamusfarmer yes I agree north korea never got back on it's feet after the war. my only point was that there was a time before the conflict where koreans were able to make their own culture/food. even today the idea that north koreans aren't able to ever try their native food is a bit of an exaggeration. my dad's family left it.
@@Bbbowdens I see, so it wasnt always about eating tree bark and barbecuing rats to survive? Even in it's heyday it must have still been very poor, though... Such bad land. Just a lot of cold, barren, ugly hills and mountains. They were very unlucky to be born in such a place...
shamusfarmer
I mean, North Korea existed before 1945.
tbh as a japanese person i kinda felt more similarities between japanese food and north korean food than south korean food
Same. NK food is simple and clean. Btw, why did the host laugh when the chef said SK food is similar to Japanese food? 5:09
chibi168 I don’t know Korean so I’m taking a wild guess, but I heard the chef say something similar to “champon” and the host also say it. In japan, chanpon is a food and also slang for a large mix, so I’m guessing that they way the chef described Korean food was a bit humorous.
unification!!!
Let the hunger jokes begin in 3...2...1...
Yup. One thing I don’t like about some Korean dishes are because of its sweetness.
Yeah, some dishes I can't stand, it's saturated in salt and sugar, its 2019 we have refrigeration. Tofu soup is amazing though, I can't get enough of it.
My 80 yr old Korean mom is flipping out at all these Korean recipes adding sugar. I understand using a PINCH to help mix the flavors but not TBSPs of it 😖