Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Roam]

It is dead easy to get out of an impossible situation in Korea. If you have a return air ticket, go down to a Korean Air office, book your flight home, put a password on your ticket if your Korean employer is particulary Korean, and you're away.
If you don't already have a ticket you simply purchase one and leave. There are absolutely no problems to the process. The travel agent will not tell your employer that you are leaving because she wants her commission. I just got out. Am presently enjoying very fresh air, healthy food, civil interactions with people from many different cultures, and employment prospects that don't involve screaming children who know they run the show.

[Mr. Pink]

You make it sound like prison...

Enough people do midnight runs that I am sure they know how to buy a ticket and stealthly pack up all their crap.

[Swiss James]

if you're eating "Healthy food" I'd like to know what you ate in Korea and where you are now? I think I eat a much better diet here than back in England.

[Dr. Buck]

Korean food isn't that healthy. No fresh vegetables, fatty meats, lots of grease, ad nauseum.

[Swiss James]

No fresh vegetables? Exactly what are you wrapping your 'fatty meat' in before you eat it?

I've never eaten so many salad leaves, raw garlic, rice or grilled meat before and that's when I'm going for the full galbi thing. I'm pretty sure most of the soups/stews I have with rice are healthy, as is kimbap. Kimchi might not be fresh, but I thought it still had most of the nutrition in it?

[Austin]

Dr. Buck,

I am not sure where you are located, but the Korea that I know is loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables.

What is the typical dessert at a Korean restaurant? Fresh fruit!

Bean sprouts, soy beans, and tofu are consumed by most of the population on a regular basis. The selection and freshness of fruits and vegetables in most of the local markets is quite obvious.

Where can not you find all of these great foods?

If you were accustomed to eating "properly" before your arrival, it is quite easy to maintain in Korea.

Care to explain, Dr. Buck?

[Cthulhu]

If Korean food isn't healthy I'd love to know what nation's foods are.

I'll give Dr. Buck Japan if he manages to avoid starving on the portions, but methinks Buck isn't Japanese.

[Dr. Buck]

If you just ate the lunch at my school's cafeteria today, you'd agree with me.

(Just a moment while I reach for my toothbrush to get this foul taste out of my mouth.)

I'll explain about writing previously that Korean food is unhealthy. Perhaps I should amend that and say Korean food is "marginally healthy" in other words, it fills your gut but not much else.
It might not make you fat but it won't help you as an athlete, either. Most of it is just fill.

But I think that it isn't proper to hijack this thread--merely to keep this board's debates tidy--I propose that if someone starts a "Korean Food Fight!" thread, then we could engage in the pros and cons of Korean cuisine in all it's aspects.

I won't be able to respond until sometime next week, since I have a good friend coming down for the weekend and I'm preparing the menu: California cabernet, French merlot, thick steaks on the grill, Minnesota wild rice and shittake mushroom pilaf, ceasar salad, smoked salmon, . . . just another weekend of hearty feasting with friends.

[Swiss James]

Well I wouldn't want to hijack the thread concerning your escape plan out of the Korean POW camp you seem to have been in, but I went to a restaurant last night in Seoul that served all the things you listed- except the Minnesota wild rice which I have to admit, does sound mighty fine.

But please- don't tar the whole of korea's food with the brush from your school's canteen.

[Mosley]

What did you mean by "if your Korean employer is particulary(sic) Korean"?

[Swiss James]

Oh you know, evil, satanic, untrustworthy- they're all the same really aren't they?

[busan_boy2000]

I think eating galbi is the only time I ingest a suficient amount of veg - I would have to agree that Korean food is mainly filler. Now if one likes seaweed - than they are set - I have a hard time personally getting used to all the seaweed - but small amounts are cool - like in the bibim bap (spelling) or kim bap - those maki things (but each case is still mainly rice).

Lots of oranges and bannanas of course. Spinach as a side dish is good.

[erlyn]

I think there is a lot of difference between the korean food available at restaurants, and korean food that is eaten everyday by families. I don't think eating out everyday, having galbi or bibimbap is particularly healthy. I calculated the calories for bibimbap, based on a recipe from the KNTO, and it's up there - around 800 calories, once you get through with the rice, beef, egg, and oil that they use to season it. However, the sort of food you might get in a home would be largely based around vegetable or kimchi side dishes, a basic soup, and some rice cooked with beans or other grains to increase the fibre value, all in reasonable portions. Eating like this everday would be rather healthy, although there seems to be a lot of salt in Kimchi, Gojujang, and Dwenjang (sp?). Just like in most western countries, the food available in restaurants here is delicious, but perhaps less healthy than if we cooked at home for ourselves, and can watch what goes into it.

[Swiss James]

I don't see a massive number of koreans with scurvy or rickets. I don't have any facts to back it up, but your average korean seems to be a pretty healthy weight too.

They must be doing something right eh?

[some waygug-in]

Koreans tend to eat a lot of seafood. Not just the few dishes that have been talked about. I have put on quite a few pounds since coming to Korea, and I do eat mostly Korean food, so anyone who says it's not fattening is dead wrong.

I wish I knew how Koreans stay so slim, it must be partly genetic. My korean g/f tends to eat double what I eat at meal times, yet she is as slim as a toothpick and I have a big spare tire thing happening. It's annoying as hell, especially when people tell me, "you just eat too much". It simply isn't the case.

Anyway, not that I have any great words of wisdom to add, except that in Korea there is plenty of fresh fruit, but not a lot of variety. It's always the same fruit, apples, bananas, mandarins, and Korean grapes.

bon appetite.