School Lunch in Korea

Today's menu had the main dishes for a birthday meal in Korea. In the States, we eat birthday cake and the birthday girl or boy's dish of choice. But in Korea, there are traditional foods that Koreans eat on their birthdays. The ones we had for lunch today are: seaweed soup, japchae, and sticky rice.
Seaweed soup symbolizes a mother's labor pains. After giving birth, moms eat lots of seaweed soup for a speedy recovery because seaweed has high amounts of iron that help to clean the blood. Koreans eat seaweed soup on their birthdays to remember their mothers with a thankful heart.
Japchae is another birthday dish because it's served at any party or festival. Japchae noodles also symbolize long life.
Sticky rice symbolizes parents' desire for their children to be strong- like the sticky rice.

Monday, 4/15/2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
homemade meatballs (수제미트볼조림),
japchae (오색잡채),
kimchi,
pineapples,
seaweed soup with a beef base (쇠고기미역국),
and sticky rice (찹쌀밥)