Korean table manners

  Traditionally, Korean food is not served in courses, but instead it is all placed on the table at the same time. There is no set order in which to eat the food, just according to personal preference. The main dish is almost always accompanied by pap (rice), kuk (soup), kimchi, and several side dishes with chopsticks, which are all included in the price. Do not leave chopsticks inserted directly into the rice, as this is a ceremonial act performed in memorial services for the dead.
Koreans always wait for the oldest person present to begin eating before they begin and do not leave the table until the oldest person has finished.

 Basic Concepts of of Korean Cuision

 1. Boiled Rice (Bap)
Boiled rice, or rice mixed with barley, corn, or other grains, is the staple of the Korean diet. There are many ways to cook rice and many ingredients which may be added to it. Besides rice boiled by itself or with other grains, you might have boiled rice recooked with vegetables, eggs, or meat.

 2. Gruel (Juk)
Many types of porridge have been developed since early times. Rice and other grains are boiled into gruel, which can be either a choice delicacy or a special medicinal dish for the sick.  

 3. Soup (Guk,Tang)
Soup (guk, also called tang ) must be served at any Korean meal. Materials commonly used for soup include meat, vegetables, fish, seaweed, clams, and even the bones and internal organs of cows and pigs.  

 4. Stews and Casseroles (Jjigae and Jeon-gol )
These dishes contain less water and more ingredients than soup. Soy sauce, soybean paste, and red pepper paste are added depending on the main material. Jeon-gol is a dish cooked at the table by placing layers of sliced, seasoned beef at the bottom of a pot.  

 5. Smothered and Soy Sauce-glazed Dishes (Jjim and Jorim)
To cook jjim, put whatever ingredients you want along with seasonings into an earthenware pot and steam them at a low heat for a long time, until they have softened. There are many varieties of tchim. Glazing in soy sauce, or in red pepper paste, is a time-honored technique which preserves food for weeks.  

 6. Broiled and Fried Dishes (Gui and Jeon )
You can broil food on a spit or directly on a grill. Barbecued beef is the most representative broiled dish. One popular fried dish is chon, which is made by covering chopped, stuffed, or whole meat, fish or vegetables with flour, dipping them in beaten egg, and panfrying them.  

 7. Sliced Raw Fish and Meat (Hoe¸)
Many people enjoy fish either raw or parboiled. Both dishes go well with drinks. Koreans like both raw meat and raw fish on special days or for special occasions.  

 8. Salted Fish (Jeotgal )
Koreans preserve fish, clams, fish eggs, or the internal organs of fish with salt until they are fermented. The results are salty but tasty side dishes and appetizers. They are also good as seasonings for Gimchi and other foods.  

 9. Rice Cakes (Tteok )
Steaming rice flour in a rice cake steamer is the usual way of making tteok. These traditional cakes are made for ancestor worship ceremonies and for holidays.  

 10. Vegetable Dishes (Namul )
Green may be parboiled or fried and seasoned with various spices. They should be mixed, seasoned, and soaked by hand to improve the taste.

 11. Korean Sweets and Cookies (Han-gwa)
Most of these light and crispy traditional sweets and cookies are made of rice flour mixed with honey. Like rice cakes, han-gwa was served at ancestor worship ceremonies and on other special days.  

 12. Drinks and Teas (Hwachae and Cha )
Hwachae, served as refreshments with dessert, are traditional Korean fruit drinks. A sweet rice drink and a cinnamon fruit punch are common. Green tea, Job's tears tea, citron tea, and ginger tea are all popular forms of tea. When drinking tea, people observe a special etiquette called Dado, the "Way of Tea."