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=MiyeokGuk 미역국 - Seaweed soup=





Korea is a country with 5000year history. Over this period many different cultural, traditional foods had developed. Within many different foods I have chosen Miyeokguk as my traditional food since Miyeokguk is common food with variety and consumed by many Koreans as well as having special meanings and role. The main in gradient of this food is miyeok, which is a type of brown seaweed, called Undaria pinnatifida or commonly known as sea mustard or wakame. But other ingredients making up this food is differ in different regions and household. The Original version of miyeokguk was making it with only miyeok, water, soy sauce and sesame oil(Doosan cooperation, N.D). In the regions near sea make miyeokguk using ingredients such as mussel, crab or fish(미역국(Miyeokguk/ Seaweed soup), N.D). But today most commonly consumed miyeokguk is sogogi miyeokguk which is miyeokguk made with beef(Doosan cooperation, N.D).

It is uncertain when Koreans started eating Miyeokguk but it may develop around year 918-1392 which was the time of Goryeo Dynasty. In the book Goryeo dokyung (고려도경 [高麗圖經]) there is a record that miyeok was enjoyed by everyone in different class(Doosan Cooperation, N.D). In ancient Chinese document, Chohakgi(초학기[初學記]), has a record that people of Goryeo collect Miyeok and feed to mother who gave birth after they saw mother whale who gave birth ate Miyeok to heal the wound made when they gave birth to their baby(Unknown, 2006). Miyeokguk is a very common everyday food however it is also a birthday food. Usually people have Miyeokguk and steamed white rice as a main for breakfast on the day of the birthday. This because Miyeokguk is the first meal mothers has after they gave birth to their child and having miyeokguk on birthday to memories and thank mothers suffering when she gave birth to the child.There is a tradition of buying thick and long miyeok at full for the new mothers (미역국(Miyeokguk/ Seaweed soup), N.D). This is because of belief that if the miyeok is folded the mother will experience dystocia (미역국(Miyeokguk/ Seaweed soup), N.D).
 * __History of Miyeokguk __**
 * __Meanings and role of Miyeokguk __**

There are two different stories why Koreans start to eat Miyeokguk after they gave birth. The first story involves samshin halmoni, who is three goddesses in appearance of old lady. These three goddesses are known to select the baby and send to right parents, help mothers to safely deliver baby and help mothers to raise their child (Yoon, 2010). After birth mothers use miyeokguk as a offering to thank three goddesses and on the birth day of a child mother use miyeokguk as a offering to wish health of child to the three goddesses (Yoon, 2010).

Another story is about a fisher man who went in to whale’s stomach by accident. He saw whale’s stomach got healed when seaweed was entered into the stomach. So when the fisherman was finally able to get out of whale’s stomach he took some of this seaweed and gave it to his wife who recently gave birth to his child while he was gone and it made the wife heal faster than others and that seaweed was Miyeok (Yoon, 2010). This made the tradition of mothers to eat Miyeokguk when they gave birth to their child.

In Korea there is also a day people never should have miyeokguk, even if it is their own birthday. Korean people never have miyeokguk on the day when they have an important examination or interview. For example, on the day of University entrance exam or on the day of the interview for a new job, miyeokguk is forbidden food. This is because of seaweed being slippery. In Korea the world 미끄러지다(mi gguruh ji da) which usually mean ‘slip’ also meaning of failing. It is believe that if slippery food is eaten on the day of important exam, they are more likely to be failed so they want to avoid consuming slippery food. So in Korea there is expression of ‘ate miyeokguk’ which means failed exam or interview.

__Consumption of Miyeok in Korea__
There was no record of Miyeokguk consumption level itself since most of data collected are based on the ingredients of food Korean people consume. Moreover, the oldest data I could found about seaweed consumption in general was year 1969. In some data, it had Miyeok consumption alone but many of the data collected seaweed as a one category rather than dividing into different types of seaweeds.

In the third health and nutrition survey data, consumption of overall food consumption level in year 1969 to 2005 is presented and this includes overall seaweed consumption.



Note that this is data is containing all different types of seaweeds which includes gim which is well known as Nori, Miyeok, Dashima(Kombu) and other types of seaweeds. The graph shows generally increase in seaweed overtime. This can be because of the fact that new technologies developed allow people to produce more seaweed overtime as well as development of transport allowing fresh seaweeds to be transported into areas far from the seas. Another possible reason for increase in seaweed consumption can be because of the fact that most Koreans are health conscious and they may increase in consumption as they hear more about good health impacts on seaweed overtime.

The Nation Health and Nutrition reports from 1998 to 2010 also had level of miyeok consumption level. The frequency of having miyeok was asked by how many times people consume miyeok in a day, a week and a year. In 1998, 26.5 percent answerd that they consume miyeok 2to3 times followed by once a week which was 24.5% and only 3.5% answered they hardly ever have miyeok (Ministry of Health and Wealfare, 1999). 1998 datas show that women have slightly higher consumption of miyeok in frequency than men. In year 2005, 28.74% ate miyeok once a week and 24.17% consumed miyeok 2to3 times a month which is slight increase in frequency (Ministry of Health and Wealfare, 2006). However, there was also slight increase in population who hardly ever consume miyeok at 4.14%. In year 2007, average consumption of miyeok in whole population was about 1.12times per week and in year 2010 average consumption dropped again to 0.9times a week (Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2008; Ministry of Health and Wealfare, 2011). Overall it seems there is no significant change in mieyok consumption in 8 year period. To understand overall consumption change in miyeok more information from the past is needed.

