KOREA

September 2022
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Underground Dining

Mining Gave Rise to a Cuisine All Its Own

WRITTEN BY
Seong Hye-kyeong

Illustrated by
Cho Kyungkyu

Every group is bound to have its own unique food. Coal mining communities were no exception. Let¡¯s learn what dishes miners and their families enjoyed.

1

Basic is Best
Dosirak (Lunch Box)

How did miners manage to take their meals into the deep, dark underground? The food that kept people going was the dosirak. Nowadays, dosirak are distributed by coal mining companies, but in the past, miners had to go to work with dosirak packed at home.

Perhaps because food played such a big part in the miner¡¯s day, there were several taboos related to dosirak.

Firstly, when packing the dosirak, they mustn¡¯t take four cups of rice. Only three or five. There¡¯s a taboo about the number four, which sounds the same as the Chinese character word for ¡°death.¡± The dosirak has to be wrapped in blue or red, too, because blue symbolizes life and hope, while red symbolizes the power that protects against evil spirits.

2

Double the Flavor
Hanwoo Yeontangui (Briquette-grilled Korean Beef)

Hanwoo yeontangui is a method of cooking hanwoo from Taebaek with briquettes produced in Taebaek. Hanwoo, green onions, kimchi, garlic, cube radish kimchi and other items are served on a steel round table. The table setting is a bit simple, but when you start grilling hanwoo on briquettes, it¡¯s a game changer. Hanwoo is renowned for its excellent taste, but when it is grilled on briquettes, it doubles the flavor. Briquettes keep the flame long lasting and consistent, so cooking the meat with briquettes will keep the meat juicy and perfectly cooked.

3

Miner-style Samgyeopsal
Samgyeopsal Dolgui (Stone-grilled Pork Belly)

Miners have long loved pork because they believed pork fat, especially from samgyeopsal, would wash away the coal dust that built up in their throats as they worked all day. Residents of Gangwon-do Province¡¯s coal mining villages enjoyed eating pork belly grilled on stones. During the summer vacation season, most of the wide, flat stones in the province¡¯s valleys were blackened by fire. Gangwon-do Province miners used to greet one another by saying, ¡°Let¡¯s have samgyeopsal dolgui sometime soon,¡± so you can imagine how sincere their love for samgyeopsal dolgui was.

4

Delicious Souvenirs
Yeontanbbang (Briquette-shaped Bread)

When Koreans think of briquettes, Gangwon-do Province is the first place that comes to mind. This is because there are many coal mines in Gangwon-do Province. Briquette-shaped breads sold at one cafe in Gangneung City have become an essential souvenir for travelers visiting Gangwon-do Province. You can choose from several flavors: quattro cheese, cream cheese, chocolate marble, milk cream and more. However, all look identical to briquettes, complete with the holes in the top.

5

A Dessert Embracing the Mine
Cement Ice Cream

You can find a very special dessert at Mureung Byeolyucheonji, which used to be a limestone mine. It is a cup of soft ice cream made with black sesame seeds, called ¡°Cement Ice Cream.¡± Despite looking like an ordinary dessert, this dessert contains the history and story of the mine, because the limestones mined here were utilized to make cement. Paper cups with a retro vibe, black soft ice cream resembling cement, and the finishing stroke of toasted marshmallows and shovel-shaped spoons on top became a must-have item for visitors to Byeolyucheonji.

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