thekimchibear:

No one likes bland food, so obviously no one likes bland food descriptions. Due to Korea’s love for food, there’s an incredible amount of ways to describe food. We’re going to look at some fun ways to describe food beyond the basic 맵다, 달다, etc. Because there are so many adjectives, they each have subtle differences, so each one has an example with it. These are arranged from top to bottom by strength.

Girl you salty,

짜디짜다 – Too salty. (Ex. saltines)
짜디짠 바닷물을 마시니까 정신이 번쩍 든다. – Drinking the really salty seawater shocks me back to my senses.

짭조름하다 – Slightly salty. (Ex. seaweed)
바다에 오니까 공기에서 짭조름한 맛이 느껴져. – Just coming to the beach I can taste the saltiness in the air.

짭짤하다 – Slightly salty, but makes you want to keep eating it. (Ex. potato chips)
맥도날드에서 프랜치 후라이를 더 짭짤하게 먹고 싶으면 소금 더 쳐달라고 하면 돼. – If you want your fries to be extra salty at McDonalds, then you can ask them to put more salt on.

간간하다 – Just the right amount of saltiness (Ex. soup)
설랑탕의 간이 간간해서 딱 좋아. – The ox-bone soup’s perfect because the seasoning is on point.

Don’t be bitter,

쓰디쓰다 – Very bitter (ex. Espresso)
이 쓰디쓴 에스프레소를 내 고독과 마신다. – I drink this overly bitter espresso with my solitude.

쌉쌀하다 – Bitter (ex. Coffee, Medicine)
티백을 너무 오래 두면 맛이 쌉쌀해지더라. – If you leave a teabag in too long it’ll become bitter.

씁쓰름하다 – Slightly bitter (ex. Arugula)
봄나물은 씁쓰름한 맛에 먹는거지. – You eat the spring greens to taste the slight bitterness.

Blander than bland-flakes,

밍밍하다 / 맹맹하다 – Very bland, no taste
이 주스 너무 밍밍한데? 물 탄 거 아니야? – This juice is too bland. Is it mixed with water?

심심하다 – Bland (also means boring)
간을 안한 스크램블 에그는 너무 심심하지 않아? – Aren’t unseasoned scrambled eggs a bit bland (boring)?

싱겁다 – Under-seasoned, slightly bland
싱거우신 분들은 옆에 다대기를 원하시는만큼 넣으세요. – Anyone who thinks the soup is a little bland, you can add as much of the pepper paste next to you as you want.