Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ilsanman]

Just wondering if anyone is reacting to these current scares related to food. Which one best describes you?

[Chris Kwon]

This would be better posted on daum or a Korean place. I don't think any of the expats actually believe in the silly mad cow disease crap the Koreans are worried about.

and I will be eating both.

[jetrash]

I have stopped eating chicken in Seoul..because the AI is actually here,and i have no control over how the ajimas cook or handle the chicken.
...........so there is a possibility,very small,that one could catch AI.
It does cross over to humans, there is an outbreak in seoul,humans in asia have caughht AI,and korean food safety preparation and handling are at 3rd world levels.
food not cooked to high enough temp,or hands handling raw chicken, hands then not washed,then handling your cooked food...disaster.

the beef....well I've been eating and cooking US/British/Australian beef for all my life, and I'm already mad as a snake.

[kiwiduncan]

I can't see myself ever becoming 100% vegetarian, but all this discussion in the last few weeks has definately reminded me of one thing - we simply eat far too much meat. From everything I've seen and heard Korean beef cattle are raised in pretty awful conditions, are loaded up on anti-biotics and, even if actually reared in Korea, are still largely dependent of foreign grain imports for their feedstock.

A lot of US beef is also raised or at least fattened up on factory farms and feed on a corn based diet that puts a huge strain on US farmland, energy and water resources.

Even New Zealand beef is not nearly as clean and green as one might think. It's true that almost all our cattle are raised in fields on grass-based diets, but even New Zealand farmers have started to use palm oil pulp as a supplemantary feed for their herds. This palm oil pulp is shipped in from South East Asia and is a side product of the palm oil industry that has brought about the destruction of vast swathes of Indonesian rainforest.

Let's admit it. Kiwis, Yanks and Koreans, we're all a bunch of little fatties and we should be eating less meat and more tofu.

It annoys me that all those hysterical highschool kids burning their candles in protest of US beef imports only seem to be motivated by paranoia and completely unrealistic fears about the risk US beef poses to their personal health. I'd be far more impressed if they were protesting against the way the global meat industry is fucking up the planet.

[Ilsanman]

If I wanted opinions resulting from hatemongering and brainwashing, that's what I would have done.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I was sitting out on my balcony yesterday when one of the people I work with happened by. She asked if I wanted anything from the grocery store and I said, "Yeah. I've been thinking about buying a chicken to roast for Buddha's birthday."

She brought back a 'family pack' of two chickens. I made a big-ass bowl of stuffing (bread, rice, cranberries, mushrooms, pecans, oranage peel and fresh sage and thyme to go with the usual onions and celery). The orange glaze on the chicken did the trick and the chickens came out moist with just a hint of garlic and orange.

However, I'm craving a Swiss steak with a baked potato. I don't know how much longer I can wait for US beef to come.

[KumaraKitty]

We buy our meat at Costco and I trust their quality control so I feel it should be fine.
Having just recently been in the hospital for 4 days after birth, I was surprised at the lack of meat in my food for 2 days. We asked why I wasn't getting any protein but a bit of Tofu, and they said it was because of AI and Mad cow. We asked about pork, and they said it was because it is too greasy and bad for breast milk. Hubby smuggled me a cheeseburger and as soon as we got out we had steaks for dinner. I'm sure the hospital would be appalled if they knew!

[Kimchieluver]

HAHAHAHA! Air Canada asks this same question at dinner time every time. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

PS
Never fly Air Canada if you don't have to.

[Grab the Chickens Levi]

Just the other day I was waiting for my dinner in a restaurant and was looing at the cartoon pages in one of the bigger nationals here.

One had a nervous, downtrodden Korean familly sitting around a dinner table whilst a huge cow wearing an apron with the Stars and stripes on was pushing bowls of chiggae off the table and smashing them to the floor whilst serving up bowls of gruesome looking food dripping with fat....

Another showed a line of angelic yet terrified Korean school children lining up for their food, sweat pouring from their foreheads, their hands trembling... A menacing bull wearing again the stars and stripes was handing them trays with bowls of soup with lit sticks of dynamite in them...

I couldn't quite fathom what they cartoonist was trying to say... any guesses...

And they all walk around still eating that chicken on a stick that probably is one of the most likeliest ways to catch bird flu.....

Is bird flu as bad as geezer flu by the way...? Geezer flu seems to be a lot harsher as birds usually just go to work and get on with it whilst geezers stay at home in bed moaning and being grumpy all day. Anyone know why this is....?

[moosehead]

[KumaraKitty]

ummm..not sure i understand your Costco remark. We generally find the quality better and the cost less than other places in Korea. So..yeah..i have no idea what you mean.

[wylies99]

Yeah, Costco rocks.

[SirFink]

From the New York Times:

[Lekker]