KOREA FOUNDATION

Birthday celebrations usually mean cake cutting and the opening of gifts. For Koreans, however, birthdays are felt most deeply when celebrated with a bowl of miyeokguk, or seaweed soup, prepared with love. Nowadays, miyeokguk can be easily made by simply pouring boiling water over dried seaweed and seasonings from a ready-to-eat pack, but real miyeokguk needs a bit more effort. First, soak the dried seaweed in cold water. When the seaweed is properly soaked and softened, stir-fry it with sesame oil, pour water over it, and boil it until the broth thickens into a soup. If you add beef, mussels, or dried pollack, the soup tastes deeper and more savory. Miyeokguk is the number one birthday food for Koreans, and “Have you eaten miyeokguk?” is a classic birthday greeting.

In China, where noodles are perennially popular, birthdays mean chang shou mian, or longevity noodles. Unlike other noodle varieties, chang shou mian should be made in one long strand that symbolizes long life. In the past, these noodles were made thick to prevent them from breaking, but these days even thin noodles remain unbroken. Particularly notable are the two eggs that are placed on top of the noodle dish. If you visit a restaurant in China and let the staff know it’s your birthday, you may be served a special bowl of longevity noodles.

While Korea and China celebrate birthdays with entire meals, the French celebrate with sweet desserts, mostly crêpes that are as varied as their ingredients. You can make French birthday crêpes by putting whipped cream, fruit, chocolate, jam, or any other toppings of your choice on a thin, crispy pancake and rolling it up. You may think that any crêpe tastes the same as any other, but their flavor, taste, recipe, and appearance can be drastically different from one store to the next. That’s why there are so many crêperies specialized in the treat.

Brazilians also celebrate birthdays with a special dessert called brigadeiro. Often homemade, these are small balls of chocolate presented as birthday gifts. Children are especially fond of the bite-sized treats. Anyone can make brigadeiro easily with condensed milk, butter, cocoa powder, and chocolate sprinkles.

In Ghana, birthdays are marked by oto, a dish made of boiled eggs, mashed yam, and palm oil. oto is served as a birthday breakfast, with hard-boiled eggs placed intact or in pieces on the yellow mashed yam.

It seems like we Koreans have two birthdays because our age increases once on New Year’s Day and then we celebrate again on the date of our actual birth. In 2020, why not use this New Year’s “birthday” to try the birthday dishes of our friends from around the world? After all, we can still enjoy an indispensable bowl of miyoekguk when our actual birthday comes around.

Written by Kim Shinyoung
Illustrated by Jeong Hyoju

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