With Summer about to be in full force, I am looking for ways to cool myself down. The best way I have found is with something cool and refreshing. My blood is not 2 parts mulnaengmyeon (chilled buckwheat noodle soup) and 2 parts Korean ice cream and patbingsu. The other 6 parts are just my regular diet of rice, soup, soju, beer etc- not necessarily in that order. These days, I have had a pressing question in my brain: what is the origin of patbingsu? The debate on the internet goes that it has roots in Malaysia or China and then we have Koreans assert that it is uniquely Korean. Of course, there are variations of this snow ice dessert in other countries, but if you look at the classic patbingsu. You have fruit cocktail, sweetened condensed milk, corn flakes, and ice during summer. Could this been a dessert to have started during ancient times? According to the Korea Herald, during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897), " Seobingo ― the government office in ch...