Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mindmetoo]

I've noticed that most Koreans tend to live in large family units and don't break out onto their own until marriage. Food is made in the style the Coneheads consumed beer: in mass quantities. When you go to the grocery store to buy things like garlic or onions (ingredients in kimchi which is also significant), it's pretty hard to buy like one onion or one garlic bulb. You tend to have two options: buy none or buy all of it.

I would imagine at a market or a street vendor one could haggle and ask to buy only one but my language skills aren't good enough (yet, ha!) to haggle. And I'm still smarting over the time I tried to buy some mandoo wang and ended up asking the guy for, unknowingly, "dog meat mandoo". Oi, did he make a face.

[Zed]

Yes, so much food has gone to waste in my refrigerator because of this. I just can't eat all that garlic before it starts to go off.

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

I want to find somewhere I can get kimchi without the little fish in it. I hate all seafood with a passion and even though it's subtle I can taste the fishiness and it stops me from going to town on the kimchi.

[crazylemongirl]

most supermarket vegie places will let you buy fruit and vegeies in non bulk quantities....

[snufalufagus]

I've never seen kimchi with fish in it ... that would hardly, technically, be kimchi

I won't eat the little fish that come in the dish with kimchi though

My little neighborhood market street is more than just bulk items and I have no problem cooking any sized portion I desire ... you need to look around a bit more

[Zed]

One of the ingredients of kimchi is ground up anchovies. You don't see them but they're there. I think there may be a shrimp component also.

[just because]

I just cook good ol spaghetti 3 times a week with many variations.
Does the rick, healthy filling and good with sandwiches.

[the_beaver]

A friend of mine introduced me to MREs the other day. Holy perfect. Filled me up good and proper, didn't taste disgusting, comes with a built-in heater thingy, and costs a mere 3,000 won.

[PatrickSiheung]

I practically live off of fried rice with veggies, kimchi or egg. Kimchi Chigeh and bibimpap. Noodles with gochujang is great too.

[snufalufagus]

I've been paying for MRE's ever since I left the Navy. I still love those things, and they only get better every year. If only I could stick to equal portion sizes when I eat non-military food ...

[Eazy_E]

Honestly I don't see much point in cooking for yourself if you're a bachelor in Korea. Once in a while I eat spaghetti if I need Western food. Other than that, I just order in. Many mom and pop restaurants are willing to deliver just one dish... 4000 won for a hot meal at your door. No shopping, no cooking, no dishes, no wondering whether the veggies in your fridge have gone off or not.

[snufalufagus]

No point in cooking for yourself ?

Ummm, yea, gotcha. Healthiness, keeping active, self suficiency, and quite a bit more. Not to mention that my own food exceeds, by miles, what you can just by for a few WON. If you can't tell if the vegetables in the refrigerator are good or not, then yes, I can see why you'd not want to cook for yourself. And, I'd hardly think that a good percentage of the 4000 WON places are as discerning as the quality of the food going into your meal.

[Juggertha]

I eat 6-7 meals a day. If I did that through ordering it'd break me.

I cook it, divide it up and ziplock it for the day. Also my handy ricemaker really does the deed.

[oneiros]

My refrigerator is broken, and my director refuses to get it repaired. I also live in the middle of nowhere, so it's impossible to get deliveries or eat out at night. Right now I'm living on a lot of rice, canned goods, and those Ottogi boil in the pouch instant foods. It's a good thing I've only got six weeks left, or I'd probably develop some nutritional disorder.

[mindmetoo]