Book tells of Yook’s sundae journey
Many people enjoy sundae, a Korean food consisting of intestines stuffed with various ingredients, but only a few know the history of this popular Korean food.
Yook Kyung-hee, CEO of Heestory Food and owner of Sundaesillok, a sundae restaurant in Seoul, does, and she traveled miles (literally) to track down the best sundae in Korea. She didn’t stop there. Following her local journey, she turned her eyes outward to travel thousands of miles around the world to find the most representative sundae of each nation. Her discoveries were recorded in a book called “Sundaesillok” or “Sundae Annals” which was published last month.
“Sundaesillok” is like a tribute to all the dishes like sundae in the world. It begins with the history of sundae in the first chapter. She explores how the word “sundae” came to be and where it could have possibly originated from. She searches historical documents, journals and books and runs down various assumptions.
According to her comprehensive studies, she writes that the earliest form of “sundae” dates back to B.C. 5000-3000 in Mesopotamia where it is presumed to have spread to Greece and crossed over to Europe through the island of Sicily in Italy.
The origin of sundae in Asia is presumed to date to around B.C. 2000 when China started trading with the Middle East. Mesopotamia’s cultural influence on China is presumed to have brought in a form of sundae to China which then probably influenced Korea.
The earliest account of sundae in Korea is recorded to have been around A.D. 1670 which is the earliest that could be found among written records. “Gaesundae” or sundae made with dog’s intestines was recorded to have been consumed at that time during the mid-Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) according to a book called “Gyogonsieuibang.”
In the late 1600s, there are records of sundae made with cow’s intestines, and records of sundae made with sheep’s intestines are found in the late Joseon period. In the 1830s, people consumed sundae of pig’s intestines and the late 1800s introduced “doyaji sundae” which is the closest form of modern day sundae, in a book called “Sieuijeonseo.”
Yook’s restaurant serves sundae that is modeled after doyaji sundae. Hence comes the birth of “white sundae” which is sundae made without clotted blood of pigs or cows in it. After her research, Yook realizes she doesn’t have to include “clotted blood” in the sundae as had been normally done, which led her to develop her own kind.
Her journey to discover the variety of dishes related to sundae began seven years ago and her travels amounted to six and a half trips around the world.
“I researched over 40,000 pages from various publications and met over 1,000 people during my 260,000-kilometer journey. In my book, I recorded all the different sundae that I’ve discovered worldwide and studied,” she said in a book publishing event earlier this month.
In the second chapter, Yook explores a variety of Korean sundae and in the third, a variety of sundae around the world. She traveled to Spain, France, England, Italy, Czech Republic, Mongolia, Vietnam and Thailand and recorded details about the intestine delicacies she discovered there.
“Sundae is humanity’s soul food,” she writes in her book. “The history of sundae began as humans began eating meat and the culture will continue onwards. Because I was recording that culture, I titled this book Sundaesillok, which means the Sundae Annals.”
Yook says as fermented “jang” (paste) provides a better taste, she hopes her book is as fermented and delicious as she hopes it to be.