Food!

Yesterday was the last day of school before our summer vacation. I’m incredibly relieved to be able to take a break. Not to state the obvious, but teaching is draining, especially when you’re trying to keep up with really young students. On the negative side, I can’t really go anywhere during our break, because I’m pretty much broke. But that doesn’t matter; I still get a week to relax and take in Seoul.

I made a couple references to food before, and I think it’s about time I give you guys a little taste of Korean cuisine (emphasis on little).

There is, of course, Kimchi. No food discussion is complete without it. But I talked about it last post, so I won’t beat a dead horse. Yet. As far as restaurants go, there are several different kinds of restaurants. The first type I experienced was Korean barbeque, or Galbi. That’s probably the best of the types that I’ve tried. I mentioned it in one of my earlier posts (it’s where we sat around an open flame and cooked meat, mushrooms, etc and wrapped them in leaves.). Aside from Galbi, I’m not sure how to classify places, but I’ll do my best and hope that it’s not too appallingly wrong.

There are porridge places. Korean porridge is a rice dish that is somewhat similar to Western porridge, if only in consistency. The dish includes runny rice mixed with vegetables and meats. I had a beef mushroom porridge from a place across the street from work. It was very good. Although I did really like the meal, the best part was actually the plum juice I got at the end. Korea is good for a lot of juices that I can’t get in the states, but no cranberry juice. L One thing about porridge is that it’s something you eat if you’re sick. It seems healthy, and the spices clear your sinuses … I think I’d prefer that to chicken noodle soup, but somehow I think it’s just about as scientifically beneficial.

Other than those two places, I’ve been to restaurants that serve you more like a restaurant in the states. That’s where I had the most unusual meat I’ve eaten here: spam. Apparently when the US was here during the Korean War, they’d make this soup now called budae jjigae. The Koreans would start making a soup, and American soldiers would add spam and hotdogs to the dish. Revolting though it may sound, the soup has stuck, and it’s served in restaurants. They probably eat more spam now than the US does, possibly because the soup is actually good. It’s spicy, and the broth itself somehow makes spam edible. Who knew?

The aforementioned restaurant was the source of all manner of gastronomical exploration on my part. I got to have the badae jjigae and also this curious Kimchi Jong dish. Kimchi Jong is like a Kimchi pancake. If you like Kimchi, or spice, you’d probably like this. I think there’s some potato in it to hold it together, and for the first time since I got here, I was served something with cheese.

Apparently, Koreans don’t eat a lot of cheese. Or breakfast food. According to the people I’ve asked, the traditional Korean breakfast is Ramen (this explains my airline meals). Anyway, you can find cereals and such in the grocery store, and there are foreign food places that make a Western breakfast (like a waffle house called “Butterfingers” of all things).

One of the food-related things I love here in Korea is, oddly enough, the condiments. Those of you who know too much about my eating habits know that I don’t really care for ketchup, mustard, or relish. But here, they almost always give you a chili paste with your meal. It’s only a little spicy, but so much better than ketchup (though sometimes it comes in something akin to a ketchup bottle). Also, there’s a red bean paste that they serve with the meat in Galbis.

Honestly, I’d eat almost anything if it had one of those two pastes.

By now, I’ve probably gone too far expounding on my limited experiences with Korean cuisine. But I’m going to give one final aside: booze. Alcohol is ever present here. By ever present, I don’t mean people are stumbling around drunkenly, or that there are bars on every corner. But it’s a whole lot more available than at home. There are alcohol vending machines. I can buy Soju (a rice based alcohol varying between 40 and 80 proof) for 2000 won at a convenience store. For those of you playing at home, that’s about $1.60. I went to a movie last night (Harry Potter) and bought a beer with my popcorn. Also, there are several fast food places that can serve alcoholic beverages, and Seoul doesn’t have any laws about open containers. I think the laxity is probably because Korea doesn’t have the same issues with alcohol as the US. But I’m not here to provide social commentary; I just wanted to say there’s a lot of booze to be had here.

With that wonderful insight, I’ll sign off.