Asia » South Korea » Gyeonggi-do
September 28th 2009

Published: September 29th 2009

The other, other, other white meat

It’s no secret, Korean food is a love/hate relationship. It never really allows any room for indifference; definitely one or the other… or both… or neither. For Cass and I, it’s both, but more along the lines of love, and I’m not too proud to say so. We’ve actually evolved to be somewhat of connoisseurs of the cuisine this last year, and it has been a wild ride.

Anyone interested, I invite you to read an article I got published for more insight into our forays into the realm of Korean food, here’s the link, or head over to TheExpeditioner and the post I put up about the nastiness people eat all over the world. It’s all kind of amusing, I think.
Since this is the blog-abration of all we cherish about this quirky place, this topic was an inevitable choice. It is shaping up to be #3 out of 5 or 6; and I hope you’re enjoying the walk down these memory lanes, I know we sure are. Without further adieu…

Introducing…

Blog-abration #3: The Wide World of Korean Food

Kimchi- This stuff is absolutely unbelievable. It’s delicious, nasty, awesome, and putrid all in

Sam Gyeop Sal

the same bite. It is nearly worshipped in Korea, served with every meal (literally breakfast, lunch, and dinner), and is said to be the cure of everything from the common cold, to canker sores, to swine flu (that’s not a lie… and Koreans will illogically defend their kimchi to the death).

Just try to wrap your heads around this stuff… first, you salt the crap out of a leafy cabbage and let it sit for a day or two. In that time you will prepare the seasonings: enough red pepper paste to kill an ox, brine, salt, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, and oyster juice. Let that deliciousness settle for a while before you stuff it in between each leaf of the cleaned cabbage. If that’s not enough to get your taste buds spewing, it is then shoved into a ceramic pot and stored, usually underground, until it is eaten… sometimes up to three years or more!! And you can tell how long it has been rotting by the degree of rankness.

Then you throw in the radish kimchi squares, the leafy kimchi, the kimchi soups, kimchi stews, kimchi mandu, heck… Dunkin Donuts even sells Kimchi donuts- seriously!

Dalk Galbi Chuncheon style

In fact, we’ve developed a kind of ordering system of this delicacy 1) White… this is usually referred to as winter kimchi as no red pepper is used and is actually a different kind of kimchi, but we don’t know enough to differentiate. 2) Sweet & Sour… this is young kimchi and is actually quite good it has a sweet tone before the gross kicks in. 3) Nasty… this is older kimchi, pretty dead and limp looking and getting spicier from the age. 4) Totally Rank… this is the stuff that looks like it has been fermenting for eons. It might actually bubble when you eat it (not really), but is just aweful, and that’s literally the best way I can describe it.

*An interesting side note about this, is that the art of making kimchi is slowly disappearing in Korea. The older generation still has a definite weekend at a certain time of year, sorry I forgot when that exactly is, when they get together and make kimchi the entire weekend. It is unfortunate this is falling by the wayside, it is a wonderful tradition that I hope continues, but it is becoming replaced by the more convenient

Mandu, or Pot Stickers, or Dumplings

and commercial brands found at E-Mart.

Grill at your table- What more can I really say about this? It takes that ‘choose your steak and grill it’ restaurant back home (Prime Quarter? Maybe) and mops the floor with it. Sit on the floor around a pint sized table, a man saunters through the crowded restaurant with a flaming basket of coals (and manages not to scald anyone- a miracle none of the world’s smartest can figure out), you are give slices of meat to grill and an astronomical amount of side dishes. For whatever reason, knives don’t exist here, only scissors, so you snip the meat, grill it, and make a lettuce ‘burrito’ with it and any combination of side dishes you want to add on.

You have your sam gyup sal (삼겹살, I think) which is thick bacon, Galbi (갈비) or rib meat to grill along the meat topic of things. Then you have your Dalk Galbi (닭갈비) which is a spicy chicken dish, and all kinds of soups that you keep warm over the flames as well.

Sannakji- Eating live octopus. Yes, that’s totally correct. It’s not the most delicious thing in the world, but

Tom

This is our friend Tom from England. This was taken at his farwell dinner, during his shpeel, where we ate hae jang guk- pig spine soup

it’s an experience. I’ll link to the blog I wrote, Nakji: Kickin’ and Screamin’ Korean Cuisine , about it a while back if you missed it, that should pretty much sum it right up… yes, eating something that is still alive is exactly what you might think, too.

Red Pepper Paste- This stuff is flat out good. At first, I thought it was the hottest stuff on earth, but as with anything, you adapt and that’s exactly what we did with the red pepper paste. We also found some bean infused red pepper paste that is quite a lot better, but there’s nothing better than the original. The one word I would describe this stuff is… ubiquitous. It is everywhere, on everything. Game, set, match.

