by Ra Hwak Jin / Kim Sun Min

[ENG] Ginseng Chicken Soup.
 

 

Samgyetang refers to a traditional Korean nourishing food that is made by putting ginseng in chicken and boiling it. People enjoy eating the food especially in hot summer as fasting food for Chobok, Jungbok, and Malbok, which are the hottest periods. 

 

The words “sam,” which means ginseng, “gye,” which means chicken, and “tang,” which means soup, were combined to be titled as the name of the food. It was also called Gyesamtang, but “sam” was put in the beginning of the word when ginseng became popular and foreigners recognized the value of it, according to Cho Pung-yon's Seoul Knowledge Dictionary.

Samgyetang is made by trimming a pullet, sewing it with glutinous rice, ginseng, astragalus propinquus, and jujube inside, and boiling it after pouring water into a stone pot or ttukbaegi.

 

▲ This file photo shows Samgyetang. (Yonhap)
It is not clear when people began to eat Samgyetang, but there were chickens and ginseng back in Baekje, according to the Encyclopedia of Korean Seasonal Customs from the National Folk Museum of Korea(http://folkency.nfm.go.kr/sesi/index.jsp English).

 

 

▲ This photo, provided by KBS, shows “Descendants of the Sun.” (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

◇Samgyetang appears in drama ‘Descendants of the Sun’…gains popularity overseas

In the drama “Descendants of the Sun” starring Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo, which drew great attention at home and abroad in 2016, the scene where captain Yoo Shi-jin(Song Joong-ki) and master sergeant Seo Dae-young (Jin Goo) cooked Samgyetang for Kang Mo-yeon(Song Hye-kyo) and Yoon Myeong-joo(Kim Ji-won) was displayed. The cooking scene seems to be a commercial of OCOO, a heating plate manufacturing company that supported the production. Anyhow, after this scene was aired, there has been increased attention towards Samgyetang overseas.
 

▲ This photo, provided by Shinsegae Food, shows packaged Samgyetang kits. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
At that time, 8,000 employees from the Chinese company Zhongmai Group visited South Korea to taste Samgyetang at Han River Park in two groups of 4,000 people. Since then, packaged Samhyetang kits of Korean food companies have been exported to China. However, while Sangyetang gained great popularity, it also became controversial when it was revealed that the encyclopedia of Baidu, Chinese largest online platform, depicts Samgyetang as Chinese Guangdong soup that was passed down to Korea from China.

The Korean Cultural Center in Thailand recently created a video of "Korean Food with stories in Thailand" in collaboration with the Korean Culture and Information Service, and it drew attention as Chananporn, Miss Thailand Universe 2005 titleholder, visited a Korean restaurant with her mother and told stories about Samgyetang that was enjoyed by a Korean War veteran.

 

 

▲ This photo, provided by Geumsan-gun, shows Geumsan Samgyetang Festival. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

◇ Geumsan Samgyetang Festival…second time this year
Geumsan-gun in South Chungcheong Province, which is known as one of the representative ginseng markets in Korea, held the Samgyetang Festival for the first time in July, 2021. This year, it will hold the “2nd Samgyetang Festival” from July 15 to July 17. 10 towns in Geumsan-gun will participate to sell Samgyetang and present various recipes using chicken. Geumsan-gun is also trying to designate July 7 as Geumsan Samgyetang Day in order to increase the brand awareness of Samgyetang.

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