Taste Ddeo-kuk, Taste Seol
Rice Cake, crossing through the Joy of Seol (Lunar New Years Day)	[영어뉴스] 최종수정일 / 2010년 02월 05일

  Seol (Lunar New Year‘s Day) is just around the coner.  An appetizing Ddeo-kuk (Korean Rice soup) is in the bowl on the table, an invitation to a blessed new year.  Korean rice cake is one of the representative foods in Korea and is well-known to foreign visitors.  A week ahead of Seol, a rice cake shop is filled with a sea of  customers.  Let's look into their story.  

  Kim Byung-tae, an owner of Ban-Suk rice cake shop in Ban-Suk dong, has been managing his shop for 5 years thus far.  Occupied with making rice cakes, though,  he did not even realize that I was standing right next to him.  He said "as Seol is approaching, the shop seems to become a battlefield."  He mentioned that he has worked 2 days with no break time.  Owning to proliferating microbes that usually make rice cakes go bad, it is barely possible to stock them to resale.  Hence, during the holiday, he has to do nonstop work for more than 24 hours to make the proper portion of rice cake.        

  Since the prehistoric era, rice cakes have been with Koreans and shared among the neighbors at any kind of anniversary and ancestral rites.  Further, what is believed is that eating Ddeo-kuk on Seol  ages people a year.  A type of Ddeo used in making Ddeo-kuk is Garae Ddeo, made out of non-glutinous rice and shaped like a long cylinder.  On Seol, sales volume of it is exploding.  Kim Byung-tae said, "sales volume during the Seol is quadruple than that of usual seasons," and he added "the hottest kinds among them is Garae Ddeo and Siru Ddeo, which are used in making rice cake soup and commemorating ancestral rites.    

  The volumes of sale depends on how many days are in the holiday. Kim Byung-tae said, "Due to the fact that Ddeo is an essential item for Seol, it is not influenced by economic situation, but how long the holiday is".      

  The owners of rice cake shops are not the only ones who love  Seol.  University students are able to get a part time job in a busy shop.  Kim Ji-hye (Buk-kyung University,  Senior) worked in a rice cake shop last year.  She said, "Even though working at a rice cake shop is very tough, it was worth seeing customers buy rice cakes a lot."

    On the other hand, a concept of Ddeo is, recently, being changed.  Because of quick satiety and a conveniency, which are commonly substituted for breakfast, rice cakes contribute to its popularization such as Ddeo Cake and Ddeo Cafe where people can enjoy various kinds of Ddeo with a tea.

   Enjoying one of the important Korean holidays with relatives serving them Ddeo may be a key to enjoying life in Korea.    

2010 February 4th
By reporter Choi Na-ry
hakbosw@donga.ac.kr