Over the past few years, Korean food has grown in popularity across the United States. Korean barbecue and Korean fried chicken, once relatively unfamiliar to many Americans, can now be abundantly found in cities across the country. Philadelphia is no exception.
While Korean barbecue and fried chicken may be the most recognizable, they represent only a small part of Korean cuisine. Philadelphia needs not only more Korean restaurants, but more variety in the types of Korean restaurants it has.
Having eaten Korean barbecue in Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York City, Los Angeles, Irvine, and San Francisco, I have found that one of the best parts is the experience itself. Everyone gathers around the same grill, cooking samgyeopsal (pork belly) or galbi (short ribs), dividing up the meat, and talking while the next batch cooks.
It is almost like sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows, except you are grilling meat instead. The cooking itself becomes an activity. Everyone cooks together, eats together, and shares the same food.
Sharing food isn’t unique to barbecue, either. A typical Korean meal has several dishes in the middle of the table for everyone to share. Kimchi-jjigae (kimchi stew) or doenjang-jjigae (soybean paste stew), for example, can be eaten alongside rice and several other dishes.
For me, this has always been one of the most important parts of Korean food. At home, Korean food brings my family around the same table. Everyone has their own rice, but most of the food is shared rather than eaten as separate meals.
Interestingly, this has started to change in Korea itself. As eating alone has become more common, one-person Korean barbecue restaurants have started to open. The fact that solo barbecue developed into its own restaurant concept shows just how social Korean barbecue has traditionally been.
Beyond the social aspect, Korean food also has much more variety than barbecue might suggest.
One of the best examples is banchan (Korean side dishes). At some Korean restaurants I have visited, close to a dozen different banchan have been served at the table. These can include baechu-kimchi (napa cabbage kimchi), kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi), kongnamul-muchim (seasoned soybean sprouts), sigeumchi-namul (seasoned spinach), oi-muchim (seasoned cucumber), eomuk-bokkeum (stir-fried fish cake), and gamja-jorim (braised potatoes).
Together, these dishes make Korean meals much more varied than the meat-heavy image that Korean barbecue can sometimes give.
Even kimchi has far more variety than many people realize. The kimchi most Americans recognize is probably the version made with gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes), but there are many other ways it can be prepared. Mul-kimchi (water kimchi), for example, can be made with the same cabbage, just without gochugaru.
Together, these dishes make Korean meals much more varied than the meat-heavy image that Korean barbecue can sometimes give. Vegetables, beans, seaweed, fermented foods, rice, soup, and meat or fish can all end up on the same table.
The different dishes also work with one another. Samgyeopsal (pork belly) can be eaten with kimchi or wrapped in ssam (leafy vegetable wraps), while acidic or fermented banchan helps cut through the richness of the meat. Hot barbecue is also commonly paired with naengmyeon. One dish helps balance another.
Yet this is still only one type of Korean meal.
Korean cuisine also includes dishes like sundubu-jjigae (soft tofu stew), seolleongtang (ox-bone soup), galbi-jjim (braised short ribs), kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup), and gimbap (rice and fillings rolled in seaweed), among many others.
This is where Philadelphia has the opportunity to expand. Korean restaurants do not just serve one type of food, and even Korean barbecue restaurants can have large menus that go well beyond the grill. Having more diverse Korean restaurants would bring more menus, dishes, and styles of Korean food to the area, giving people more opportunities to try parts of the cuisine they may not otherwise know about.
Korean food is also not limited to traditional dishes. It is constantly changing, especially through its street food. Dishes such as tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), gilgeori-toast (Korean street toast), and gamja-hotdog (potato-coated Korean corn dog) show how Korean street food takes different ideas and influences from around the world and makes something new out of them.
Philadelphia already has some Korean restaurants, and I would certainly not complain about getting more Korean barbecue. But for a city with such a diverse food scene, there should be more opportunities to experience more of what Korean cuisine has to offer.
Korean barbecue has helped introduce Korean food to a much larger audience. Now Philadelphia should look beyond the grill.