PHOTOS Challenging sweltering summer with 'boknal' hotpot

Foreign students at the international summer school camp at Hansung University in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, enjoy ginseng chicken hotpot, known as "samgyetang," on July 16. The school prepared the dishes so the students could experience "boknal" food ― traditional Korean food that helps diners weather the hot summer. The food includes samgyetang, bosintang (dog meat stew), suyuk (boiled pork slices) and yukgyejang (spicy beef soup). Boknal food is most popular among Koreans on "boknal days" ― three days traditionally known as the hottest of the year. The lunar calendar days that change every year are "Chobok" (this year, July 17), "Jungbok" (July 27) and "Malbok" (Aug. 16). Korea Times photos by Choi Won-suk

A student eats meat off a chicken bone from a bowl of samgyetang.

Like Gil Salgado, right, a senior high school student from Joplin, Missouri, some students unfamiliar with chopsticks found various ways to eat the chicken, either the meat on a chopstick or simply grabbing it with bare hands from a boiling-hot bowl.

Samgyetang can be served in an aluminum bowl or an earthen pot known in Korean as "ttukbaegi." Both materials are good heat-inductors, making them ideal for serving food that is best enjoyed when hot.