Siwonhan-mat: The third taste of Korean foods

BackgroundSmell and taste are frequently referenced senses when describing flavors of food. In addition to these two senses, Koreans have regarded that there is another sense of taste experienced through the body. This third sense, siwonhan-mat (시원한 맛), describes the sensation of the body including the tongue, stomach, and intestines when eating. While smell and taste play an important role in the enjoyment of food, it is also crucial to evaluate what your body can experience from eating. In this context, siwonhan-mat is the sense acquired through the digestion of food.MethodsThis paper will discuss the third taste found in Korean food, siwonhan-mat. In addition, expressions, key elements, and examples of food with siwonhan-mat will be explored.ResultsSiwonhan-mat is regarded as a unique taste found in Korean food. Of course, there are other descriptive Korean words for flavor such as kipeun-mat (깊은 맛, deep taste or deeper flavor) and kusuhan-mat (구수한 맛, one of delicate or pleasant taste), but they are similar to the traditional five tastes found in Korean food (saltiness, sourness, sweetness, bitterness, and spiciness) in the sense that they are received through the tongue. By contrast, siwonhan-mat is a refreshing taste experienced by the body during the digestive process. As for umami, part of the modern five basic tastes, it would be practical to subdivide it into a few different compounded tastes, such as kipeun-mat, kokumi, and kusuhan-mat. After conducting many studies about temperature, acidity, and sweetness of foods in order to find a determining factor for siwonhan-mat, researchers have concluded that kan, balancing the salt concentration of food, is closely related to the creation of the siwonhan-mat sensation.ConclusionSiwonhan-mat is a unique sensation found in Korean food. Understanding siwonhan-mat is a key to learning about Korean food and its food culture. Therefore, this paper serves an important role in understanding Korean food. Siwonhan-mat is often mistranslated using words to describe temperature, such as cool. This misinterpretation has resulted in confusion over the original meaning of siwonhan-mat and contributed to the incorrect usage of the word.