Wednesday Gourmet (Wednesday Food Talk / 수요미식회)

Welcome to the 209th episode of Wednesday Food Talk.

Welcome. - Welcome.

Today's theme is...

the one that signals the start of summer.

Your hair would stand when you take a bite of this.

It's cool and sweet.

Today's theme is bingsu.

We have two guests who go so well with the theme, bingsu.

She's Vitamin Fairy who's always fruity.

Kim So Hye. - So Hye.

Hello.

These days, ladies get heart throbbed once at his eyes...

and again at his smile.

Girls just love this guy.

He's like the standard version of a cool guy.

Let's welcome Chani of SF9.

Hello.

He was so popular...

because of the series.

That's right. - Yes.

People talk less about the series.

Aren't you a bit sad?

Now my fans recognize me...

more as one of the members of SF9.

So I think it's great. - Right.

Summer's here quite early these days.

The weather is just perfect for bingsu.

My favorite is red bean bingsu.

There are these shops where they make red bean topping themselves.

I don't think everyone likes red bean bingsu.

What kind of bingsu do you like? - Well.

I like fruit bingsu a lot.

You know there's shaved ice with milk inside bingsu.

That's my favorite.

I think it goes well...

with the fruits on top.

I like the savory flavor of fruit bingsu.

It cools me on the inside.

But it won't make me chill on the outside.

Right. - Regardless of the season,

I have bingsu during winter too.

She really loves bingsu then.

When you have shaved ice with milk...

and fruits together,

it's just like what you had when you were all young.

It becomes like hwachae. - Fruit hwachae.

Strawberry bingsu was so popular back then when I was in college.

In a huge bowl. - Right.

I remember it. - It was served in a huge bowl.

Five guys gobbled it up.

All of our saliva was mixed in the bingsu.

We liked it. And we were sweating too.

There were many different types...

and different brands as well. - Right.

Those places sprang up everywhere.

The strawberry bingsu was a big hit.

But from what I've heard, Seok Jin doesn't like bingsu,

so this week's theme was... - Right.

a bit hard for him. - It's not like I didn't like it.

I just don't have bingsu that often.

But I really liked this bingsu. - Really?

Bingsu from our show?

Through the show, I found a new world of bingsu.

It was a chance for me to see how much...

red bean bingsu improved.

Seok Jin's attitude before and after going to the bingsu place...

changed completely. - Right, it did change.

The staff was surprised too.

And people whom he works with were surprised too.

Do you have a preference when it comes to bingsu?

Perhaps, it's because I grew up eating this kind of bingsu the most.

I still like red bean the most. - Red beans.

Lately, the bingsu made with milk...

The one with shaved milk is popular.

I think sweet flavors from red beans complement the soft shaved milk...

better than the refreshing fruits. - Yes, that's true.

So I'm not so keen on bingsu with fruits yet.

I was satisfied with red bean bingsu this time.

Actually,

it's always been red bean bingsu. Nowadays, they don't add...

red beans and add other toppings.

Back then, it was only red bean. - We only had one kind of bingsu.

Let's think about why we find bingsu tasty.

I think it was because we ate red beans a lot at home.

Moms would boil the red beans all day...

and add sugar.

They would spin the ice to shave it for the bingsu.

They'd put the shaved ice and red beans.

It tasted really good once you mixed it and had a bite.

To me, there's only one bingsu. It has to be red bean bingsu.

How did your family shave the ice?

With a machine that looked like the Eiffel Tower.

We had that machine. - You had that at home?

Yes. - Your family was rich.

You were well-off. - Right.

Your family was rich. - Yes.

I knew it. Whenever she talked,

she sounded a bit arrogant. - Exactly.

Gosh, your family was well-off.

Our family had one too.

Your family was well-off too. - Your family was rich.

This isn't... - I feel awkward, you know.

That was popular when I was growing up, so it wasn't expensive.

Gosh, that was from your point of view.

Later on, the machine...

became popular. - Right.

But back in the days, it wasn't. - Right.

I think bingsu is improving every day.

Along with the original topping,

they started to add watermelon, melon, mango, and so on.

There's a fruit bingsu with coconut too.

And there's a bingsu with a cake inside.

Interestingly, these days, they make it look like a mountain.

When it comes to bingsu, the bigger, the better.

People prefer bigger bingsu now. - The bigger, the better.

From what I've heard, bingsu that's as high as a mountain...

is getting very popular these days.

People say that you can't finish the bingsu by yourself.

It's enough even for a meal. That's how big it is.

Now that people are having a lot of fun...

by uploading photos of food on their social media,

I think people are looking for more unique and new types of bingsu.

I think people are looking for more unique and new types of bingsu.

Right. - Yes.

We'll tell you interesting stories of food...

that will make us enjoy it even more.

The more you know, the tastier it gets.

A century ago, those popular kids had bingsu for their "Hot Meal".

That's right. This is it.

The representative summer dessert is bingsu.

You can relieve the heat the fastest with bingsu.

I'm curious when we started to eat bingsu.

I'm sure we didn't use the word, "bingsu", back in the days.

There's a record in "The Chronicle of Three States" how we managed ice.

It was during King Jijeung of Silla's regime in 505.

They broke the ice from the river during winter.

Once they wrapped it with straws or ash, it didn't melt quickly.

And they buried it in the ice room called "bingo".

There are areas called Seobinggo-dong and Dongbinggo-dong.

That's right.

Those areas were where these "bingos" were.

There were ice rooms...

inside Changdeok Palace and Gyeongbok Palace too.

They stored food inside,

but they also shaved the ice and ate it too.

When you read the records from the 1600s,

a writer wrote, "After breaking the ice into pieces,"

"the ice powder spreads out like a flower in full bloom."

That was bingsu. - Right.

But the modern times,

starting from the 1900s, bingsu became a summer dessert.

And that's when many bingsu places opened up...

and people had bingsu. - Right.

It was mentioned in the article many times.

People said that there were hundreds of bingsu places in the capital.

People even said that.

When the ice-making skills improved,

and when we had more ice,

along with naengmyeon, bingsu became a huge hit.

And then, there's a new culture of dining out and going to cafes.

And bingsu was a nice dish to sell too.

Back then, a lot of department stores opened up in Seoul.

When you look at the top floor of those stores,

they set up parasols there...

and sold bingsu at the cafe along with other stuff.

That's when young crowds had it.

Right. You would dress up nicely.

You'd put on a hat and Western clothes and go there.

They either had coffee...

or red bean bingsu during summer.

A new culture was formed. - They were like hipsters.

That's right. They were hipsters.

That's how the bingsu culture in Korea grew rapidly.

I heard that Bang Jeong Hwan was a bingsu lover too.

Yes, he created Children's Day. - He went on a bingsu tour even.

Let me tell you how much he loved bingsu.

Back then, he lived near where Jongno-gu is now.

He went on a tour of bingsu places in his neighborhood.

He evaluated the taste of water, the texture of red beans,

My gosh. - the ice, and the fruits.

He even wrote the interior decors of these places in detail.

Let me read some to you.