2013년 6월 13일 목요일

[Enjoy Food] SINPO market famous food 5-colored mandu(dumpling)



SINPO market famous food 
5-colored mandu(dumpling)



When it comes to mandu, Sinpo Market is the perfect place. Your pre-conceived idea that mandu tastes pretty much the same everywhere is dead wrong in Sinpo Market. All kinds of Korean mandu are there and each restaurant offers unique types of mandu. It is told that all mandu products in the country are simply products from modifying on Sinpo's.


 
 


red bean mandu and vegitable mandu
 
 
 

Most people want hot dishes like mandu particularly on a windy day. Glancing at mandu just taken out of hot pot through smoky steam will make your mouth water.

Among various types of Sinpo mandu, kimchi mandu is frequently recommended. The filling ingredients are mainly a combination of finely chopped Kimchi and grinded meat. The well-fermented Kimchi gives sourish flavor to this mandu, which spices up the taste.




5-colored mandu
(white, red, yellow, green, brown)
 


 



Beautiful 5-color mandu is made by dyeing with natural colors, so it is harmless to human health. Because there are five different colored mandus, kids enjoy the privilege of having choices.
 
 
 
Tip.
The filling inside
mandu is salted enough that you do not need to dip it in the soy sauce. Yet, if you are worried about fat content, dipping mandu in soysauce with vinegar is recommended since it lowers caloric intake. Also, mandu dipped in soy sauce with red pepper will give you the taste of bliss when you tour to Korea.


 
 
the taste and style of life,
the depth of a traditional market
agency for traditional administration.

2013년 6월 12일 수요일

[TalkTalk Market] Sinpo Market in Incheon

[Talk Talk Market]
Sinpo Market in Incheon


 




 



Sinpo Market is a permanent market located in Incheon, the first Korean port city to open to foreign lands in the modern era. The market was formed spontaneously as new culture and products came into the country from Japan, Qing (present-day China), U.S. and Russia following the opening of the local Jemulpohang Port in 1883. In 1895, a fish market was opened for the first time, and around the same time, Chinese farmers entered the country to sell produce such as cabbages, radishes, onions, tomatoes, and carrots. Once the center of Incheon, the market has now turned into a historical place. For more than 110 years, the market has been such an important cultural and economic center that there was even a saying that “whatever one cannot find in Sinpo Market will not be found anywhere else in Korea.”



 


The first thing that comes to mind when it
 
comes tSinpo Market is dakgangjeong (fried chicken pieces coated in a sweet-and-sour sauce). The entrance to the market is lined with the best dakgangjeong stores in the country, with people waiting in long queues to get their hands on the fried chicken. Other good eats are the vegetable sundae (Korean sausage), five-colored and steamed dumplings, gukwappang (flower-shaped pastry with a red bean filling), meat dumplings, gonggalppang (crispy bread that is empty inside), and seasoned pork skin, all of which draw in visitors for a tour of the market.
 
 
 
Major shopping items
Dakgangjeong, five-colored dumplings, gonggalppang

Nearby attractions
Jayu Park, Incheon China Town, Dapdong Catholic Church, The Museum of Korea Emigration History

Transportation
Get off at Dong Incheon station on Subway Line 1 and walk about 10 minutes through the underground shopping center until you reach the market.
The trip on the express subway to Dong Incheon is much shorter.
 
 
 
 
 
the taste and style of life,
the depth of a traditional market
agency for traditional administration.
 
 

2013년 6월 9일 일요일

[Enjoy KOREA] Traditional markets epitomize Korean culture

Traditional markets epitomize Korean culture


Traditional markets in Korea have increasingly become an invaluable tool to bolster the tourism industry.

More tour programs for foreign travelers include a traditional market on their itinerary in an attempt to allow them a glimpse of unedited Korean culture and typical daily life.

The government and merchants have taken advantage of the change in getting rid of long-standings at many traditional markets that were once littered with trash and discredited for the sale of fresh produce kept in unsanitary conditions at unfixed prices.

Behind the achievement is the Agency for Traditional Market Administration (ATMA). It was established in 2005 under the support of Small and Medium Business Administration and is committed to reinvigorating traditional markets and transform them into a tourism magnet projecting the “spirit of traditional Korean culture,” according to a release.

Jung Suk-
youn, director-general of ATMA, said his organization is responsible for establishing an environment where visiting traditional markets becomes a core part of inbound tourism.

“Markets are not a place where people just sell and buy products. It’s a place where the various faces of Korean society coexist,” Jung told The Korea Times at his office in downtown Seoul, Monday. “The core reason for travelling is to see and experience a different culture. I believe no other places are better than traditional market to see real face of the country.”

ATMA will host a variety of events at traditional markets in Seoul,
Busan, and Sokcho for foreign residents and those in Korea on vacation ahead of the Chuseok holiday (the traditional harvest festival), which falls on Sept. 30.

Participants will take a market tour and with the help of Korean advisors buy ingredients for a cooking class to make traditional Korean food eaten during the
Chuseok celebration. Other special activities will include learning how to perform “charye” (an ancestral ritual), a traditional “samulnori” Korean percussion performance, and shop with discount coupons offered by the agency.

“This is a proactive campaign to lure foreign travelers (to markets) and promote our culture,” Jung said. “We still have long way to go. But I’m certain that this small step will create more and more followers and they will eventually make a big stride in improving the value of markets as a tourism asset.”

On top of this, the agency runs a website (www.sijang.or.kr) that contains in-depth information about Korean traditional market. The website is available in English, Chinese and Japanese. In addition, it provides information on the specialties of each market and things to see and do around each one to fuel foreigners’ interest.

“The accessibility of traditional markets was indeed low despite their high value in the aspect of cultural tourism and keen interest of foreigners due to the language barrier,” Jung said. "The website will help foreign tourists take one step closer to traditional markets, and we will continuously upgrade its content that can promote the charm of traditional Korean markets.”

The agency has recently turned to social networking services to promote the nation’s traditional markets worldwide by starting a Facebook page. It also has a smartphone app, available for download via the website.

The Korea Tourism Organization recently joined forces with ATMA by publishing a traditional market guidebook for Chinese tourists in the latest in a series of efforts to revitalize visits to traditional markets in Seoul.

It focuses on the
Gwangjang, Tongin and Gongdeok markets and suggests interesting experiences available there through a format based on SBS TV’s famous show “Running Man.” The book consists of different missions that can be completed by visiting food vendors or different stalls.

ATMA is also held responsible for improving the basic hygiene of markets and merchants. It has hosted a “college for merchants,” in which professionals educate vendors about customer services that have exclusively been available in department stores and discount malls.

“Merchants’ ignorance of customer services has led to a declining popularity of traditional markets,” Jung said. “Many merchants and mom-and-pop store owners are still trapped in the obsolete belief that people will buy products regardless of customer services. But that’s not the case anymore with supply to markets exceeding demand. It’s time for vendors to realize the situation facing them and become self-motivated to change.”