Bibimbap * ( , from

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

, literally "mixed rice"), sometimes

romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

as bi bim bap or bi bim bop, is a Korean rice dish. The term "bibim" means "mixing" and "

bap BAP or bap may refer to: Food * Bap (bread), a type of bread roll * Bap (rice dish), a Korean food Music * BAP (Basque band), a hardcore punk group (formed 1984) * BAP (German band), a Colognian rock group (formed 1976) * B.A.P (South Korean ban ...

" refers to

cooked rice Cooked rice refers to rice that has been cooked either by steaming or boiling. The terms steamed rice or boiled rice are also commonly used. Any variant of Asian rice (both Indica and Japonica varieties), African rice or wild rice, glutinous ...

. ''Bibimbap'' is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with ''

namul Namul ( ko, 나물) refers to either a variety of edible grass or leaves or seasoned herbal dishes made of them. Wild greens are called ''san-namul'' (, "mountain namul"), and spring vegetables are called ''bom-namul'' (, "spring namul"). On t ...

'' (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) or

kimchi ''Kimchi'' (; ko, 김치, gimchi, ), is a traditional Korean side dish of salted and fermented vegetables, such as napa cabbage and Korean radish. A wide selection of seasonings are used, including ''gochugaru'' (Korean chili powder), sprin ...

(traditional fermented vegetables) and ''

gochujang ''Gochujang'' (, from Korean: , ) or red chili paste * is a savory, sweet, and spicy fermented condiment popular in Korean cooking. It is made from gochu-garu (chili powder), glutinous rice, ''meju'' (fermented soybean) powder, ''yeotgireum'' ...

'' (

chili pepper Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...

paste), soy sauce, or ''

doenjang ''Doenjang'' * (; "thick sauce") or soybean paste is a type of fermented bean paste made entirely of soybean and brine. It is also a byproduct of soup soy sauce production. It is sometimes used as a relish. History The earliest soybean fe ...

'' (a fermented soybean paste). A raw or fried

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

and sliced

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

(usually

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...

) are common additions. The hot dish is stirred together thoroughly just before eating. In South Korea,

Jeonju Jeonju () is the 16th largest city in South Korea and the capital of North Jeolla Province. It is both urban and rural due to the closeness of Wanju County which almost entirely surrounds Jeonju (Wanju County has many residents who work in Jeonju) ...

Jinju Jinju () is a city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It was the location of the first (1592) and second (1593) Sieges of Jinju by Japanese forces during the Imjin War. The Republic of Korea Air Force Education and Training Command is ...

, and

Tongyeong Tongyeong () is a coastal city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. In 2010, it had an area of and a population of 139,869 people. It is divided into 1 eup (town), 6 myeon (township) and 11 dong (neighborhood). Chungmu city and Tongyeong cou ...

are especially famous for their versions of bibimbap. In 2011, the dish was listed at number 40 on the ''World's 50 most delicious foods'' readers' poll compiled by CNN Travel. Homemade bibimbap

Name origins

The origin of the many names of bibimbap come from Korea's

hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

based records, originally appearing in ''Yokjokumun'' () of ''Kijae-jabki'' () by Park Dong-ryang () in the end of 16th century (around 1590). This record associated the original bibimbap as "''hondonban'' ()" This later went on to become ''bubuiembap'' () nearly 200 years after the hanja record, and was documented in a Hangul record. The hanja dictionary () indeed contained "''bubuida'' ()" or "''bubuiem'' (), ''Dong'' ()" in hanja, which meant "mix" or "" in Korean. In the late 19th century the two names were recorded for the recipe being () and (), with the recipe being written in pure Korean. Other various recordings after this include (in Hanja) (, ), (), and () and also (); then in Hangeul, (), (), (), (), (), and ().

History

The exact origin of bibimbap () is unknown. People could have started mixing

(rice) with

banchan ''Banchan'' (, from Korean: ) or bansang are small side dishes served along with cooked rice in Korean cuisine. As the Korean language does not distinguish between singular and plural grammatically, the word is used for both one such dish or ...

(side dishes) after the outdoor ''

jesa Jesa (, ) is a ceremony commonly practiced in the East Asian cultural sphere. Jesa functions as a memorial to the ancestors of the participants. Jesa are usually held on the anniversary of the ancestor's death. The majority of Catholics, Budd ...

