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Published: March 30th 2007
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Sosim Restaurant
Sosim is a great place to eat if you are looking for a good meal in Seoul. I wrote this article for the Vegetarian Network of Austin Newsletter
This Ain’t Austin
Austin is a wonderful place to be vegetarian. There are plenty of grocery stores with vegan products and lots of vegetarian restaurants. I left Austin at the end of February, pretty sure that there would be no such convenience in Korea. In some ways this is true, but there are vegetarian options.
Over here, restaurants are incredibly cheap, and Koreans love to eat meat. If you learn the Korean words for eggs, meat, and “NO”, you can enjoy a wonderful meal called
bibimbap. This is a rice dish with stir-fried veggies for about $3. There is also
ya che kimbop which looks like a vegetable sushi roll. You still have to ask to take out the egg and ham. I’m guessing there are other dishes I could order if I could only read the menu and speak Korean.
On a recent trip to Seoul, I did get a chance to go to a wonderful vegetarian restaurant called Sosim. I entered the restaurant, took off my shoes, and sat on the floor at a table. An American Buddhist monk at the next table asked if I would like to join him. He was sitting with a Polish Buddhist nun and a Korean woman. I couldn’t resist the invitation and quickly accepted.
At a typical Korean meal many dishes are ordered and shared. The food was already served when I joined their table. I’m not sure what the dishes were, but everything was wonderful. There was fried
dubu (tofu), marinated sesame leaves, batter-fried summer squash, mushroom soup, a multigrain rice dish and a whole lot of veggies that I didn’t recognize. Dessert consisted of a wonderful spice tea and rice cakes with a sweet sesame filling.
My companions were great company. We good conversation and great laughs. As I took out my wallet, I was told that it is the Korean custom for one person to pay, and that my meal was paid for. It was made clear that it would be rude to protest. What could I do but gleefully accept?
I can’t go to Seoul to eat at vegetarian restaurants every day, so, more often I cook for myself. Although there are regular grocery stores here with a variety of imported products, I prefer to go to the local open-air market to shop from the different vendors. The market has a fairly large variety of fruits and vegetables. On my last visit, I bought fresh spinach, mung beans, a variety of odd mushrooms and dried seaweeds, Chinese cabbage, freshly-made tofu, bean thread noodles, and the largest bag of peeled garlic I have ever seen. Since I don’t have an oven, all ingredients are often be stir-fried with sesame oil, sesame seeds, garlic, and miso for flavor. I also bought some Asian pears and persimmons for desserts and snacks.
An unforeseen benefit for me is that my health has improved since I moved here, and I feel more energetic in general. I’m eating more fresh veggies and other healthy foods that I overlooked at home. In the States, I opted for the highly processed packaged vegan foods. I can’t read what’s in packaged foods here, so I just avoid them all together. I really enjoy eating here. This has been a real lesson for me.
So, what use is this article for the average Austinite who has no plan to leave Texas anytime in the near future? First, there is a large Korean population in Austin, and there are several Korean grocery stores that carry the same foods I’ve described. I recommend that Austinites try some Korean foods for interesting meals sometimes. Second, there are quite a few well-established Korean restaurants in town. Korea House in Anderson Village is authentic and might be persuaded to make a vegan bibimbap if they were told ahead of time that a table or two of vegetarians would like to eat there. Koriente (www.koriente.com) serves healthy vegetarian Asian dishes with a Korean flare. Give them a try.
While I haven’t found Austin in Korea yet, it’s not hard to find Korea in Austin. You really don’t need to go far for a taste of Korea and, who knows, maybe an adventure.
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