Descended from Mongolians, Koreans were governed by imperial dynasties on a feudal system since before the Common Era. Despite it's persistent troubles with Japan, Korea remained independent until 1910, when it became a Japanese protectorate. As a result, Korean cooking has a distinct national identity, that in its contemporary form, combines dishes and techniques from both peasant and royal palace foods.
Being surrounded on four sides by water, not only rice, but seafood are staple foods. Korean markets overflow with fish, shrimp, crabs, clams, oysters, squid, and octopus, which are eaten dried, pickled, crushed into paste or sauce, stewed, steamed and grilled. Like Japan, rice, pickles and fish are the basis of the diet. Food is flavored with various combinations of garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, dried anchovies, and one of the many delicious spice pastes (changs or jangs), that Koreans build from a base of fermented soy beans, dejan paste, fermented soybean paste, and gochu Jang, a hot, fermented chile paste are much like Japanese miso. Koreans also eat meat; northern Koreans eat more pork, while the southern Koreans prefer beef, and the cooks are not afraid to mix chicken, meat, fish, and pork. Anything goes!
Koreans eat a medium-grain "sticky" rice (as distinguished from long-grain and short-grain, or glutinous varieties), which is also common in Japan.
At dinner time, a Korean family sits on the flour around a low table. A meal is built around a mound of plain, steamed rice, which is eaten with thin chopsticks. A grilled or stir-fried main course is supplementd by a soup or perhaps a salad, along with an array of sauces, pickles, and other condiments. Kimchi is the most famous of these.
Kimchi is the name given to any one of hundreds of spicy pickles. It is part of nearly every meal, the most famous being made with Napa cabbage. But, Koreans make it from radishes, fish, squid, cucumber, eggplant, radish greens - the list is endless. The vegetables or fish is pickled in a mixture that may include, among other things, coarse salt, chile, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, and water. Korean food is often extremely spicy.