Seaweed Soup by the Vat

It’s been so hot lately that I’ve been living on ice cream, popsicles and the occasional bowl of icy cold naeng myun.

I only have three weeks left in this pregnancy (GULP) and I hope the weather cools down soon, because I anticipate I will be eating vats and vats of miyeok-gook once this baby is here. Unlike most people I know, I happen to love a bowl of seaweed soup mixed with rice, every spoonful eaten with a piece of spicy kimchi. The older folk in my family all hail the healing benefits of eating this soup after giving birth, saying how it replaces the iron lost during childbirth, helps the mother produce more breast milk and generally gives the mother more energy and nutrients.

When I had my daughter a couple years ago, my aunt and cousin both brought me pots of soup to the hospital. Even the nurses recognized what it was, saying that all of their Korean patients ate the soup while in recovery. Every nurse we talked to seemed impressed by the tradition and idea behind feeding the mother this iron rich soup. It seems like even the Western world is beginning to embrace the seaweed soup tradition.

All I know is that I will need to clear some space in my refrigerator for the many pots of soup my friends and family will be bringing my way. And I can’t wait.

Comments

[Angie in Texas]

i love seaweed soup!

i remember each time after having the kids my Mom would show up with huge vats of the stuff. for weeks, it's literally the only think i ate.

i don't know the 'scientific results' of such food myths, but i know that i felt great after eating the soup and i produced milk like elsie the cow!

good luck on baby #2!

[Sandra]

I've read that it also helps with iodine absorption, which is something that you need after birth. I've been trying to find a place nearby that sells seaweed here, or trying to get my mother to send me some, because there is no place where I live that carries it.

[Nina]

My halmoni kept pushing it on me after Caius was born but I've never acquired a taste for it. I do, however, think it really makes sense. If only I weren't so picky...

3 weeks! Wow!

[Debbie Squires-Lee]

I've done tae kwon do for years and so have many Korean friends male and female (husband is Chinese) and yes, after the birth of my first son, one good friend showed up with seaweed soup! I loved it and made it after the birth of my second son as well. Good stuff! I had plenty of milk, recovered well. I'd say it works!
DS-L

[MetroDad]

Too bad we don't live closer to you! My wife makes the BEST miyeok-gook! We bring it to all of our friends who have babies (even if they're not Korean, everyone loves it.)

[angie b.]

i love miyeok guk! my birthday just passed so we had a large pot of it as well!

[brenda]

This is the first time to the website and it is great to see all the Koreans here. I am half Korean and have always loved my Korean heritage. I have 4 kids and all of them eat almost all the Korean food.
My mom also gave me seaweed soup after all of my children!! I cannot say whether it helped or not but I sure loved it!

[hypechick]

hi, this is also my first time to this blog and I LOVE it. I was searching online to learn what Koreans do for baby first foods and I stumbled on the Kimchi Mamas! I'm 2nd gen Korean and I'm mama to a 6 mo old 1/2 Korean boy named Henry. My mom arrived with bags of miyeok on hand after H was born and i ate and ate and ate and ate gallons of soup. Good thing I love it. After my mom left she would call daily to make sure I was eating it in her absences. She had multiple conversation with DH to make sure he knew how to make it for me. I personally like it with a kalbi based broth but muscles also make a tasty soup. Despite a horrendously long labor and c section my milk came in on day 3. I'll be reading on.

[talltree]

Love your blog. Even though I'm not Korean (4th generation Japanese), it still resonates.

Can anyone send me a recipe for seawood soup? I'd like to try and make it for my next pregnancy. Thank you!

[Athena Z]

Hi there. I just wanted to tell you that I am Australian girl and for the past 4 years have been very very sick. My son goes to a Christian school in Melbourne, Australia and I have 6 best friends all Korean. During my illness and operations they would bring me this soup to the hospital and I can tell you that it saved my life. All I could drink was the broth but as I got better I started to eat the seaweed itself. I have done a nutrition degree at Univeristy in Australia and knew that seaweed was good for iodine but did not realise that this Korean soup was so nourishing to the body. I now recommend it to every woman - did you know that the reason it helps with breast milk is that it balances the hormones in the female body - if your hormones are out of balance the seaweed in this soup helps to bring them back into balance - hence why so many Korean woman dont age, have beautiful skin and maintain their weight - I am a big fan of your culture and your supplments and totally respect it. I thank you for to your site, appreciate the fact that I have Korean friends who share their cultural secrets with me and who helped nurse me back to health. God bless them and you.

Kindness always
Athena

[Lourie]

I am half Korean and I just had a baby boy 3 months ago. My mother, who is Korean, came to nurish me back to health by cooking seaweed soup. My milk was always flowing and I had to replace my nursing pads constantly. I didn't notice how much it worked until after she left. I didn't cook seaweed soup until I noticed that I wasn't producing enough milk. I wish I would have listened to my mom earlier. Tip: If you don't like the taste of seaweed soup, try using a beef seasoning in it.

[Anthony Cork]

Where can i buy a big ol jar of some genuine home made kimchi my ex-great-aunt-in-law was korean and got me hooked on it with a lil steamed rice and stirfryed beef rapped in seaweed fried with sesame oil and pinch o salt sure have been missin it. She took my ex's side on the matter and wont talk to me no more
Thanks abunch
Cravin Kimchi