An old Korean proverb says “What looks good tastes good.”

In short, ancient Koreans carefully considered both the taste and visual appeal when preparing food. In the authors' opinions, not many cultures can match Korea's devotion to the aesthetics of its cuisine. Analyzing Korean food from an aesthetic standpoint, therefore, is an incredibly meaningful and fascinating endeavor.

. Foods that show the aesthetics of mixing (harmonization)

One of the Korean dishes, that had in many ways succeeded in being widely acquainted with global tastes and which is emerging as one of the representative dishes of Korean food is “bibimbap” and “tangpyungchae (蕩平菜).”

. Global dish—bibimbap

Bibimbap is truly a unique dish. We are so used to it that we forget its uniqueness, but there is nothing in the world that is a messy mixture of ingredients like bibimbap is. Bibimbap is a very colorful dish with various colorful vegetables and eggs, which are mixed with the addition of gochujang (red chili paste) [7], making its texture very different from what it was in the beginning. Furthermore, its taste is very unique. This is because the mixture of the ingredients gives this dish a taste that is of a different dimension altogether, and yet, paradoxically, you can actually taste all of its individual ingredients. This is where the mystery of bibimbap lies—there is the unique taste of mixture, and yet, there are also tastes of individual ingredients. This dish truly reflects the character of the Korean people—we love to mix and group together. There are many Korean dishes that involve mixing and harmonization.