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List members,

I saved posting of this summary about GF Korean food until I came back from my trip. 
 
First, my experiences: I found a web site (http://www.asiafood.org/) that 
named Korean dishes and listed their ingredients. I found a few recipes that 
were simple enough to trust the ingredients list. 
 
Although much of Korean food isn't all
that tasty, it seems wholesome, with mostly rice and vegetables and a
little meat. Of course I tried Kim Chi, a national dish that seems to be
served with every meal. It's GF. There are several varities, and most of it 
is made with cabbage. All of it is spicy hot, some of it real hot. I
only sampled.

Two dishes I ate that were GF were Bibimbap. It's rice mixed with
vegetables with just little pieces of meal and a raw egg on top. It is
served in a very hot metal bowl. You mix everything together and the hot
bowl cooks the egg. I liked it. At the Seoul international airport, I had
a bowl that was not heated. The egg was cooked in that one. The second
dish I tried was called Samgyetang, a ginseng chicken soup. That too was
served in a hot bowl, in fact, the soup was boiling! In the bowl was a
whole chicken. The chicken was stuffed with rice. The chicken itself
tastes good, but it wasn't a great chicken soup. That I only ate once.

I did eat at an Outback Steakhouse in Seoul (there are several Outback
restaurants in Seoul).  I had emailed Outback, asking about their GF menu
in Korea. I got two emails from Outback. The first said they would
forward my request to their international headquarters. I received the
second email the day I returned from my trip. Not too helpful. Also what
they said was not to encouraging. It is posted below.

Most of my meals were made in my daughter's apartment from the groceries
were bought. Here is the Outback email and the responses from my pre-trip 
email to the list:

From Outback:
G'day Angel,
Thank you for your question about Outback in Korea.  Our Outbacks in
Korea often use localized ingredients and recipes so unfortunately, the
gluten free menu is not necessarily followed.  I appreciate your question
and I hope you are not overly inconvenienced by this.  Thanks again for
contacting us.  Please let me know if you have any further questions or
concerns.

Best Regards,

Dylan Rist
Marketing Representative
Outback Steakhouse International
3355 Lenox Road Suite 600
Atlanta, Georgia 30326
Phone: 404.231.4329
Fax:     404.231.2167
email:   [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> 

I lived and worked in Korea for almost 2 years.  Get yourself a KOrean
cookbook
from library and check the recipes that interest you.  Be warned that
Korean food
is VERY hot and they have the highest rate of stomach cancer because of
that.

There are literally hundreds of kinds of KIMCHI [notice spelling], some
hotter than
others.  There are Kinchis for every season and they vary form house to
house.

A warning....you need to drink 8oz of water FOR EVERY HOUR YOU ARE IN THE
PLANE.
Dehydration is a problem, esp since you never feel thirsty.  You can't
drink enough
water.

If you go outside of Seoul make sure you have mosquito replellant...they
are
huge...in a pinch, tho HAIRSPRAY will kill them.

Bring snacks, your internal clock is really going to be wacked out.  We
were told
it would take several months to get back on track when we got home and it
did.

Stay away from the dairy!!!

The flight is so high you will "freeze" on board.  I learned to wear
heavy socks
with Birenstocks on board.....your ankles swell and that helps.

Where are you going in Korea?  I worked in ChunChon [gorgeous scenery]
and
TonDuChon [where MASH took place].

Before you go, do read a history of the Korean war ...it will give you an
overview.  Do get to KugnBok Palace...one of my fav places in the world.

Have fun and let me know if you need more info
-- Ann


Can't answer about the outbacks, but kimchee is certainly gf. It's just
cabbage (and sometimes radish) and green onions, with lots of hot spices,
allowed to ferment in jars. No yeast or other starter is added, and
certainly no grain.

Do be careful with the tea, though. There is at least one kind of Korean
tea that has ground roasted barley or corn (and the problem here is
that if you've learned British English, the word for what we call
barley _is_ corn, and what we call corn is maize) added to it--I've long
since forgotten the name.
-- Joe Ellison 

I've never been to Korea, but I started cooking "Korean" because it is so

good for you, and generally GF. They do use a fair bit of soy sauce
though, 
which generally is NOT GF.

Kimchi is usually OK, as is rice. They do a lot of broiled meats and
soups, 
which should be ok. Noodles are the only "traditional" food that has
gluten 
(and at that, pure buckwheat, rice, or yam noodles should be ok). A lot
of 
wheat has filtered in though, so you'll have to ask at the restaurant.
But 
it should be a lot easier than in a US restaurant.

They have a lot of "cook the food at your table" kinds of meals, where
you 
put food on the broiler which sits on your table and cook it yourself. 
Those are a lot of fun, and give you a lot of control over the process! 
Also a lot of their food is raw, which would be GF but you may not want
to 
do that, esp. overseas.
-- Heidi

Have a nice day.
Angel in Atlanta

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