'' (rites), such as ''

sansin ''Sanshin'' or ''Sansin'' () are local mountain-spirits in Korean Shamanism and folk-beliefs. In South Korea, most Buddhist temples and major Shamanic-shrines, and some traditionalist villages have a dedicated shrine called a ''sanshin-gak'' ( ...

je'' (rite for mountain gods) or ''

dongsin Tongsin County is a Administrative divisions of North Korea, ''kun'', or county, in southern Chagang province, North Korea. It borders Ryongrim and Chonchon (North Korea), Chonchon to the north, the counties of Taehung and Yongwon in South Pyongan ...

je'' (rite for village gods), where they needed to "eat with the god" but did not have as many cooking pots and items of crockery to hand as they would normally have at home. Jeonju Bibimbap is an old-fashioned and delicious dish. Some scholars assert that bibimbap originates from the traditional practice of mixing all the food offerings made at an ''jesa'' (ancestral rite) in a bowl before partaking of it. Ordinary people ate bibimbap on the eve of the lunar new year as the people at that time felt that they had to get rid of all of the leftover side dishes before the new year. The solution to this problem was to put all of the leftovers in a bowl of rice and to mix them together. Farmers ate bibimbap during farming season as it was the easiest way to make food for a large number of people. Bibimbap was served to the king, usually as a lunch or a between-meal snack. There was more than vegetables in this bibimbap. Bibimbap was recorded as ''hondon-ban'' () in the history book '' Historical notes of Gijae'' by the

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

scholar Bak Dong-ryang (1569–1635). In the '' Diary of Cheongdae'' by another Joseon scholar Gwon Sang-il (1679–1760), it was recorded as ''goldong-ban'' (). The dish was also recorded in '' Complete Works of Seongho'' by Yi Ik (1681–1764) as ''goldong'' (), in '' Complete Works of Cheongjanggwan'' by Yi deok-mu (1741–1793) as ''goldong-ban'' (), and in '' Works of Nakhasaeng'' by Yi Hak-gyu (1770–1835) as both ''goldong-ban'' () and ''goldong'' (). The

hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

transcription () first appears in the 1810 encyclopedia '' Mongyupyeon'' by Jang Hon. The 1870 encyclopedia states that the dish name is written as () in

but is read as (), a probable transcription of the native Korean (). In '' Collected Works of Oju'' written by

Yi Gyu-gyeong Yi Gyu-gyeong (Korean: 이규경; Hanja: 李圭景; 1788 – year of death unknown) was a Silhak scholar in the Joseon dynasty from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century who succeeded the accomplishments of Silhak and sought erudition ...

(1788–1856), recorded varieties of bibimbap, such as vegetable bibimbap, miscellany bibimbap, hoe bibimbap,

shad The Alosinae, or the shads,Alosinae

bibimbap,

prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten. The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...

bibimbap, salted shrimp bibimbap, shrimp

roe Roe ( ) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooking, coo ...

bibimbap, marinated crab bibimbap, wild chive bibimbap, fresh

cucumber Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated Vine#Horticultural climbing plants, creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical Fruit, fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.

bibimbap, gim flake bibimbap,

bibimbap,

soybean sprout Soybean sprout is a culinary vegetable grown by sprouting soybeans. It can be grown by placing and watering the sprouted soybeans in the shade until the roots grow long. Soybean sprouts are extensively cultivated and consumed in Asian countries. ...

bibimbap, and also stated that bibimbap was a local specialty of

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

, along with

naengmyeon Naengmyeon * (, in South Korea) or raengmyŏn (, in North Korea) is a noodle dish of North Korean origin which consists of long and thin handmade noodles made from the flour and starch of various ingredients, including buckwheat (메밀, ''me ...

and gamhongno. The first known recipe for ''bibimbap'' is found in the ''

Siuijeonseo ''Siuijeonseo'' () is a Korean cookbook compiled in the late 19th century. The author is unknown but is assumed to be a lady of the yangban (nobility during the Joseon dynasty) class in Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province. In 1919, as Sim Hwanjin w ...

'', an anonymous cookbook from the late 19th century. The late 20th century brought about the globalization of the Korean culture, traditions, and food to many areas of the world with many restaurant chains being opened up in various international airports that encourage the sale of bibimbap.

Culture

Bibimbap is an extensively customizable food with a variety of ingredients that can be used in its creation. It has existed in Korea for centuries and even has a place in society today. It came from early rural Koreans taking leftover vegetables, sometimes having meat, with rice and mixing them in a

bowl A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom forming a seamless curve. This makes ...

