I had a very large Korean dinner last night. I had yukejan (a rich and spicy soup), bibimbap (sticky rice topped with egg, meat, and vegetables and drizzled with sesame oil), and tteok boki (rice cakes with eggs and vegetables), bulgogi (marinated barbecued beef), and an assortment of appetizers like kimchi and sauteed vegetables.
My companions didn’t like the rice cakes so I ended up having most of it. The servings at that Korean restaurant were large so I believe I had more than 4 servings of the rice cakes. I also had a healthy amount of the bibimbap and bulgogi plus a small bowl of the yukejan.
I was kind of worried with the caloric content of the tteok boki (rice cakes) so I googled it. And what I found out almost had me shouting in surprise. According to a website called TheDailyPlate, 4.75 cups of rice cakes contains about 995 calories so if I consume a cup, I’ll be getting approx. 209 calories. But then I had 3-4 cups…WTF??!!!
And the bibimbap, well, two sites I found actually say that a cup of bibimbap contains 430-634 calories. An ingredient analysis was made by FatSecret and I’m more inclined to agree than not. The bulgogi has about 310 calories per serving so If I add up the calories I had from the bibimbap, bulgogi, and the tteok boki– I consumed more than 1367 calories. And that’s a very conservative estimate because I haven’t even considered the appetizers and the yukejan yet. By the looks of it, I had more than 1800 calories for dinner alone.
I also found out that 100 grams of kimchi has about 20 calories. So even if I have 300 grams of kimchi, I’ll be comsuming just about 60 calories. So should I just forget about having my occasional bibimbap and rice cakes and settle for kimchi then?
Sheesh. Tough luck.
Wow! With the high calorie content of Korean food, you’d wonder how most Koreans stay slim.
It’s very seldom that you see a “healthy” Korean walking around. Most of what I see are very slim.
I’m wondering myself. Maybe because they stuff themselves with kimchi so by the time the main dish is served, they can only eat sparingly?
I will give you the low-down on Korean eating:
Rice is served at every meal in Korea. Rice serves as your main dish. Side dishes (called “pan-chan” in Korean language) such as ttok boki, kimchi, kimbap, etc, are eaten as sides. Side dishes contain a mixture of protein, fat, and fibre, and these side-dishes are not necessarily meant to be eaten alone. Many western-Koreans and westerners will eat these sides as main dishes; however, most Koreans will fill up on rice, and eat the “extras” as just that- extras.
When I did not eat all of my rice, my Korean mother got upset and told me that “rice is the main course!” Since that experience, I am sure to eat all of my rice, and use the others as filler!