<B>『K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors: Part 1, The Special Flavors of Korea』</B><br/>Prologue<br/>The Five Secrets Behind the Taste of Korea<br/>Bland; Wrapping and Mixing; Pickling and Fermenting; Digging, Picking and Plucking; Simmering, Boiling and Steaming.<br/>Korea’s Specialty Dishes<br/>Royal Cuisine, Gourmet Food for Royals<br/>Three Women of Korean Royal Cuisine<br/>The Cuisine Coexisting with Royal Court Food: The Food of Seoul’s Nobility<br/>The Prestigious Heritage of Jongga Food<br/>Understanding Jerye Food<br/>Heritage Foods of Korea’s Renowned Jongga<br/>Temple Food, the Taste of Enlightenment<br/>Why Eating Temple Food is the Key to a Long Life<br/>Praying for Health, Prosperity and Happiness: The Food of Korean Holidays<br/>Food and Rites of Passage<br/>Korean Food Basics<br/>Foods Contemporary Koreans Like to Eat<br/>Korean Condiments: Not Just a Seasoning but also a Medicine<br/>Gomyeong: A Picture Drawn in a Dish<br/>Deep Cuts: Korean Cooking Knives<br/>Cooking Utensils for Korean Dishes<br/>Artless Art, Kitchenware for Korean Food<br/>The Feudal Ethics and Democratic Principles Contained in Korean Tables<br/>Soban: The Mobile Dining Table for One<br/>The Dining Tables of the Koreans<br/>Dining with Guests<br/>Daily Dining for Families<br/>A Farmer’s Lunch Table<br/>A Senior’s Birthday Dinner<br/>Making Picnic Lunches for Families with Children<br/>A Solo Diner’s Simple Dinner<br/>A Weekend Meal for Three Generations<br/>A Vegetarian’s Dinner<br/>The Dining Table of a Long-Term Expat<br/>A Korean Chef’s Formal Dinner<br/>Appendix<br/>What’s Inside Koreans’ Cupboards<br/>Jongga Food in the Supermarket<br/>Where to Experience Authentic Korean Food<br/><br/><B>『K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors: Part 2, Bland, Wrapping, Mixing』</B><br/>Prologue<br/>Bland Wrapping and Mixing<br/>The Fusion Culture Created by Rice<br/>Bland<br/>The Korean Way of Dining<br/>Why Have Koreans Made Rice Their Staple Food?<br/>Future of the 0.001%: Korea’s Native Rice<br/>An Introduction to Korea’s Most Prominent Native Rice Cultivars<br/>Comparing the Tastes of Korean Rice Cultivars<br/>The Infinite Transformations of Ssal and Bap in the Korean Language<br/>Tools to Make Rice: From Cast-Iron Cauldrons to Pressure Cookers<br/>Secrets of Instant Rice<br/>Why Did Koreans Drink Sungnyung After Meals?<br/>Juk: A Food That Came Before Cooked Rice<br/>Wrapping Everything<br/>Korean Ssambap: Fortune and Health in a Wrap<br/>How Quick Meals in the Fields Became Ssambap<br/>Common Wrapping Leaves in Korea<br/>Gujeolpan: Ssam, Elevated<br/>What’s in a Royal Lettuce Ssam?<br/>When Did Koreans Start Eating Gimbap?<br/>Korea’s Mandu vs. China’s Dumplings<br/>The Secrets of Frozen Mandu<br/>Mixing Cooked Rice<br/>Bibimbap: A Commonwealth of Flavors<br/>Haeju Bibimbap<br/>Jinju Bibimbap<br/>Tongyeong Bibimbap<br/>Andong Bibimbap<br/>Jeonju Bibimbap<br/>Sesame Oil and Perilla Oil: The Finishing Touches of Korean Dishes<br/>Korea’s Top Bibimbap Restaurants<br/>Everyday Korean Dishes Made by Mixing and Wrapping<br/><br/><B>『K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors: Part 3, Pickling, Fermenting』</B><br/>Prologue<br/>Pickling and Fermenting<br/>Korean Fermentation Culture: Born from Scarcity<br/>Making Jang<br/>The Secret Behind the Taste of Ganjang and Doenjang<br/>The Basis of Korean Food’s Complex Flavors: Doenjang and Ganjang<br/>Blessed Are the Homes with Meju Hanging from the Eaves on the Jang-Making Day<br/>The Secret Behind the Taste of Gochujang<br/>Gochujang, Korean Soul Food<br/>The Fermented Beans of Korea, Japan, and China<br/>Best Korean Jang, Winners of the Good Fermented Food Awards<br/>Korean Jang-Based Sauce Products<br/>Beans in Korean Proverbs<br/>Salt, the Hero in the Story of Fermentation<br/>The Natural History of Sea Salt<br/>Salt Products Available in Korea<br/>Making Kimchi<br/>The Secret Behind the Taste of Kimchi<br/>Why is Kimchi Special to Koreans?<br/>Is Kimchi Really a Superfood?<br/>Gimjang: Making “Half-Year Food”<br/>Without Onggi, Fermentation Does Not Occur<br/>Jangdokdae: A Family’s Altar<br/>Why Were Geumjul Wrapped Around Crocks?<br/>The Invention of the Kimchi Refrigerator<br/>The Korean Love of Jeotgal<br/>In Praise of Jangajji<br/>Fermenting Alcohol<br/>Korea’s Fermented Alcohols Have Good Roots<br/>Tasteful Drinks and Entertainment in Old Paintings<br/>Drink Makgeolli if You Want to Understand Koreans<br/>Malgeolli’s Transformation<br/>Regional Signature Fermented Wine<br/>Everyday Korean Food Made by Pickling and Fermenting<br/><br/><B>『K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors: Part 4, Pickling, Digging, Plucking』</B><br/>Prologue<br/>Picking, Digging and Plucking<br/>Descendants of Gatherers: The Dietary Lives of the Koreans<br/>Picking Greens<br/>Namul Nation<br/>Korea’s Favorite Namul (Greens)<br/>Folk Songs about Gathering Namul<br/>Koreans Are Sweet on Bitter Tastes<br/>Year-Old Namul on the First Full Moon<br/>Koreans and Kongnamul<br/>Ready-Made Seasonings for Convenient Cooking<br/>Ready-Made Namul Seasoning Products<br/>Magical Mushrooms<br/>Korean Mushrooms<br/>A Baguni on Every Arm<br/>Digging Up Roots<br/>Deep-Rooted Root Vegetables<br/>Root Vegetables in Korean Cuisine<br/>The Place of Root Vegetables in Holiday Foods<br/>Homi, the Tool of the Korean Woman<br/>Plucking Fruits<br/>Tree Nuts and Fruits in the Lives of Koreans<br/>For Celebration and Remembrance: Jujubes, Chestnuts, Persimmons and Pine Nuts<br/>Making Jelly out of Grain<br/>Gathering Seaweed<br/>A Watery Harvest<br/>Marine Plants on the Korean Table<br/>Varieties of Gim (Laver)<br/>Seaweed, Koreans’ Lifelong Companion<br/>Everyday Korean Food Made by Digging, Picking and Plucking<br/><br/><B>『K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors: Part 5, Simmering, Boiling, Steaming』</B><br/>Prologue<br/>Simmering, Boiling and Steaming<br/>Korea: A Nation of Broth<br/>Simmering Soup<br/>A Nation of Broth: Guk, Tang, Jjigae and Jeongol<br/>Soup Dishes of the Royal Court<br/>Guk: From the Cradle to the Grave<br/>The Hidden Science of a Rich Broth<br/>Ingredients for Making Broth<br/>Boiled, Brewed and Stewed: Gomtang and Seolleongtang<br/>The Old Gukbap Restaurants of Seoul<br/>Korea: The Nation of Spoons and Chopsticks<br/>Simmered Down: Yeot, Jocheong and Go<br/>The Story Behind Sot<br/>Boiling Noodles<br/>Noodles, Broth, and the Koreans<br/>Regional Noodle Dishes of Korea<br/>Naengmyeon: A Mysterious, Indescribable Dish<br/>In Search of Ramyeon (Instant Noodles)<br/>A Timeline of Korean Ramyeon<br/>Steaming Rice Cakes and Dishes<br/>Seon and Jjim: The Slowest of Slow Foods<br/>A Humanistic Approach to Tteok<br/>The Beauty of Royal Rice Cake<br/>Popular Tteok (Rice Cake) of Today<br/>Tteoksal: Carved Out of Life Itself<br/>Tteokbokki, a Nation’s Favorite<br/>Everyday Korean Dishes Made by Simmering, Boiling and Steaming

