Korean Functional Foods

Composition, Processing and Health Benefits

Kun-Young Park, Dae Young Kwon, Ki Won Lee, Sunmin Park

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351643696
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Nutrition, Dietics & Bariatrics

Koreans believe the adage of food as medicine. Therefore, herbs or fruit ingredients such as ginger, cinnamon, adlay, mugwort, pomegranate, and ginseng are used for their therapeutic effects as much as cooking. This book provide information related to Korean functional food. It first describes the history and culture of Korean foods, and then compares Korean diet tables with other Asian countries and Western countries. Also, the book will cover detailed information of Korean functional foods such as kimchi, soybean products, ginseng, salt, oil and seeds. It also deals with its health benefits and processing methods, followed by rules and regulations related to its manufacture and sales.

1Korean Foods—History, Culture, and Characteristics

Cherl-Ho Lee

1.1History of Korean Dietary Culture

1.1.1Paleolithic Age

1.1.2Primitive Pottery Age

1.1.3Neolithic Age and the Era of Myth

1.1.4The Historic Age

1.1.5Dietary Changes during the Last Century

1.2Health Concept of Korean Functional Food

1.2.1Taoism

1.2.2Yin and Yang and Five Phases Theory

1.2.3Traditional Chinese Medicine

1.2.4Eastern Medicine and Sasang Typology

1.3Future of Korean Functional Food

1.4Conclusion

References

1.1History of Korean Dietary Culture

The Northeast Asian culture, generally known as a part of Chinese culture to Western society, comprises many segments of ethnic groups, which have each developed their own identity and distinctive culture over time. In the present day, they are referred to in large groups with the names of their countries: China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, and parts of Russia (Siberia). But until a millennium ago, the ethnic group (or tribe) was more important than the nation in distinguishing the way of life of a people. The early classics of Chinese literature are the products of a long history of the thought, religion, culture, and wisdom of the many tribes in this region. The early historians in China described the existence and the lives of neighboring countries, including the Dong-yi (Eastern Archers). The Eastern Archers have inhabited a wide range of Northeast Asia, from the Shandong Peninsula to the Bohai Corridor, the Manchurian Basin, the Liadong Peninsula, and the Korean Peninsula, which was mostly ruled by Goguryeo until the fifth century AD (Nahm, 1988; Lee and Kim, 2016).

1.1.1Paleolithic Age

The early existence of human beings in this region is evidenced by early Paleolithic remains (1,800,000–300,000 years ago, BP [before present]) of the early/middle Pleistocene Age in Northern China and the Korean Peninsula. Evidence of the existence of Homo erectus (1,800,000–650,000 BP) was found in the Xihoudu, Lantian, and Zhoukoudian sites on the Northern Chinese Mainland, Jinniushan in the Manchurian Basin, and the Sokchangni and Chungbuk Keumkul sites on the Korean Peninsula. Zhoukoudian cave locality I, near Beijing, has yielded the largest number of Homo erectus fossils in the world: 40-odd individuals, together with thousands of animal bones, some of which were burnt by roasting (Barnes, 1993). Fossils of early man, Homo sapiens, were found in Yokpo Cave (500,000 BP) and Sangwon Cave (400,000 BP) near Pyungyang on the Korean Peninsula (Sohn, 1983).

Recently, several middle Paleolithic (350,000–40,000 BP) remains were found on the Korean Peninsula. The stone tools and animal fauna of the Seungrisan, Jommal Yonggul, Durubong, and Chongongni sites were similar to those of the Dingcun site of China. The fauna and stone tools of the Sokchangni seventh and eighth layers, Chongchongam Cave, Gulpori I, and Sangmu Yongni were comparable to those of the Xujiayao site in Northern China. The earliest Paleolithic remains found in Siberia, at the Irkutsk site near the Angara River and the Ushiki site on the Kamchaka Peninsula, were those of 70,000–130,000 years ago, similar to those found at the Gulpori site (Choi, 1983).

