Have you ever tried Korean snack food called Kimbap (김밥)? Sesame seasoned bap (밥 – rice) and various ingredients rolled in dried gim (김 – seaweed), 김밥 is one of the most beloved snack to many Korean people.

Photo by KLM

Growing up in Korea, I used to look forward to having my mom’s homemade  김밥  for my school picnic. On the morning of my school picnic, I did not need an alarm to wake up. I was automatically drawn to the kitchen, which was filled with the savory smell of 김밥  ingredients: the nutty smell of warm steamed rice mixed with sesame oil and sweet and sour smell of pickled radishes worked better than an alarm clock in the morning.

김밥  is usually considered as a snack food, but it can become a quick, tasty, and inexpensive meal for you and the whole family. Korean people often enjoy eating their homemade 김밥  together as a meal. If you don’t know how to make 김밥, it is not difficult to find places that serve 김밥  in Korea: food courts, convenient stores, traditional markets, and boon-shik-jip (분식집 – restaurants that specialize in Korean snack foods).

The above picture shows traditional 김밥  that my mom made recently. She usually prepares the following ingredients for her 김밥 :

1. gim (김 – seaweed)
2. bap (밥 – rice)
3. gye-ran (계란 – egg)
4. ham (햄 – ham)
5. ge-mot-sal (게맛살 – imitation crab meat)
6. dan-moo-ji (단무지–pickled radish)
7. dang-geun (당근 – carrot)
8. si-geum-chi (시금치 – spinach)
9. oh-ee (오이 – cucumber)

Photo by KLM

However, there are various versions of 김밥  depending on the main ingredients. you can customized  김밥  with your preferred ingredients. These are some of the popular variations of 김밥 :

10. cham-chee Kimbap (참치 김밥 – tuna Kimbap)
11. Bulgoki Kimbap (불고기 김밥 – Bulgoki Kimbap)
12. chee-seu Kimbap (치즈 김밥 – cheese Kimbap)
13. Kimchi Kimbap (김치 김밥 – Kimchi Kimbap)
14. mo-deum Kimbap (모듬 김밥 – combination Kimbap)
15. ya-chae Kimbap (야채 김밥 – vegetable Kimbap)
16. noo-deu Kimbap (누드 김밥 – nude Kimbap: inside out version of regular Kimbap, rice is outside and seaweed inside. )

Kimbap is convenient, cheap, and delicious food that many people love to enjoy. Korean people also enjoy eating  김밥  with other snack food such as,

17. ramyun (라면 – instant noodle),
18. Teok-bbok-ki (떡볶이 – a Korean snack food: a chewy rice cake dish covered with a spicy and sweet flavored sauce)
19. mandoo (만두 – Korean Dumplings)
20. oh-deng-gook (오뎅국 – fish cake soup).

Talking about  김밥  makes my mouth water, and I am getting hungry for 김밥. I plan to try my favorite 모듬 김밥  and 참치 김밥 tomorrow. What is your favorite 김밥?

감사합니다. (Thank you!)