K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors: Part 1, The Special Flavors of Korea
This is a general overview that outlines Korean food with the codes of 'flavorlessness ', 'fusion', 'fermentation', 'gathering,' and 'moist-heat.' In addition, we explored the special tastes of Korea, such as royal cuisine, Jongga food, Banga (nobleman house) food, temple food, seasonal holiday food, and rite of passage ceremonial food. It also contains basic information on ingredients that Koreans enjoy these days, Korean seasoning and garnish, Korean cooking tools, Korean dishes, such as white porcelain, brassware, Onggi, Korean ethnic earthenware, and woodenware, etc., and dining table and soban (a small portable dining table).

K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors: Part 2, Bland, Wrapping, Mixing
The basic composition of Korean food is rice, to the extent that all food except rice is considered a side dish to accompany rice. The bland and mild rice differentiates the taste of all kinds of side dishes and fuses them simultaneously. We explored the secrets of fusion culture, such as 'ssambap' and 'gimbap,' where you put together all kinds of ingredients and put them in your mouth, and 'bibimbap,' which is eaten by mixing various ingredients. It also includes recipes of everyday dishes that are eaten wrapped and mixed.

K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors: Part 3, Pickling, Fermenting
Like kimchi and sauces, the characteristic of Korean food is the taste of fermented food, neither raw nor cooked. We looked at ingredients for making soybean paste, soy sauce, red pepper paste, kimchi, fermented liquor, etc., and explored tools necessary for fermentation, such as earthenware and jangdokdae, a platform for traditional earthen jars. It also includes recipes for fermented foods that Koreans enjoy in their daily life.

