Korean food and culture visits NorthEast-Millerton Library

Presenter Younhee Shin of Korean Spirit and Culture Promotion Project, explains how to cook vegetables at the presentation of “Taste of Korea” at the NorthEast-Millerton Library on Feb. 2. Audience members learned about Korean cooking, foods, and culture and were treated to a traditional Korean meal.

Photo by Robin Roraback

Korean food and culture visits NorthEast-Millerton Library

MILLERTON — Enticing aromas filled the Annex of the North East-Millerton Library when those lucky enough to have one of the thirty reservations for “A Taste of Korea: Full of Wisdom and Nature” began to arrive on Saturday, Feb. 8.

They were greeted by Korean Spirit and Culture Promotion Project members dressed in hanbok, the traditional Korean costume.
Presenter Younhee Shin began by explaining the culture promotion project is a worldwide non-profit organization run by volunteers who hold events such as cooking classes, cultural presentations and essay contests to promote Korean culture and history.

She said Korean food strives for “a harmony of taste, health and nature.” Typical meals, she continued, consist of bap — rice; guk — soup; a main dish of fish or meat; and banchan — usually many little dishes of various vegetables. “Kimchi is always on the table,” she noted, explaining kimchi is eaten in combination with other foods.

Shin praised the healthiness of Korean cuisine. She said Koreans are “first in the consumption of vegetables in the world.”

In addition, Koreans eat fermented foods. Two of the most important are jang — fermented sauces, usually soy sauce — and kimchi — fermented vegetables. She noted the importance of jang as foods “can’t be made without it.” Fermented foods contain probiotics which Shin explained “increase the microbiome in the gut.”

She said the fermentation of jang can take up to seventy days. Soybeans are first soaked in water, put in an iron pot, crushed, made into blocks, dried and left to ferment. The liquid left after fermentation is soy sauce, the rest is soybean paste.

“Kimchi” she went on is “one of the healthiest foods in the world. [It] can be made out of any vegetable,” said Shin. Some examples are cucumber, “very crunchy, refreshing” mustard and radish. She continued that “kimchi is healthier than yogurt.”

She commented that the kimchi sold in American supermarkets is “not kimchi. It is more like pickles.”

Shin extolled the virtues of probiotics saying they “make people’s organs at ease which helps the mind be at ease.”

Shin explained that the traditional bangjja or bronzeware in which food is served is also beneficial to health. It enhances the taste of food, helps fight harmful bacteria and infection, and contributes healthy minerals of copper and zinc to the foods.

Younhee Shin demonstrated cooking vegetables. She diced a zucchini into small pieces, added a little sesame oil and a little salt.
She prefers bamboo salt — a salt that has been roasted nine times inside bamboo at a high temperature — but said sea salt is acceptable. The zucchini was then lightly stir fried.

At the end of the presentation, she asked if anyone had any questions. Perhaps overwhelmed at this point by the delicious smells, an audience member asked, “When do we eat?”

Shin laughed and pointed out the menu: kimchi salad; bibimbap — rice with mixed vegetables; bulgogi — soy sauce and honey marinated beef; seafood pancakes; japchae — sweet potato noodles with mixed vegetables; kimchi; honey glazed walnuts; sesame cookies; rice cakes and sikhye — sweet rice punch.

Participants then lined up to receive food from Korean Spirit and Culture Promotion Project members in traditional Korean dress. The food was served in traditional bangjja bronzeware. The appreciative audience dug in.

For more information go to: www.kscpp.net

Latest News

Employment Opportunities

LJMN Media, publisher of The Lakeville Journal (first published in 1897) and The Millerton News (first published in 1932) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit news organization.

We seek to help readers make more informed decisions through comprehensive news coverage of communities in Northwest Connecticut and Eastern Dutchess County in New York.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pine Plains Bombers defeated at Section IX Regional

Giana Dormi, no. 3 of Pine Plains, and Michelle Blackburn, no. 12 of Pine Plains, put the pressure on Juliana Manginelli, no. 11 of Tuckahoe, as she tries to find a pass during the second round of the regional tournament at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y. on Tuesday, March 11.

Photo by Nathan Miller

NEWBURGH, N.Y. — The Pine Plains Bombers were knocked out in second round of the Section IX regional tournament after a hard fought game against the Tuckahoe Tigers on Tuesday, March 11.

The Bombers won the tip and got off to an early lead, but the Tuckahoe Tigers outpaced them quickly and finished the game 59-25.

Keep ReadingShow less
County comptroller releases special report on federal funding

Dan Aymar-Blair

Photo provided

POUGHKEEPSIE — Dutchess comptroller Dan Aymar-Blair released a special report early last week on federal monies and how they move through the county level, including the disbursement process in the county; how federal funding benefits Dutchess residents and whether any fiscal distribution issues have surfaced locally as a result of actions taken on behalf of the Trump administration.

According to Aymar-Blair’s report, federal programming represents roughly 10% of Dutchess expenditures, not including any COVID-19 assistance. As an illustration of federal- to county-level distribution and spending, in 2023, under the Biden administration, the county received approximately $65 million from the U.S. government with $25 million going toward direct aid in support of such programs as home energy assistance and food stamps. Federal monies were also disbursed — and continue to be directed — toward county-level agencies, programming and supports such as adoption, foster care and child care needs, emergency/disaster assistance, infrastructure development and maintenance, and workforce initiatives.

Keep ReadingShow less
‘Selected Shorts’ comes to Stissing Center

The Stissing Center was bustling just before the show on Sunday, March 9.

Photo by Alec Linden

PINE PLAINS — The Stissing Center was packed on Sunday for an afternoon performance of podcast and NPR series “Selected Shorts.” The sold-out show, which was recorded for national broadcast at a later date, brought a lineup of four accomplished actors and storytellers to the Pine Plains stage to recite a selection of short stories from award-winning authors.

“Selected Shorts,” a product of Manhattan-based performing arts powerhouse Symphony Space, features prominent actors who recite works of short fiction. The full program usually revolves around a theme; Sunday afternoon’s focus was “transformations.”
Comedian, writer and actress Ophira Eisenberg — or “renaissance woman of storytelling,” as Stissing Center Executive Director Patrick Trettenero introduced her — assumed hosting duties, warming up the crowd with jokes about Brooklyn egg prices and doctors with self-esteem issues — “I want a megalomaniac with a god complex and no hobbies.”

Keep ReadingShow less