Multicultural families experience Korean Chuseok food tradition
Family members and relatives have been traveling the length and breadth of the country to celebrate Chuseok,... otherwise known as Korea's Thanksgiving.
Families from other ethnic backgrounds have also been learning the culture surrounding Chuseok as well.
Yoon Jung-min reports.
Korea's biggest national holiday Chuseok is the time when families gather around to celebrate the harvest season with special food and traditions.
Foreign nationals who settled down in Korea also share food with their families during the holiday.
The Red Cross and a multi-cultural family support center in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do Province provided a program for multi-cultural families to help them better understand Chuseok food tradition and make the signature rice cake songpyeon.
Some 40 participants from Russia, Japan, Vietnam and many other countries gathered to learn how to make songpyeon.
In Korea, songpyeon rice cakes serve to bring families closer together.
“Koreans share these songpyeon, half-moon shaped rice cakes, with their families and neighbors under the full moon at Chuseok.”
The participants make pieces of songpyeon stuffed with sesame seeds, bean powder and other ingredients.
Their songpyeons differ in size, color and shape but their expectation for the holiday does not differ greatly.
"This is really nice. You know, this is my first time making it, but it's really interesting. The dough is a little bit sticky, but the feeling is really great and I hope it's really yummy."
"Making songpyeon is more difficult than I thought. It's sticky and it's not easy to shape it into a half-moon."
With an increasing number of multi-cultural families in Korea, the organizations say they will keep supporting those families to help them adapt to the Korean culture ranging from food, tradition and many other sectors.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News, Goyang.
Families from other ethnic backgrounds have also been learning the culture surrounding Chuseok as well.
Yoon Jung-min reports.
Korea's biggest national holiday Chuseok is the time when families gather around to celebrate the harvest season with special food and traditions.
Foreign nationals who settled down in Korea also share food with their families during the holiday.
The Red Cross and a multi-cultural family support center in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do Province provided a program for multi-cultural families to help them better understand Chuseok food tradition and make the signature rice cake songpyeon.
Some 40 participants from Russia, Japan, Vietnam and many other countries gathered to learn how to make songpyeon.
In Korea, songpyeon rice cakes serve to bring families closer together.
“Koreans share these songpyeon, half-moon shaped rice cakes, with their families and neighbors under the full moon at Chuseok.”
The participants make pieces of songpyeon stuffed with sesame seeds, bean powder and other ingredients.
Their songpyeons differ in size, color and shape but their expectation for the holiday does not differ greatly.
"This is really nice. You know, this is my first time making it, but it's really interesting. The dough is a little bit sticky, but the feeling is really great and I hope it's really yummy."
"Making songpyeon is more difficult than I thought. It's sticky and it's not easy to shape it into a half-moon."
With an increasing number of multi-cultural families in Korea, the organizations say they will keep supporting those families to help them adapt to the Korean culture ranging from food, tradition and many other sectors.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News, Goyang.