Mankind’s Shared Heritage: Love, Friendship, Hope, Trust… and Dumplings

One of Korea’s frozen foods went viral as it had tremendous success in the global market with yearly sales of a whooping 1 trillion KRW. It’s a product from the Korean company CJ Cheil Jedang’s Bibigo Mandu. Bibigo Mandu was first introduced to the global market with a commercial featuring the world-famous celebrity Psy and is still riding the growth curve with its background of targeting healthy eating in people all over the world! Unlike other brands that use the term ‘dumpling’ to refer to the Chinese food in foreign markets, Bibigo used the pure Korean word ‘mandu’ in all of its production and marketing process, raising awareness and curiosity about Korean style dumplings worldwide.

Traditional Korean mandu is characterized by the use of a variety of ingredients in its fillings, such as pork, tofu, mung bean sprouts, and onions, with thin and chewy mandu wrappers. Because the filling has a good balance of nutrients with meat and vegetables, it’s considered a healthy food. Kimchi mandu, fillings of which has the traditional Korean food kimchi, is also very popular alongside regular meat mandu. There are also many other variations, such as Gullim mandu, or rolling mandu, made by rolling up the filling on flour without wrappers; Pyunsu with stir-fried zucchini or cucumber filling; and fish mandu, which uses fish meat as wrappers. Traditionally in Korea, mandu is usually eaten steamed or in the form of soup. Today, recipes combining different types of instant food such as instant ramen and tteokbokki are rising among young generations.

Korean people have been eating mandu for a very long time. ‘Ssanghwa,’ which appears in the well known Goryeo era folk song Ssanghwajeom, is a type of mandu. The form of mandu similar to today’s seems to have originated from China during the mid-Joseon period. Although the dumplings in Korean cuisine were of Chinese influence, the resulting shape and form are very different. Traditional Chinese dumplings have thicker and drier wrappers and simple fillings with the addition of 2-3 ingredients on top of meat or seafood. Despite the simplicity, broth, water, and pork fat are mixed in the fillings, making them very juicy. They are very distinguishable from Korean mandu.

Dumplings in Japanese cuisine, which were also influenced by China, also have a different form. In Japan, ‘mandu’ refers to a type of pastry called ‘Manjoo,’ which is filled with sweet paste, and the dumplings are called ‘Gyoza.’ Gyoza is usually enjoyed by searing or frying. Because traditional Japanese gyoza is considered a side dish rather than snacks, they’re usually sold as part of a set with ramen noodles at ramen shops.

What’s interesting is that dumplings are not unique to the food culture in Northeast Asia. In Nepal, there is ‘Momo’ with chicken fillings; in Vietnam, there is ‘Cha Gio,’ which uses rice paper instead of dumpling wrappers; and there is bite-sized ‘Manti’ in Turkey. Indian ‘Samosa,’ Uzbekistan’s ‘Samsa,’ Azerbaijan’s ‘Dushbara,’ and Ukrainian ‘Pierogi’ are also variations of dumplings. Other similar versions of dumplings are present in cuisines of different origins, such as the Russian ‘Pelmeni,’ Italian ‘Ravioli,’ Georgian ‘Khinkali,’ and Swedish ‘Kroppkaka.’

Who was the first person that came up with the idea of filling flour wrappers with various minced ingredients and eating them steamed or seared? Whoever it was, and wherever or whenever s/he was from, s/he is surely the ‘Mother of Taste’ who has gifted today’s mankind with an experience of delightful delicacy. Why don’t you try the kimchi mandu recipe, a dish you can enjoy only in Korea, and savor the precious heritage passed down by the Mother of Taste?