Lisa Loveday from Eat Auckland runs Korean food tours in Auckland. Student, Suna Kim, who is from Seoul helps guide diners through the tastes and culture of her homeland. Here's a recipe for Kimchi pancakes.
Lisa says a whole lot of Korean restaurants have popped up in Lorne Street and High Street in Auckland.
"We stop at different restaurants and businesses there and eat Korean food and learn about the culture, and Suna fills us in on all the details about Korean culture."
Suna says Korean cuisine uses sesame oil, garlic, ginger, soy and gochugang - fermented chilli paste, and of course kimchi.
She says Korean breakfast usually consists of a bowl of rice, a bowl of hot soup and a side dish from the night before.
"It can be tofu and vegetable and pickled vegetables."
Lisa says she's just recently come back from a trip to Korea, and while New Zealanders usually think of kimchi as pickled fermented cabbage in chilli, there is actually over 3000 varieties of the popular food.
"Here in New Zealand we're only seeing radish kimchi - that's from the daikon - and the cabbage … but in the Korean restaurant you are seeing fresh kimchi dishes which are fresh side dishes as well.
Suna says kimchi is usually made once a year.
"Historically our ancestors kept vegetables during the cold winter so they made pickled vegetable by using salt and other seasonings for greater flavour.
Lisa says it would be hard to be a vegetarian in Korea.
"They really do love meat, so most people also know about Korean barbecue but what we're trying to do on the tour is take it a little bit further.
It's not just about kimchi and barbecue, there are so many different options in Korean cuisine.
She says a big difference between the Kiwi kitchen and the Korean kitchen is the oven is not common, and baking does not often happen.
"A friend of mine who lives with a Korean family jokes about whenever she wants to do some baking she has to take all the kitchen utensils and everything out of the oven ... it's just used as storage.
"Most of the sweets are steamed, so traditional sweet cooking is done on top of the stove with steaming of rice … and red beans."
Another favourite dessert is a shaved ice treat.
"It's like a milk ice that's put through a machine that makes such fine ice shavings - it's unlike a slushie where its' just crushed up, it's shaved into thin slices.
"So it melts in your mouth and it's kind of like eating snow."
