This cute little restaurant called ‘밥’ (said ‘bap’, it means rice) was hidden in one of the alleyways opposite the National Folk Museum of Korea in Seoul. It is an old Korean house, with traditional low ceilings, sliding doors and floor seating, which was turned into a little eatery.
You leave your shoes at the door, duck through the entrance and sit down on the floor in front of the low tables. The menu is simple and consists of Kimchi Jikae (spicy kimchi soup), fish kimchi jikae (with small fish in the soup) and other very traditional Korean dishes (considered as ‘light lunches’). If you can’t read Korean, the menu on the wall might be difficult to decipher without any pictures available. As in any traditional Korean restaurant, a bowl of steamed rice and a range of side dishes (Banchan) are usually included.
We walked across the road from the museum, up the street where there are restaurants, coffee shops and the modern art museum. The ‘Bap’ restaurant is down one of the little alleyways opposite a Greek art gallery.
Today we went on a teacher’s outing to Gongju, with some of the Asan Board of Education public school teachers. It really was an interesting look into some of the ‘rural’ traditions and the cultural legacy that still lives on in South Korea.
Hunting for Chestnuts
The first task was a thorough chestnut collection, which was actually a lot more fun than it sounded on the itinerary. Chestnuts (밤 ‘bahm’) are traditionally eaten roasted, or peeled and frozen to be eaten raw.
Gongju Roasted Chestnuts
We were shown how to break open the spiky pod and extract the shiny brown chestnuts with tongs. Armed only with tongs and an orange net bag, we were led up the steep pathways and sides of hills to tackle the chestnut plantations.
Aside from minor injuries from chestnut pod spikes, the other exciting event of the morning was finding a small brown snake on the grassy bank (Google later revealed it was a ‘rat snake’ of some sort), which a brave Australian soul rescued from certain death, by flinging it as far into the bush as possible, away from the Korean tour guide.
We headed back with orange bags overflowing with chestnuts and enjoyed some roasted and frozen, raw chestnuts as a reward for our efforts.
Traditional Korean lunch
We then headed down the road to a traditional folk museum, restaurant and chestnut dyeing complex. It has been run by the same family for the last 200 years, who still live, farm and dye with chestnuts (no pun intended), in the same farming area in Gongju.
Treated to a traditional Korean lunch, we experienced lotus steamed rice (covered in lotus leaf, with
Gongju Folk Museum
herbs), an array of unique Banchan (side dishes) special to the Gongju region, makgeolli (rice wine) and mushroom water (like ice tea, but made from mushroom juices); all this served in the traditional low Korean tables, sitting on flat cushions on the wooden floor, with legs folded under us.
Since the restaurant and surrounds were all things chestnut, chestnuts appeared as an ingredient in the vast majority of the dishes served. Even the servers clothes and restaurant furnishings were dyed with chestnuts.
Traditional Folk Art Museum
The ‘chestnut’ family has also collected artifacts from the neighbouring farmers over many years, as well as the collection of dramatic art pieces used by the current owner’s father, who was a well-loved traditional Korean puppeteer in his spare time. It includes farm implements, cultural pieces, masks, paintings, shamanistic symbolism, farm life cooking tools and many other interesting things to see and experience.
Gongju Museum
My highlight was seeing an actual South Korean funeral carrier, a colourfully decorated box that traditionally holds the coffin and is carried to the burial mound by about 12 men. These days, it is rare to see one in use as, our host joked that, Koreans are now taller than in the past and so don’t fit in the carrier very well. The carrier at the museum was retired only a couple of years ago.
The next week at school, I was surprised and very privileged to see one of these coffin carriers actually in use, as a funeral procession passed the school and headed down the road; singing, clapping and mourning the loss of a 75-year old lady that had lived in this community.
Chestnut Dye
The last activity of the day was a handkerchief dyeing lesson. We were shown the crushed chestnut husks that are used to make the dye and different ways to tie-dye our handkerchiefs. We dipped it in the hot dye (hands and arms covered in rubber gloves) and took turns to “massage” the dye into the handkerchiefs in the pot. Then out into the cold solution that sets the colour. This process was repeated two or three times; ending with a cold water rinse and then handkerchiefs were hung out dry.
Mine was sadly unremarkable, as it was lost in the dye pot for a while and lost all its strings, but a few of the other teachers managed to produce some seriously impressive dye patterns.
Take a trip
If you are headed to Gongju, you can find more information about the museum and the area at this link. It’s a great day trip for those interested in learning a little more about traditional Korean life.
This year, Chuseok (추석) was celebrated on Thursday, 19 September 2013. Chuseok is a public holiday for all South Koreans (and, thankfully, all English teachers, too). It is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th Lunar month. The widely-followed tradition is to go back to one’s hometown to spend time with family and to visit ancestral graves. It is also referred to as “Korean thanksgiving” or “Autumn/Harvest Festival”.
Families come together to share some quality time, make traditional Korean food and honour the ancestors. There are worship rituals, visits to the graves, weeding of the grave area and offerings of harvest to the ancestors. Christians in South Korea, for the most part, still visit the graves and keep the area trimmed, but they do not worship the ancestors or engage in offering rituals.
The families eat traditional food and drink rice wine during this time. The most famous traditional food is songpyeon (송편). This is small rice cake with stuffing, which is steamed over pine needles (“song” 송 means pine). The stuffing ranges from sesame seeds, black beans, mung (yellow sprout) beans, cinnamon, pine nuts, walnuts, chestnuts, jujubes (Chinese dates), and honey. There are many folk tales around songpyeon and the significance revolves around the shape of the rice cake. One old wives’ tale says that, for the women of the family, if they make a well-shaped rice cake then they will have a very beautiful daughter.
Since it is one of the two big holidays, the other being the Korean Lunar New Year, it is inevitable that travelling during this time is both busier and considerably more expensive. Flights to Korea’s Jeju island and also out of the country, are sold out months in advance, at premium prices. Roads are heavily congested and local resorts, pensions and inns are usually fully booked.
With the weather at this time of year being almost perfect, it’s no wonder that Chuseok is such a popular holiday. “High sky”, only occasional rain, cooler but comfortable temperatures and beautiful landscapes transforming under autumn colours. It’s perfect weather for hiking, camping, outdoor activity, picnics or spas.
Today we went on a teacher’s outing to Gongju, with some of the Asan Board of Education public school teachers. It really was an interesting look into some of the ‘rural’ traditions and the cultural legacy that still lives on in South Korea.