. This was cheap and did not require all of the time and space of a traditional meal. Bibimbap was originally written in

due to the ancient use of the Chinese characters in Korea. There are two separate ancient writings that suggest the original reasoning behind the creation and use of bibimbap. The first one, "People's Unofficial Story of Jeonju" (), tells of Jeonju bibimbap being used in occasions such as parties that included government officials of provincial offices. The second being, "Lannokgi" (), which told of bibimbap being made by the wives, of farmers, who had no time to prepare meals the traditional way with many side dishes, and instead they were able to throw most of the ingredients in a bowl sometimes adding whatever they happened to be cultivating. Although bibimbap was originally rarely mentioned and mostly only in hanja records, it began to be more frequently referenced and in

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

(Korean alphabets) records as well upon the creation of Hangul by the

King Sejong the Great Sejong of Joseon (15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450), personal name Yi Do (Korean: 이도; Hanja: 李祹), widely known as Sejong the Great (Korean: 세종대왕; Hanja: 世宗大王), was the fourth ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. Initial ...

to improve the state's literacy. The

division of Korea The division of Korea began with the defeat of Empire of Japan, Japan in World War II. During the war, the Allies of World War II, Allied leaders considered the question of Korea's future after Japan's surrender in the war. The leaders reached ...

in the 20th century caused a cultural divide in the creation of bibimbap with two types related to both North and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. The most famous regions for traditional bibimbap happen to be Pyongyang for its vegetable bibimbap in the North and Jeonju for its Jeonju Bibimbap. In the late 20th century, ''bibimbap'' started to become widespread in many countries in the West, due to its simplicity, cheap cost, and delicious taste. Many airlines connecting to South Korea via Incheon International Airport began to serve it, and it was accepted more globally as a popular Korean dish. Bibimbap has also been described as a symbol of the Korean culture to non-Koreans due to Korea becoming more acceptable to foreigners and multicultural traditions.

Preparation

Bibimbap can be various kinds of bibimbap depending on the ingredients. Vegetables commonly used in ''bibimbap'' include

julienned Julienne, , or french cut, is a culinary knife cut in which the food item is cut into long thin strips, similar to matchsticks. Common items to be julienned are carrots for , celery for , potatoes for julienne fries, or cucumbers for . Trimmi ...

''oi'' (

aehobak Aehobak ( ko, 애호박), also called Korean zucchini or Korean courgette, is an edible, green to yellow-green summer squash. Although nearly all summer squashes are varieties of ''Cucurbita pepo'', aehobak belongs to the species ''Cucurbita mos ...

(courgette), ''mu'' (

radish The radish (''Raphanus raphanistrum'' subsp. ''sativus'') is an Eating, edible root vegetable of the family Brassicaceae that was domesticated in Asia prior to Roman Empire, Roman times. Radishes are grown and consumed throughout the world, be ...

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...

s, ''doraji'' ( bellflower root), and '' gim'', as well as

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either f ...

, soybean sprouts, and ''gosari'' (

bracken fern Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family (biology), family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produ ...

stems). ''Dubu'' (

tofu Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super firm ...

), either plain or sautéed, or a leaf of lettuce may be added, or

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

or seafood may be substituted for beef. For visual appeal, the vegetables are often placed so adjacent colors complement each other. In the South Korean version, sesame oil, red pepper paste (

), and sesame seeds are added.

Variations

Jeonju bibimbap

Jeonju is the name of a province in South Korea known for its long standing food preparation style which has been praised and passed down throughout the past thousands of years. Jeonju is the most famous place for Bibimbap. Jeonju bibimbap along with kongnamul-gukbap are signature dishes of Jeonju. Jeonju bibimbap is one of the most popular dishes in Korea and around the world. It is usually topped with quality Jeonju soy bean sprouts, hwangpo-muk, gochujang, jeopjang, and seasoned raw beef and served with kongnamul-gukbap. The rice of Jeonju bibimbap is specially prepared by being cooked in beef shank broth for flavor and finished with sesame oil for flavor and nutrients. Jeonju Bibimbap Festival is also held every year.

Hot stone pot bibimbap (''dolsot-bibimbap'', )

Hot stone pot bibimbap ('' dolsot-bibimbap'', ) is a variation of bibimbap served in a very hot ''

dolsot A ''dolsot'' () or ''gopdolsot'' () is a small-sized piece of cookware or serveware made of agalmatolite, suitable for one to two servings of ''bap'' (cooked rice). In Korean cuisine, various hot rice dishes such as bibimbap or '' gulbap'' (oyst ...

