Korean food consists of 80% vegetables and 20% meat, so it is recognized as the most logical diet to prevent adult diseases among people today. The vegetarian culture has developed in East Asia, including Korea. In Korea, vegetables are blanched and seasoned with healthy sauces, such as garlic and sesame oil, whereas in Japan, vegetables are salted and eaten salty. In China, vegetables are stir-fried in oil. This is superior not only to East Asia, but also to the West, which has a meat-oriented diet. This is why we are recommending Korean food that is based on vegetables.

To the Korean people, namul(wild greens) is a type of traditional food that has been enjoyed for a long time to the extent that they appear in the Myth of Dangun. There are about 250 kinds of namul, so it is an essential food in our diet. It is highly nutritious so it is said that eating any type of young greens in the early spring is beneficial to the body. Moreover, it has established itself as the most loved type of food by our people, who revered the life of simplicity and noble poverty. 

Since our people have been eating vegetarian-oriented Korean food for thousands of years, our body has changed, and has been evolving according to it. This remains true even when Western food has been introduced in our diet for decades. As we gradually began to eat Western food, more and more people are suffering from nutritional deficiency on a full stomach. In the past, people suffered from malnutrition because there was no food to eat. However, at present, the only difference is in the nutritional intake, which is biased toward one side and often results in a deficiency of other nutrients.

It may be difficult for us to understand these days, but in the past, people used to live on minor grains, such as sorghum and millet, sweet potatoes, and corn, until barley came out in the early summer. When they ran out of supply, people went out to the mountains or the fields to dig up wild plants, such as dandelions and plantains. They also tried to maintain their health by eating vegetarian Korean dishes set with sweet potato stems, radish greens, pumpkin leaves, various namul dishes, soybean paste, or kimchi.

As a vegetarian dish, namul has a lexical meaning consisting of side dishes made from greens or vegetables collected from nature, or edible wild greens. It is the most basic type of food among the side dishes we eat daily, and the ingredients are all vegetables, mushrooms, and tree shoots. Namul is usually seasoned by stir-frying in oil, or blanched and seasoned with sauces. In general, soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame salt, green onion, and chopped garlic are used for sauces, while salt is used instead of soy sauce to maintain its unique color.

There is also a know-how for placing namul on tableware. Usually, two or three kinds of namul are put in one plate, but the seasoned namul and raw seasoned namul are put separately. Then the colors are harmonized so that they look good, and their flavors also remain harmonious. The variety and special flavors of namul are recorded in various literatures, which express the different sentiments of enjoying namul through elegant expressions.

Today, people live in an environment that threatens health, such as heavy metals and air pollution. They also live by eating food that has been penetrated with residual pesticides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, and food additives. Since many of these heavy metals and pesticides are fat-soluble, they are stored in adipose tissues and are not easily discharged. Thus, we need to pay attention to the vegetarian culture with a detoxifying food that removes these toxic substances.

Mugwort, dandelion, plantain, ixeris dentata, chamdureup(type of fatsia shoot), gaedureup(a type of fatsia shoot), bracken, aster leaf, short-fruit pimpinella, deodeok, bellflower root, bitter lettuce, and wild chive and shepherd’s purse are rich in antioxidants, such as vitamins A, C, and E, selenium, and flavonoids, which remove toxic substances from our body and improve immunity. These edible greens are also good for our body because they offer strong vitality. Our edible greens overcome the fierce competition of the ecosystem for survival by enduring rain, wind, snow, cold and heat, and drought and the rainy season. Likewise, plenty of nutrients are created during this growth process, linking their strong vitality to medicinal properties.

There is one more thing to add. That is, for our food to be healthy, it must contain sincerity. Even the same food can enter our body and work differently, depending on how much effort is put into making it. One of the first dishes that comes to mind that contains the sincerity of a cook is namulmuchim(wild greens salad or seasoned wild greens). The taste of the namul dish varies, depending on the skills of the person who is making it. Namulmuchim, which mothers carefully season, or doenjangguk(soybean paste soup), which is boiled with soybean paste and namul in boiling water, are said to be the dishes that can be an elixir for our body. Food made by our mothers in the past differs from the ones we have at restaurants nowadays because of this devotion. 

The food that our mothers cooked with all their hearts and with ingredients that sprouted and were grown in our land, the food the whole family ate together with thankfulness, the food that has meaning and the maker’s heart in each and every dish, and the food that comforts us and boosts our energy keep our body healthy and cure diseases. 

A healthy body can be only achieved through constant effort. To maintain a healthy body, we need to live a simple life, exercise moderately, and eat fresh and clean, vegetarian-based Korean food. We all know that a vegetarian culture that is beneficial to our body is important, but it is not easy to apply it to our daily lives. There are many people who rely on meat-centric food and high-calories instant food because they are busy, and cannot spare time to cook. However, we need to pay attention to purchasing quality food without contamination even if the price is a little expensive, and keep in mind that eating our namul dishes that evenly provide various nutrients required by our body is the shortcut to healthcare.