Korean BBQ

Honestly, who can resist Korean barbecue, the sizzling of the meat grilling on the table is almost music to people’s ears. Not many people can resist the sweet, spicy, and salty flavors of the marinated meat. Of course, others might love the thin slices of the non-marinated meat dishes. Korean barbecue often consists of thin slices of beef, pork, and chicken. Along with the meat, it comes along with lettuce leaves that you wrap the meat in with a spicy scallion salad and a spicy paste called ssamjang to make a “Korean burrito”, and small plates of side dishes known as banchan. Korean BBQ is mostly served family style so it is always fun to go in a big group. Korean barbecue is currently growing popularity and is often enjoyed by not just among Korean consumers, but internationally.

Why am I writing about Korean BBQ? In my family, we go out to eat Korean BBQ usually on special occasions, such as birthdays or when all of our family from Spokane comes to visit. The thought of Korean barbecue excites my family especially since we have big eaters and we usually go to a buffet style restaurant that has tons of choices that ranges from marinated to non-marinated beef, chicken, pork, and seafood. It is the type of food that brings the family together and it is something we like to share. To me, it brings a lot of memories of my family and friends eating together to celebrate some special event such as a birthday, graduating from high school, going away to college, or simply to have a farewell dinner. Just recently, in the past 2 weeks, I had had Korean barbecue with my friends twice, once to celebrate all of our birthdays together since one of our friend was leaving for school to the east coast, and the other with a different group of friends because we haven't seen each other for a long time. The third time was actually tonight to celebrate my mom's birthday!

Overall, Korean barbecue, to me, is the type of food that just brings everyone together. Most importantly, it creates and deepens the social connection I have with my family and friends.