'' (stone pot) in which a raw

is cooked against the sides of the bowl. The bowl is so hot that anything that touches it sizzles for minutes. Before the rice is placed in the bowl, the bottom of the bowl is coated with

sesame oil Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. The oil is one of the earliest-known crop-based oils. Worldwide mass modern production is limited due to the inefficient manual harvesting process required to extract the oil. O ...

, making the layer of the rice touching the bowl cook to a crisp, golden brown known as ''

nurungji Scorched rice, also known as crunchy rice, is a thin crust of slightly browned rice at the bottom of the cooking pot. It is produced during the cooking of rice over direct heat from a flame. Varieties Cape Verde In Cape Verdean Creole, the bu ...

'' (). This variation of bibimbap is typically served to order, with the egg and other ingredients mixed in the pot just prior to consumption.

Yakcho-bibimbap ()

Yakcho-bibimbap () is from

Jecheon Jecheon () is a city in North Chungcheong Province, South Korea. The city is a major railway junction or a transportation mecca, served by the Jungang, Chungbuk and Taebaek Lines. Jecheon has scenic surroundings and several tourist spots like the ...

. Jecheon is a great place for medicinal herbs to grow. People could get a thicker root and more medicinal herb than other areas. The combination of the medicinal herbs and popular bibimbap made it one of the most popular foods in Jecheon.

''Hoedeopbap'' ()

Hoedeopbap ''Hoe-deopbap'' * () or raw fish bibimbap is a Korean dish consisting of steamed rice mixed with sliced or cubed '' saengseon hoe'' (raw fish), various vegetables such as lettuce, cucumber and sesame leaves, sesame oil, and '' chogochujang'' (a ...

'' () is a bibimbap with a variety of raw seafood, such as

tilapia Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...

or sometimes

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

, but each bowl of rice usually contains only one variety of seafood. The term '' hoe'' in the word means raw fish. The dish is popular along the coasts of Korea where fish are abundant.

Other recorded variations

* Beef tartare bibimbap (''yukhoe-bibimbap'') * Freshwater snail soybean paste bibimbap (''ureong-doenjang-bibimbap'') * Roe bibimbap (''

albap ''Albap'' (; "roe rice") is a type of bibimbap made with one or more kinds of roe, most commonly Cheilopogon agoo, flying fish roe Roe ( ) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg mas ...

'') * Spicy pork bibimbap (''jeyuk-bibimbap'') * Sprout bibimbap (''saessak-bibimbap'') * Tongyeong-bibimbap, served with seafood * Wild vegetable bibimbap (''sanchae-bibimbap'') * Wild herb bibimbap * Brass bowl bibimbap

Symbolism

Bibimbap ingredients are rich in symbolism. Black or dark colours represent north and the

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...

s – for instance,

shiitake The shiitake (alternate form shitake) (; ''Lentinula edodes'') is an edible mushroom native to East Asia, which is now cultivated and consumed around the globe. It is considered a Medicinal fungi, medicinal mushroom in some forms of tradition ...

mushrooms,

s or

nori Nori is a dried edible seaweed used in Japanese cuisine, made from species of the red algae genus ''Pyropia'', including ''P. yezonesis'' and '' P. tenera''. It has a strong and distinctive flavor, and is often used to wrap rolls of sushi or '' ...

seaweed. Red or orange represents south and the

heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

, with chilli, carrots, and

jujube Jujube (), sometimes jujuba, known by the scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'' and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus ''Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. Description It is a smal ...

dates. Green represents east and the

liver The liver is a major Organ (anatomy), organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for ...

, with

and

. White is west or the

lungs The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of th ...

, with foods such as

bean sprout Sprouting is the natural process by which seeds or spores germinate and put out shoots, and already established plants produce new leaves or buds, or other structures experience further growth. In the field of nutrition, the term signifies ...

, and rice. And yellow represents the centre, or

stomach The stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and many other animals, including several invertebrates. The stomach has a dilated structure and functions as a vital organ in the digestive system. The stomach i ...

. Foods include pumpkin, potato or

References

External links

Bibimbap – Korea Tourism OrganizationBibimbap Recipe – Korea Tourism Organization
{{Authority control Rice dishes Korean cuisine