Beondegi- Another wacky Korean delight that I’ve mentioned in other blogs. These little creatures can be bought on the street by vendors, but are more popular in the parks and eaten by hikers for ‘energy (which, when you hear this word from Koreans, it could mean a number of things, actual stamina, man-stamina if you know what I mean, or actual energy. Your guess is as good as mine)’. Ok, I’ve delayed this long enough… Beondegi is steamed

Kim bob

or Gim bop, or any similar pronounciation of those letters. they are sold in rolls for about 2,000 Won, about $1.50 and will keep you full for about 6 1/2 months

or roasted silkworm larvae. They are crunchy little insect things and they taste as nasty as they smell, which is wretched! Oh- and I can’t help but tell you they come in little cans at the convienient stores, next to the spam…. Guess what everyone’s getting as presents when we get home!!! Bon appetite!

I can’t believe I’m eating this!- “You know what you’re eating there? That’s a pig spine.” “For your health.” “Urgh… it’s suctioning to my teeth!” “I’m strictly a tentacle eater today.” “You’ll totally like eating Soon Dae. It’s a bunch of flavored noodles stuffed inside pig intestines.” “Got me another Kimchi Tie… dropped some down the front of my shirt again.” “Life is too short to eat radishes.” “That soup smells like dirty feet.”

Recently, we were having a discussion why some of the nasty foods are eaten here with such verve. Jon G. came up with a great theory. He said, “the foods here aren’t eaten simply because they are delicious. I’ve never heard an explanation of a food as, ‘we eat this cuz it’s delicious.’ It’s always about energy, or stamina, or hangovers, or whatever. I guess when you’re eating for a

The View from on high

Street food in Korea is sub par compared to other asian countries, but the atmosphere on the street is A+. Nearly all the restaurants have these flimsy little plastic tables outside their places to eat

purpose then taste takes a back seat.” I never realized this, but it’s true, nothing here is simply delicious, there is always a reason behind something.

Eating Dog- This is one of those cultural things that neither of us can really warm up to. Being lifetime dog owners, and lovers, we have had friends go to these restaurants for their truly Korean story of eating dog, but we just can’t do this one. However, I do respect it. Similar to cows or chicken back home, there are dog farms where they are raised specifically for meat purposes. This fact makes the idea a bit more bearable, I guess. Dog meat is more important to eat in the summer; it more quickly and easily replenishes your used energy sapped from the wildly hot summer days.

There are a few restaurants in Yeoju, they are more traditional and I think they are becoming fewer and farther between, but they still are around and quite ingrained in the culture. A growing fad, probably adding to this decrease, are the designer dogs all the hipsters carry around with them (most with asinine fake colored hair- picture hot pink cheek hair or neon

Dog Restaurant

If you look closely at the picture, there is a picture of a wolf looking dog in the yellow section of the sign. Haven't made it in the doors, nor do I plan to either.

blue ears). Dogs are becoming more a fashion accessory than a meal, as strange as that may sound to us.

As for the experience of eating dog, I’m afraid I can’t help you with that one.

Region Specific Cuisine- Korea is not the largest land mass, I don’t need to tell you that. However, I was blown away at how region specific the dishes are. They are all available around Korea, but is seems with nearly everything, there is one particular place where that dish or food is, “very famous.”

Just as Yeoju has it’s King Sejong brand of ‘famous’ rice, it is also known for peanuts and sweet potatoes. That is just one example of many that we’ve been instructed on.

You may have read an article I’m particularly proud of, Budae Jjigae, Memories of War (I will link it so you can spin through it if you haven’t already, but if not it is a soup with a particularly interesting back story. Because of its origins in the days after the Korean War, this soup (translated to “army soup” because of its use of discarded army rations) is most famous in the city of Uijeongbu, where it originated

Red Pepper Paste

I believe this is the green bucket (at Emart), the kind with the beans mixed in... love it

in. It’s a fascinating story that I was happy to write.

Dalk Galbi, the chicken grill at your table has named streets in the town of Chuncheon, where it is famous (and deservedly so, it’s a lot better than the Yeoju dalk galbi restaurants). The list goes on and on, Gyeongju= apples, Jeonju= bibimbob, Suwon=galbi, Gangneung= sushi…

Eating Atmosphere- Eating is an event, and events happen around eating. You cannot just go out and have a nice short dinner with the Koreans, it turns into an all night drinking, norae banging, extravaganza that will give you twenty five pounds on your stomach and twenty five pounds of headache in your temples… and you will be expected to be in top form in the classroom in the morning.

I haven’t concluded why this exactly is. I have a few feelings regarding the reasons, the Korean society is a work as hard as you possibly can/ play as hard as you possibly can- society. Second, they are a passionate race, about everything, and eating may just fall into the mix. Third, they want to get away from the rat race that Korea has evolved into. Lastly, they

Homemade Kimchi Jiggae

In our Yeoju ceramics server we bought!

could be too busy that their only to be with friends is at a meal, so it is always a special time. Regardless, we will never eat, drink, and be merry with this ferocity and sustenance ever again. I’m not sure if that is good or bad yet either, I have learned the value of sharing people’s time while observing the ongoings as a meal here, and, although it is crazy, the underlying values are there, if you can focus your eyes long enough to see it (dang that soju!)

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