__Health impact on high consumption of seaweed__
In general, seaweeds contain high levels of polysaccharides. Most of polysaccharides in seaweeds can act as a dietary fibre(Burtin, 2003). In brown seaweed, such as miyeok contains polysaccharide called fucoidans which can act as a protective factor for inflammation or viral infections(Burtin, 2003). Dietary fibres of seaweed are also known to give feelings of satiety as it increase in volume in intestines(MacArtain, Gill, Brooks, Campbell, & Rwland, 2007) make people feel full for longer time. Seaweeds are also known to have high levels of minerals. In miyeok, there are high levels of magnesium, copper, iron, iodine and calcium in very small amount(MacArtain, Gill, Brooks, Campbell, & Rwland, 2007). Seaweed also contains polyunsaturated fatty acids such as omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids which can be beneficial to preventing cardiovascular disease(Burtin, 2003; MacArtain, Gill, Brooks, Campbell, & Rwland, 2007). Vitamin content of seaweeds is also very high. Brown seaweed, especially miyeok contains high levels of vitamin A, B, C and E which plays important role in body metabolism(MacArtain, Gill, Brooks, Campbell, & Rwland, 2007).

However, there is a health concern about consuming high levels of seaweed. As it was mentioned, miyeok contains high levels of iodine and large amount of iodine consumption is a health concern(MacArtain, Gill, Brooks, Campbell, & Rwland, 2007). Iodine level is especially concern for Koreans since mothers of newborns consume large amount of seaweed soup for a certain period of time. Medical professionals concern that high iodine consumption can directly pass through breast milk and babies can suffer from hypothyroidism as a result of mothers consuming high levels of iodine(Moon & Kim, 1999; Emder & Jack, 2011). Nevertheless, another study showed that Koreans and Japanese had higher tolerance level for iodine than other countries and percentage of patient suffers from thyroid related disease was similar to other countries where did iodine consumption level is lower than Korea or Japan(Lee & Min, 2011). Therefore, it seems further studies are needed to show more clear relationship between large amount of iodine consumption and thyroid disease in countries traditionally have high levels of seaweed consumption.

Burtin, P. (2003). Nutritional value of Seaweeds. //Electrronical Journal of Environmental, Argicultural and food Chemistry 2(4)//, 498-503. Doosan Cooperation. (N.D). //미역[sea mustard,Undaria pinnatifida]//. Retrieved 04 12, 2012, from Doopidia: [] Doosan cooperation. (N.D). //미역국[miyeokguk / Seaweed Soup]//. Retrieved 04 11, 2012, from doopidia: [] Emder, P. J., & Jack, M. M. (2011). Iodine-induced neonatal hypothyroidism secondary to maternal seaweed consumption: A common practice in some Asian cultures to promote breast milk supply. //Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 47//, 750–752. Lee, H. S., & Min, H. (2011). Iodine Intake and Tolerable Upper Intake Level of Iodine for Koreans. //Korean Journal of Nutrition 44(1)//, 82 ~ 91. MacArtain, P., Gill, C. I., Brooks, M., Campbell, R., & Rwland, I. R. (2007). Nutritional Value of Edible Seaweeds. //Nutrition Reviews 65(12)//, 535-543. Ministry of Health and Wealfare. (1999). //Repor t on 1998 NATIONAL HEALTHANDNUTRITIONSURVEY - dietary intake servay.// Seoul: Ministry of Health and Wealfare. Ministry of Health and Wealfare. (2006). //The Third Korea National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES Ⅲ), 2005 - Nutrition Survey (Ⅰ).// Seoul: Ministry of Health and Wealfare. Ministry of Health and Wealfare. (2011). //2010// //국민건강통계 국민건강영양조사 제5기 1차년도 (2010 National Health statistics The Fifth Korea National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey).// Seoul: Ministry of Health and Wealfare;Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ministry of Health and Welfare. (2008). //2007// //국민건강 통계-국민 영양조사 제4기 1차년도 (2007 National Health Statisics - The Forth Korea National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey).// Seoul: Ministry of Health and Welfare;Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Moon, S., & Kim, J. (1999). Iodine content of human milk and dietary iodine intake of Korean lactating mothers. //International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 50//, 165±171. Unknown. (2006, 05 23). //Where did origins of Miyeokguk started?// Retrieved 04 12, 2012, from Nate: [] Yoon, D. (2010). 미역국-생일날 왜 미역국을 먹을까? (Miyeokguk- why do we eat miyeokguk on the brithday?). In D. Yoon, //장모님은 왜 씨암탉을 잡아주실까? -음식유래 이야기 (why dose mother in law caught brood hen for son-in-law? - story of origins of food) ).// Seoul: Chung bori press. //미역국(Miyeokguk/ Seaweed soup)//. (N.D). Retrieved 04 12, 2012, from 한민족문화대백과사전 (Korean culture encyclopedia): http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Index