Korean Staples: some fun facts

I don't really know what Canadian/American staple foods are, to be honest. Potatoes? We eat it often enough I suppose. What do you eat most often? And how often do you eat it?

I'm Chinese Canadian, so the first thing that comes to my head is: rice. I eat it quite often, perhaps 4 or 5 times a week for dinner. The rest of the time I eat pasta, fajitas, burgers (priest?), pho, whatever floats my boat that night.

There are a few things that Koreans eat a lot too. Korean staples.
But unlike us (or, at least me), Koreans eat their staples A LOT. And by a lot I mean breakfast, lunch, AND dinner. Here they are:

1) Kimchi (of course).

Most of you know this, but Koreans eat a lot of kimchi. Kimchi is a fermented vegetable side dish. When you think kimchi you probably imagine something that resembles that picture, with the red pepper powder and napa cabbage. That's what I thought before I came here. But there are many kinds of kimchi.  First there is the type of vegetables (e.g. cucumber, cabbage, radish, etc.). Then there's the seasoning/brine. Next, theres the level of fermentation. This determines the saltiness/spiciness. And how watery is your kimchi? Some kimchi isn't red, isn't cabbage, and isn't spicy at all. In fact, this is kimchi too!

http://www.sempio.com/sempio/jimiwon/cookbook/Book_view.asp?cSeq=77&seq=386&search_CO=&search_ST=&search_NA=&search_DF=&search_CA=1&search_TI=&search_MS=&search_Tab=5

2) Rice

I have less to say about rice, except that Koreans eat it for breakfast too. How they don't get bored I will never know. At least they mix a different grain in for me every lunch time? Sometimes it's made into a porridge. 

3) Pizza

Haha! I kid. This is just what I'm eating as I write this. I'm such a teacher that I eat pizza from Pizza School! A whole pepperoni pizza for $4.50 CAD. No tax! I am definitely not Korean. I can't eat rice 3 meals a day. I need my pizza fix. 

3) For real this time, Rice cake (떡)

There are sweet 떡s and salty 떡s. Salty rice cakes aren't salty. I just call them that because they're usually in savoury dishes. The salty kind is quite common in meals as well as street food. I like these.

But here, I'm talking about the sweet dessert kind. It looks like this.

Really, truly, thats as photogenic as it gets. It is warm and has the consistency of Hubba Bubba bubblegum after it has been chewed for 10 minutes.  It is filled with beans. It is green and purple. It is the gift of choice for any celebration. You give it to all you friends/colleagues when  you have a baby, when you get promoted, when you join a company, etc. This 떡 says hello, nice to meet you, I hope we get along, thank you for all your help, I am so happy, amongst other things. I wish I liked this more. I get at least one a week. There are other types of sweet 떡 as well, and they look prettier, but are usually eaten during holidays. 

I hope the rice cakes and kimchi grows on me. I feel bad every time I waste it, and that's pretty much everyday!