Numerous late Paleolithic (40,000–10,000 BP) sites were found on the Korean Peninsula, in South Manchuria, and on Japanese islands as well as the Chinese mainland. This points to the increase in population and spreading out of people in this region in the late Paleolithic Age (Lee, 1998a). During the glacial periods (Günz, Mindel, Riss, and Würm) of the Pleistocene age, the Yellow and Seto Plains were exposed by lower sea levels, and the East Sea became merely a large lake, which drained through the present Korea Strait. These increased land areas facilitated the movement of humans and animals among and between parts of East Asia (Lee, 1998a). It has also been assumed that the Asian Mongoloids moved to the American continent over the Bering Strait during these periods (Barnes, 1993). However, during the warm interglacial period, the sea levels rose to the present level, and the Korean Peninsula became a land bridge connecting the Japanese islands to Manchuria and the Maritime Province of Siberia. The mobile hunter life of Paleolithic men, who chased after large animals moving periodically with seasonal climate change, continued until the invention of earthenware. Figure 1.1 shows the sites of Paleolithic remains excavated in Northeast Asia, and the migratory route of the mobile hunters from southern Kyushu to northern Manchuria and Siberia through the Korean Peninsula, connected by mountain ranges (Lee, 2001). Animal meat, intestines, and blood were the main foodstuffs for these people, and the use of vegetable supplements, such as grass seeds, tree nuts, and wild fruits and roots, increased in the later stages of the Paleolithic era. The people lived in caves in the mountains and gradually moved to the lower plains and river banks in the later part of that era (Lee, 1998a).

Figure 1.1Paleolithic remains found in Northeast Asia. (From Lee, C. H. 2001. Fermentation Technology in Korea. Seoul: Korea University Press.)

The animal meat-eating habit of the early men in Northeast Asia and on the Korean Peninsula gradually appears to have changed to an omnivorous culture by the end of the Paleolithic Age. The utilization of tree nuts and acorns, wild fruits, berries and grapes, grass seeds, roots, and young buds of trees and ferns increased gradually as the inhabitants noticed that abundant plant materials were growing around the previously inhabited caves and dwellings. Traces of pollen of grass, rice (Gramineae), and beans (Leguminosae, Papilionoidiae) have been found to have increased among late Paleolithic remains (Lee, 1998a). With the increase of plant food in the diet, the dwelling sites gradually moved from the mountains to the plains near rivers.

1.1.2Primitive Pottery Age

Earthenware was likely invente...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Editors
• Contributors
• Chapter 1 Korean Foods—History, Culture, and Characteristics
• Chapter 2 Korean Diets and Their Tastes
• Chapter 3 Kimchi and Its Health Benefits
• Chapter 4 Lactic Acid Bacteria in Kimchi
• Chapter 5 Health Benefits of Doenjang (Soybean Paste) and Kanjang (Soybean Sauce)
• Chapter 6 Cheongkukjang
• Chapter 7 Biological Functions and Traditional Therapeutic Uses of Kochujang (Red Pepper Paste)
• Chapter 8 Jeotgal (Fermented Fish): Secret of Korean Seasonings
• Chapter 9 Sikcho (Korean Vinegar)
• Chapter 10 Korean Ginseng: Composition, Processing, and Health Benefits
• Chapter 11 Yangnyeom (Spices) and Health Benefits
• Chapter 12 Seed Oil (Sesame Seed, Perilla Seed)
• Chapter 13 Health Benefit Effects of Jukyeom (Bamboo Salt)
• Chapter 14 Beneficial Effects of Cheonilyeom (a Mineral-Rich Solar Sea Salt) on Health and Fermentation
• Chapter 15 Edible Korean Seaweed: A Source of Functional Compounds
• Chapter 16 Namul, the Korean Vegetable Dish
• Chapter 17 Bibimbap as a Balanced One-Dish Meal
• Chapter 18 Korean Alcoholic Beverages: Makgeolli/Yakju
• Chapter 19 Clinical Trials of Some Korean Functional Foods
• Chapter 20 Functional Food Industry: Processing and Sanitation
• Chapter 21 Regulations of Korean Functional Foods
• Chapter 22 Future of Functional Foods in Korea
• Index