大長今 (Dae Jang Geum)

[Ian_Lee]

大長今 is the popular Korean TV series. Then why do I put it in the food forum?

Because almost every episode of it revolves around eating. It talks about how the top chefs in the Korean court use food as a means to engage in power struggle and court rivalry.

There are some interesting topics like:

The Chinese Emperor sent the delicacy -- Bear's Paw -- to the Korean King for him to enjoy. And the 熟手 (King's cook but worked outside the court) immediately said that the right paw tastes better than the left paw.

Why? Because the bear uses its right palm to grab the beehive. Since the right paw must have been stinged numerous times by the bees, so that it must carry a lot of honey which should taste better.

[skylee]

Only about half of the TV series is about food. The other half is about medicine.

Now that you have mentioned it, I would think that a bee injects poison instead of honey in a bear's paw when it stings a bear, right? And what if the bear is left-handed? Strange theory ...

[Quest]

I didn't believe any of that, it's just a drama with exaggeration.

[Ian_Lee]

I have just watched up till episode 27 (TVB edition). So far the series focuses on food. Even if it is related to medicine, it is food-for-medicine (藥膳).

Interestingly now many tour agencies advertise the food served in the series , i.e. "winter insect summer grass", in their itinerary as meals for the guests during their stay in Korea.

[Quest]

Ian_Lee, I think 大长今 is more about 医 than 食. It's her talent in 医 that made her famous and respected. Keep watching

[skylee]

"winter insect summer grass"

It is cordyceps.

[Homeward]

I didn't believe any of that, it's just a drama with exaggeration.

Funny, my aunt in HK always says that TVB drama are always full of exaggerations, lol

Talking of "大長今", I like these 2 tracks:

• Kelly Chen (陳慧琳) - " 希望 " (韓劇 '大長今' 主題曲)
  
• Kelly Chen (陳慧琳) & 林保怡 - " 不配相擁 " (韓劇 '大長今' 插曲)
  

Prefer the "不配相擁" more though.

[Ian_Lee]

Believe it or not -- the 大長今 frenzy is now over China -- even Hu Jintao and Wu Bangguo are addicted to the drama series:

http://chinese.chosun.com/big5/site/data/html_dir/2005/09/29/20050929000028.html

[chenpv]

So many surprises here in this thread.......

Because the bear uses its right palm to grab the beehive. Since the right paw must have been stinged numerous times by the bees, so that it must carry a lot of honey which should taste better.

oh, my major is biology but i havent the faintest clue about this.....

even Hu Jintao and Wu Bangguo are addicted to the drama series

Oh, really?

I just dont know why people are crazy about this TV series. just one question: who sang the original song (or ballad)? Because there are controversial ideas about the singers here among the students, some of us assume the singers are 50-year-old ladies and others believe they are 7or8-year-old children.