= Osaka “pajeon” pop-up =

— Korean style pajeon 파전 scallion pancakes with seafood Here is a story about another Korean dish being offered as Japanese. Toss a few bonito flakes on top of pajeon, squirt some MSG ajinomoto kewpie sauce, then it becomes a Japanese, just as serving miso soup with a hamburger turns into washoku.  The non-Asian American goes […]

= Gwamegi from Pohang as migaki nishin (dried herring) =

— Nishin soba (dried Pacific herring in soba) Due to natural abundance of lush seaweed creating a favorable habitat around the port city of Pohang on the east coast of Korea that protrudes slightly into the East Sea, Pacific herring fish were caught abundantly. Historical description from the 16th century describe preservation methods for long […]

= Mentaiko is not Japanese =

— Korean 명란젓 myeongnanjeot Korean myeongnanjeot comes from Japanese mentaiko? No, it is the other way around. Forgotten memories in both Japan and Korea have reversed the origins of this Korean delicacy. An episode of a Korean food show covering the topic of myeongnanjeot interviewed many young Koreans, asking about their knowledge of myeongnanjeot, salted […]

= The darkside of washoku: How Japan completely swiped rice seed stock from Korea =

 — Korean bapsang table in 1900 photograph Surprise, Koreans started to eat white rice thanks to the Japanese, only starting in the late 1960s?  The myth of washoku has a darkside unabsolved from Meiji and Hirohito Japan repressed legacies. The rice based aspect of the washoku myth was spawned from meticulously premeditated destruction of Korean culture by […]

= Korean banchan side dishes pronounced as Japanese =

— Korean galbi = Japanese “karubi” The existence of yakiniku represents the earlier suffering and struggles Koreans faced to survive in Japan. Korean-Americans chose to open sushi restaurants in the United States. Japanese got outraged “Korean-style BBQ” was on the menu, too, with sushi and so planned the sushi police task force in retaliation. But […]

= The tragic tale how Korean food was appropriated as Japanese food =

— Korean 해물파전 haemulpajeon “seafood scallion pancake” How much Korean food did the Japanese appropriate as Japanese food? There is a backstory of this author who wrote the comprehensive research article below. Somehow, he found out about how the Japanese were treating ethnic Koreans in the city of Osaka. Upset by the injustice by the Meiji […]