K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors: Part 4, Pickling, Digging, Plucking
Koreans dig up, pick, and pluck almost all parts of plants, like mountain herbs, wild vegetables, and garden vegetables, to make them a meal. The culture of enjoying marine plants such as seaweed and laver, and the culture of collecting and enjoying root plants and tree fruits are also old traditions. It examines the gathering culture of Koreans, which can be called the 'namul nation,' and includes everyday recipes.

K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors: Part 5, Simmering, Boiling, Steaming
One of the most important codes for interpreting Korean food is the "wet culture," a mixed system of eating solid ingredients and broth together. Soup food represented by broth, such as soup, stew, and hotpot, and noodles, such as noodle soup and ramen, and foods that steam for a long time, such as rice cake and steamed foods were examined.

<B>Five Codes to Examine Korean Food: ‘Flavorlessness,’ ‘Fusion,’ ‘Fermentation,’ ‘Gathering,’ and ‘Moist-Heat’</B><br/><br/>『K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors』 is the result of an effort to examine the spirit and substance, and the past and the present, that has taken root in the Korean table, with a dense and bold eye. Above all, this book looks at Korean food in terms of cultural codes such, as 'flavorlessness,' 'fusion,' 'fermentation,' 'gathering,' and 'moist-heat' instead of traditional standards, such as 'season' and 'ingredients.' Korean food begins with a bland and mild ‘tasteless’ rice, and that rice is wrapped up in a ssam or mixed with meat and vegetable ingredients, sesame oil, and red pepper paste for ‘fusion’ properties, which are the first and second codes. While the Western cooking code consists of the confrontation between cooked and raw, and meat diet and vegetarianism, the third code examines the taste of fermented Korean food, that is, Korean food through ‘fermentation.’ The fourth code, ‘namul culture,’ looks into Korean food through the tradition of the ‘gathering era’ of digging for namul (greens), picking tree fruits, and plucking marine plants. The fifth code, ‘wet culture’, focuses on foods that are always included in Koreans' meals. They are broth-based foods such as soup, tang, stew, and hot pot, foods that need to be simmered, such as yeot (Korean taffy), grain syrup, and syrup, and foods cooked with steam, such as rice cakes and other steamed foods. Former Minister of Culture Lee O-young, “Korea’s best scholar,” took on the task of coding through this insight into the spirit and matter, and the past and the present of Korean food. Han Bokryeo, the director of the Institute of Korean Royal Cuisine, Chung Haekyung, Professor in the Department of Food and Nutrition at Hoseo University, Park Chaelin, Ph.D. at the World Institute of Kimchi, and Cha Gyunghee, Professor of Korean Cuisine at Jeonju University, were responsible for the task of specifying and presenting the code in detail across each volume.<br/><br/>The two-year-long journey bundled into five volumes originated from the idea that food, especially Korean food, is not just a material substance that fills the stomach but somewhat of a 'media' with strong communication powers. This is the result of a comprehensive examination from the roots of Korean food such as royal cuisine, temple food, and Jongga food, to the scenery of the dining table where Koreans live in 2021, and from the source of ingredients to producers, from representative local foods to popular products on the market. <br/><br/>Korean food, which is prepared by mixing, fermenting, seasoning, and boiling, harmonizes with the principles of circulation and paradox. They do not ‘exclude’ but ‘include,’ and embrace and harmonize with each other. It not only adheres to the memories of the past or the taste of tradition, but also fuses and develops with the present taste and foreign culture, and as this book struggled to find this, it would be very reasonable to name this book ‘K-food,’ like ‘K-pop,’ ‘K-drama,’ and ‘K-beauty.’<br/><br/><B>A cookbook co-created by the ‘Korean Food Avengers’</B><br/><br/>『K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors』 consists of the ‘Food Humanities’ section at the beginning of each book which unravels Korean food by code. At the back of each volume, according to the code, there are ‘everyday Korean recipes’ that Koreans enjoy these days. A total of 158 recipes were recorded in detail, from the selection of ingredients to recipes: 33 everyday Korean food made by wrapping and mixing, 54 recipes of everyday Korean food made by pickling and fermenting, 36 recipes of everyday Korean food prepared by digging, pickling and plucking, and 35 recipes of everyday Korean food made by boiling, simmering and steaming. Korean food chef Cho Heesuk (2 volumes), Lee Hayeon (3 volumes), the Kimchi Association of Korea’s president and Food Master designated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (3 volumes), Korean food chef Roh Younghee (4 volumes), and Han Bokryeo (5 volumes), a master of royal cuisine of the Joseon Dynasty, participated in this work. It can be said that it is a work in which the ‘Korean Avengers’ participated. As a result, Korean recipes that started from the authenticity that captured the present and daily life were completed. This cookbook, 『K FOOD: Secrets of Korean Flavors』 has the attitude of seeking truth from facts.