Kimbap, meaning seaweed rice in Korean, is a Korean dish of cooked rice and vegetables, sometimes with cooked seafood or meat, rolled in dried seaweed sheets and served sliced into bite-sized pieces. It is widely eaten as a portable food for picnics and outdoor events and is a popular takeout dish both within South Korea and internationally. Its origin is debated: one widely accepted account traces it to Japanese makizushi introduced during the Japanese occupation of Korea between 1910 and 1945, while an alternative theory connects it to earlier Korean traditions of wrapping rice and side dishes in seaweed, such as the Joseon-era dish bokssam, though scholars generally agree that the specific technique of rolling seaweed around rice on a bamboo mat and slicing it originated in Japan. The Korean term kimbap first appeared in a 1935 newspaper and eventually replaced the Japanese loanword norimaki as part of efforts to remove Japanese colonial-era linguistic influence. Variations include chungmu gimbap and samgak gimbap.
Facts
Disputed
Origin Period, From (Year)Sourced to the subject's own accountThe commonly accepted theory places kimbap's origin in the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945), when the Japanese makizushi roll was introduced to Korea. An alternative theory in the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture instead traces it to an older local tradition of rolling rice and side dishes in seaweed, with Korean seaweed (gim) production already recorded in fifteenth-century books, so the exact origin period is contested. Origin Period, To (Year)Sourced to the subject's own accountSame dispute as origin-start-year: the Japanese-occupation theory bounds the period at 1910-1945; the alternative local-tradition theory would place the dish earlier. Classification
Dietary SuitabilityContains Meat or Poultry 1 Origin RegionSourced to the subject's own accountKorea (Korean peninsula) 2 Sources
1. Gimbap (Wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimbap (dietary-suitability)Quote, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimbap (dietary-suitability)
Gimbap, also romanized as kimbap, is a Korean dish made from bap, vegetables, and optionally, cooked seafood or meat rolled in gim-dried sheets of seaweed-and served in bite-sized slices.
2. Kimbap (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section
Gimbap (Korean: 김밥; lit. 'seaweed rice') is a Korean dish made from bap (cooked rice), vegetables, and optionally, cooked seafood or meat rolled in gim-dried sheets of seaweed-and served in bite-sized slices.
Origin section, Japanese occupation theory
One commonly accepted theory suggests that the dish is derived from the introduction of the Japanese sushi variant makizushi to Korea during the Japanese occupation of Korea.
Origin section, Japanese occupation dates
Japanese occupation (1910-1945), when Western food and drink, such as bread, confectionery, and beer, became popular in Korean cities.
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