Describe a
custom from your country that you would like people from other countries to
adopt. Explain your choice, using specific reasons and examples.
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That's a foot.Can you smell it?........Pretty bad, right? |
It is commonly believed that food that
smells good will also taste good. However, in the Korean culture, the quote is
merely a bluff and nothing more. In fact, Koreans are used to food which
contains strong odors. This is mostly due to the dwenjang, which is fermented soybean paste. This specific paste is
used to create various kinds of soups and other dishes, but is also infamous
among some foreigners for its smell, which is similar to the odor from a foot.
Nonetheless, any kind of food containing this ingredient is widely welcomed by
Koreans because of its highly nutritious values and great taste. Unfortunately,
it is still not a commonly known spice around the world by some of its less
attractive features.
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| What did you think when you first saw this image? |
Many foreigners are quite disgusted when
they first see the bubbly-squishy look of dwenjang.
This is due to the silky strands of carbohydrate and other minerals from
fermented soybeans, which is said to be able to stretch up to 30~50
centimeters. It is undoubtedly shocking for those who see a stretchy food for
the first time. However, although the appearance may be strange, the fermented
soybeans are excessively good at preventing heart diseases and cancer. It
consists of more than ten nutrients, most of them of which are helpful to the
nervous system and cardiac impulse. Moreover, as the carbohydrate seeps out of
the beans and consolidates with the others, it is able to contain a lot of
carbohydrate for an extremely long period of time. In fact, dwenjang consists of 38% carbohydrate
and 18% fat, which makes its nutrition value even greater.
Also, although its smell does not bother
most of the Korean population, it is still not exactly appealing for some
foreigners. This is especially worse in the case of chunggukjang, which is a different version of fermented soybeans.
The reason for the smell in these sauces is because of the breakdown of amino
acids. During the process, the soybeans create ammonia gas which smell is
similar to human gas or foot. This is the smell which disgusts some people to
the point of refusing Korean dishes. However, during the process of dwenjang’s chemical reaction, it creates
lactobacillus and food fiber. This stimulates blood circulation and liver
functions, which further prevents arteries from hardening and slows down the
liver from aging. As such, dwenjang provides
various benefactors despite its somewhat uneasy smell.
Other than the benefits mentioned, dwenjang helps metabolism, stimulates
the stomach and intestines’ activities. Moreover, the plain and delicious taste
which differs from the smell makes it become that much more of an exotic and
special invention from Korea. In fact, it is one of the most proud food customs
that Koreans would like to present to the world; although it is not as known as
the kimchi from the strong odor. Of
course, it does not always mean that food with strong smell has great taste or
nutritious values. Nonetheless, such health-conscious and delicious sauce as dwenjang is a good option for other
countries to adopt for its great potential as maintaining people’s well-being.
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| Dwenjang is undoubtedly a proud part of the Korean custom, and certainly worth to be known around the globe. :) |
I think this essay is great for 2reasons
답글삭제1. you emphasized the most intriguing features of dwenjang that the reader can clearly draw an image of the food
2. You also talked about Why?! these foreigners dont like dwenjang and Why?! dwenjang is great for them ; because of their own health problems
but on the other hand if you add on more distinct contentions it would be even better
Before I start of, I really like your style of writing. In terms of context, the fact that you used professional knowledge as evidence was a very strong point of this essay. However, one very small thing that you could change to enhance your essay is that your second body paragraph has too much technological information explaining why dwenjang and chunggugjang smell bad. If you wrote that although ammonia gas creates a noxious odor, it is good for the human body it could have been a turning point.....But, it seems you spent half a paragraph explaining the bad odor and went on to explain lactobacillus and food fiber. Other than that your essay is great!
답글삭제I'm writing this twice because it was erased;;;;;
답글삭제I really enjoyed your essay, and above all your usage of words was outstanding..
I don't have anything special to mention about, but if I had to
1. You gave a good deal of space to explain about the medical and scientific advantages of dwenjang, and I believe it was a greath method to introduce dwenjang in a efficient way. However, dwenjang has other important meanings,too. For example one's mother-in-law assessed their daughter-in-law with dwenjang's taste and the moisture content of it, and this means that dwenjang was not only a simple ingredient to make food, but it meant much more in the family tradition.
2. In your third paragraph, from what I have understood,it seemed that you wanted to state that 'although dwenjang smells bad, it's advantages outweigh it'. But the first few sentences explaining the cause of bad smell felt a liitle to long, and made me confused it you were to focus on the bad smell of dwenjang, or the advantage of it.
Remember I'm no expert in English, and I'd be happy if you get to think about what I said. Thanks for your beatiful essay, and take care!!