Pibimbap Mixes a Bit of Many Delicious Flavors
By Kim Tae-jong Staff Reporter


A dish of stone pot pibimbap at Hankookkwan near Chonbuk National University in Kosa-dong, Chonju /Korea Times Photo by Kim Tae-jong
This reporter went down to Chonju, North Cholla Province last weekend for the 7th Jeonju International Film Festival, which ends its nine-day run on Friday.
Of course, the first mission there was to cover the festival, but it was also a good opportunity to sample some of the delicious authentic dishes that the city is famous for.

Chonju has long been associated with a variety of dishes as the region’s fertile soil produces healthy crops of oak mushrooms, mung-bean sprouts, sweet potato sprouts, green squash slices and other wild vegetables.

Among various menus, pibimbap would be one of the most representative dishes in Chonju. The dish is a mixture of rice and various fresh and pickled vegetables.

As ``pibim'' means mixing and ``bap’’ means rice in Korean, there are numerous styles of pibimbap depending on what kinds of ingredients you put in your bowl.

It is said that there are three origins of pibimbap in Korean culture. It was served for royal families, enjoyed by farmers and offered during the ritual for dead ancestors.

As the mixture of various vegetables with rice is healthy, the dish was offered on the table of the royal courts. For farmers, the dish was quick and easy to prepare as all you need to do is just put various ingredients in a big bowl. And in an ancestral ritual called ``chaesa,’’ many side dishes must be prepared, so in order to avoid waste, families usually made pibimbap by mixing all of the dishes together.

Many restaurants throughout the nation now serve various kinds of pibimbap, which are somehow different from each other depending on their ingredients.




But what makes Chonju pibimbap so special is its bean sprouts and kochujang, or hot pepper paste, two of the most critical ingredients in pibimbap. These two vital ingredients maintain their top quality thanks to the region’s clean environment.
In Chonju, there are many restaurants famous for pibimbap, but this reporter experienced the dish at Hankookkwan near Chonbuk National University in Kosa-dong, which was opened in 1971.

A small variety of dishes are available at the restaurant, however most customers come for the pibimbap. The restaurant’s famous pibimbap recipe has been handed down for generations.

The rice is cooked with soy bean sprouts and beef stock to give it extra flavor. Walnuts, pine nuts, jujube, chestnuts, and ginkgo nuts add a unique taste, as well.

But its special ingredient is sliced raw beef, which can be cooked upon request. Raw beef pibimbap will cost you 10,000 won but it’s pibimbap like you’ve never had before. If the seasoned raw or cooked beef isn’t your thing, the restaurant’s stone pot pibimbap is a good alternative for 7,000 won.

All entrees come with six side dishes, which servers continuously refill without having to be asked.

e3dward@koreatimes.co.kr