In Praise of Gimbap — Which Is Not Korean Sushi

Korean gimbap may look similar, but there are big differences in taste and technique

Kimberly Lawson photos

Whenever I make gimbap, I think about my halmoni. It was the last meal she made for me before she died.

Halmoni immigrated from South Korea to help take care of me while my parents worked. One night when I was 7, she brought me a plate of gimbap for dinner — white rice (bap in Korean) and strips of good ol’ American Oscar Mayer bologna wrapped in a single sheet of roasted seaweed paper (gim). She’d sliced the long cylinder into perfect spheres, like little black tires with white walls, before walking to a neighbor’s house so I wouldn’t see her collapse. My mom told me later she had a heart attack.

Maybe that’s why gimbap feels so personal to me. Whenever I make it, my American in-laws and friends look on with interest. “Sushi!” they exclaim excitedly, and I immediately correct them.

Nothing irks me more than hearing someone confuse these two, albeit similar, Asian dishes.

To most Americans, the differences between gimbap and sushi are easily overlooked. Sushi rolls are typically made with vinegared white rice, vegetables, and seafood, often raw. The rice in gimbap, on the other hand, is cut with sesame oil, giving it a subtle nutty taste as opposed to the tang of vinegar. The protein is usually processed or cooked meat — it’s common to use Spam, seasoned beef (also known as bulgogi), and fish cake (called odeng).

Although both sushi and gimbap can be made with a variety of ingredients, Koreans in particular love to customize their gimbap. In fact, there are 12 popular styles of gimbap, from those made with all vegetables to others that use fried egg as a shell around the dried seaweed.

Seven-year-old me preferred bologna with rice seasoned with salt. Now that I’m an adult, I usually roll my gimbap with…