Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ABC KID]

One thing I just don't get about Korea is the obsession with sweet potato...

Why is it necessary to put it on or in so many things? Sweet potato cake, amongst other things, is bad enough but why oh why do they insist on putting it on one of the finest culinary delights of all? I am talking about pizza of course. Sweet potato on pizza just ruins pizza for me. Half the time it is not even listed on the menu as being among the ingredients and then it still gets put on.

Am I speaking only for myself or is anyone with me on this one?

[djsmnc]

Umm, because it grows well here and they like it?

Why the western obsession with wheat based products?

[optik404]

and why do they love Kimchi so much?

oh could it be because people from different countries have different tastes/flavors they enjoy?

[Freeghen]

i like sweet potato....

[frankly speaking]

You forgot to mention Soju, that is made from sweet potato too.

Don't blame the Koreans, blame the Americans, specifically GWC. He is the one that first promoted the benefits of the sweet potato.

In fact it is the most nutritious vegetable that is grown in the dirt. Seaweed is the most nutritious plant.

Personally, I like sweet potato pie, or custards and sweet potato french fries are good too.

I wouldn't eat it on pizza, but if I were to eat pizza it would only have meat on it no veggies.

[ChilgokBlackHole]

I'm not really sure how to cook them. Anyone not American might not "get" the sweet potato thing. I'm from the north and we don't generally eat them.

As for pizza, there's a Rule 34. If it exists, it goes on a pizza.

[redaxe]

This is one area where the Chinese can actually look down their noses at Koreans. In China, only poor people eat sweet potato. Why, you might ask? Because it's dirt cheap, it tastes terrible, and it's the only thing there is to eat all winter after a failed harvest season.

Same thing with that burnt rice soup that Koreans love. In China, that's considered poverty food. Korean food is basically like Chinese food during a famine.

[djsmnc]

[kimchi_pizza]

[ChilgokBlackHole]

[kimchi_pizza]

[Konglishman]

It was a late Sunday night and I had just finished grading a full stack of papers. I was hungry as I had not yet eaten dinner. So, I headed outside to look for a place to get some dinner.

After I had been walking down the sidewalk for ten minutes or so, I was suddenly accosted by an ajoshi. I vaguely recalled seeing him before at a nearby jimjilbang. Through a combination of simple Korean which I understood and exaggerated body language, I gathered that he was inviting me to join him at a restaurant. I ended up accepting the invitation albeit with a certain amount of hesitation.

Needless to say, we ate samgyeopsal and drank soju. Other ajoshi friends of his also joined us. In fact, one of his friends was actually missing a couple of fingers. Based on the fragments of Korean and English used in the conversations, my basic understanding is that they had worked overseas in Indonesia during the harder days of Korea's industrialization.

At the end of all the eating and drinking, I was going to pay for my portion, but the ajoshi would have none of that and insisted on paying. After we were outside, I was just going to head back to my apartment. However, the ajoshi was not done showing his hospitality. Evidently, he wanted to invite me to his home.

"This is getting strange," I thought to myself. On the other hand, I considered that I should show some gratitude as it was not every day that a Korean pays for my dinner and drinks. Besides, one point of life is to have interesting experiences.

Nonetheless, when we arrived at his apartment, I was quite hesitant to enter. "Good God, what I am doing?", I asked myself silently. However, after he continued motioning to me come inside, I reluctantly entered.

After I sat down on the couch, he proudly showed me a picture of his daughter. Evidently, she was a university student. Then, he got up and knocked on her door. There was no answer. Next, he opened the door to his bedroom and said some things in Korean. His wife came out and started laughing after she saw me.

Oddly, his daughter also came outside. Upon seeing me, she dashed across the living room to her bedroom. At that point, I felt particularly uncomfortable being there and was about to leave. However, the ajoshi insisted on me staying on a little longer.

A few moments later, while still laughing, his wife served us a couple of beers and a plate of sliced cucumbers and perisimmons. While we ate and drank again, he said many things to me in Korean, but unfortunately, I have no idea what he was saying.

Finally, I was getting tired and indicated using body language that I needed to get some sleep. So, I got up to leave and head back home. But the ajoshi seemed to want me to stay a moment longer. He rushed off to his balcony and returned with a bag of sweet potatoes...

So, in Korea, sweet potatoes can even be a good going away gift.

[young_clinton]

[Forever]

[andrewchon]

A lot of Korean cuisine can be explained from history.
Yes, the blame is on China and Japan.
When Korea was a vassal state of China, Korea had to send food to China (not that China needed any),
because that was the Chinese way of keeping vassal states in line.
When a vassal don't have surplus food (i.e. to feed horses and soldiers), it can't have wars.
Japan took food from Korea to feed their own during the war.
Used to be called May-mountain pass. Farmers ran out of food by that time and had to scavenge for anything,
most commonly tree barks, to stay alive.
North Koreans are probably doing the same now because their food is sold for foreign (Chinese) currency.