This Invasive Plant Met Its Match: Koreans Are Turning It Into Dinner
This post is going viral because it humorously highlights a common Korean trait: resourcefulness in the face of adversity, especially when it comes to food. The idea of an invasive species being 'defeated' by becoming a delicious ingredient resonates with a sense of national pride and practicality.
Koreans have a long history of foraging for wild greens (*namul*) and making the most of available ingredients, a practice deeply rooted in past periods of scarcity. This post taps into that cultural memory and the collective identity of Koreans as adaptable and skilled at turning anything into a meal.
Koreans are known for their resourcefulness, especially when it comes to food, and an invasive species called Crow Garlic is learning that the hard way. This plant, a relative of common garlic, has been causing ecological issues in various regions. But instead of seeing a problem, Koreans saw an opportunity: a new ingredient! With its strong garlic-like scent and similar taste, Crow Garlic is now being harvested and used as a substitute for popular Korean wild greens like *dallae* or even regular garlic in dishes. From seasoned salads (*namul*) to stews, it seems no plant is safe from becoming a delicious meal on the Korean peninsula.
Korean Netizen Reactions
10Back in Sakhalin and Primorsky Krai, Russians were starving, waiting for food from Moscow. But Koreans living there survived by foraging mountain greens and catching seafood. Russians saw them and copโฆ
It's just dallae, isn't it?
Whether it's a plant or an animal, if it survives all four seasons on the Korean peninsula, its usefulness gets maximized, lol.
It looks exactly like dallae, lol.
If you make dallaejang (soy sauce seasoning with dallae) and eat it wrapped in gopchang-gim (a type of crispy seaweed), it'd be so good!
Foreigners just don't try hard enough to eat things. If eating it raw makes you sick, try blanching it. If that makes you sick, blanch it and dry it... lmaooo.
It's dallae, lol. It's delicious whether you make it into a seasoned salad or put it in doenjang stew.
It's like that DC Inside saying, 'There's no plant you can't eat, only plants you don't know how to eat,' is embedded in our genes somewhere.
Oh no, American dallae (Crow Garlic) is in big trouble now... tsk tsk.
Making dallaejang with it would be SO delicious...