A Global History of Food

What is a Bibimbap?

Bibimbap is a traditional Korean food. The first bimbibap recipe was found in an antonymous recipe book in late 19th century.
The word “Bibim” means mixing many ingredients into one, and the word “bap” means rice. As such, Bibimbap is a rice bowl that has sliced vegetables and meat on top of the steamed rice.

There are multiple versions about how Bibimbap was created:
1. Bibimbap was viewed as a normal dish in Korean families. Korean people likes to mix together the leftover from last day.
2. Korean Wives’ status was very low in early Korea. Since wives are not allowed to have dinner with their husbands and in-laws. As such, wives can only mix whatever has left over from the table as their meals.
3. Many Emperors of Korean, in old times, were frugal and love their people. Dislike fancy meals and expensive ingredients. Therefore ordered the kitchen to simply prepare the food by mixing them up, and that is how Bibimbap was created.
4. In Joseon period, Bibimbap was treated as a luxury cuisine that gifted to a Chinese emperor. And this dish got popular since the Chinese emperor loved it.

Bibimbap is healthy because it offer numerous benefits to our body since it contain many ingredients, which gives various nutrients that we need to support our daily nutritional goals. Firstly, the carrot in the dish contains vitamin-A that helps on healthy eyes, skin, bones, and our digestive function. Secondly, the eggs in bibimbap offer rich Vitamin B2, B12 and E. Moreover, most bibimbap contains nori. It provides essential amino acids and vitamin A, B, C, and E. Last but not least, vegetables on top of the dish, such as spinach and bean sprouts made this dish balanced.