Korean Birthday Soup

Let’s see. Okay, so there’s a Korean tradition. It’s called seimitsu. But In Korean it’s called miyeok guk. And my mom makes it for me every single birthday. I think I’ve had it on every single one of my birthdays and like so have all my siblings, like my dad has had the soup on like all of his birthdays too. And it’s a, it’s like a tradition and it’s like a symbol of good luck. And also it’s like a way of like honoring like your mom for like giving birth to you because like seaweed has a lot of like health benefits. And it’s like really good for like, um, I don’t know what it’s like, necessarily good for, but it’s like good for like, bearing children, that kind of stuff. So like, it’s just like a way to honor your parents and like a symbol of good luck because it’s like a tradition that you have every single year.

Context: The informant and their mother are Korean, and this birthday soup is a traditional Korean dish.

Analysis: The connection between the health benefits of the seaweed and the honoring of the mother makes sense, because seaweed has a lot of minerals and vitamins, and antioxidant properties. In this way, the soup is definitely connected to the importance of family and honoring your parents, as well as being a birthday tradition.