Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Derrek]

Does anyone else eat in a school lunch/cafeteria situation and feel like you're being watched constantly for what you're eating?

Worse, do they approach you on an almost daily basis and critique what you're eating and ask you why?

We have fish approximately 4 out of 5 days a week, and because I hate the rotting smell of fish and anything seafood, I am quizzed by the same old people in the same old fashion, "Don't you like Korean food?"

Generally it's the same recycled fish we eat throughout the week. On Monday it starts out as a fried fish all by itself. The next day they slather some red sauce on it. By Wednesday, we have to serve it again, only this time, throw on a few green weeds. Then on Thursday, throw it all in a pot and boil it with a lot more red sauce and some squid legs.

What do we get on Friday? Sometimes fried pork, but they had the nerve to put squid legs in the sweet sauce last week, and it pissed me off!

My coworkers hate it too, and no longer eat the school lunch. They make their own sandwiches, which was all the discussion among the staff the first week or so they did it.

I have too few things to complain about at my workplace these days, so this is currently driving me batty.

[Randall Flagg]

I eat the exact same thing for lunch everyday. �������V This has been going on for nearly a year. Without fail I get a comment on this every single day. I eat with the same people everyday and get the same comments/questions. Why don't you try something else? Aren't you sick of it? I give the same answer every time but they still don't catch on. I LIKE IT!!! Yes, I have eaten many different Korean dishes but I am a man of habit and routine. I will eat something all the time untill I just can't stand it. And so far I still love this dish. Finally I stopped eating with them every day because I was sick of answering there repetitive questions.

[katydid]

Last week's fish is this week's chigae.

Anyways, I have been at the same school for the past 8 or so months, been eating at the school's cafeteria all the time, and I still hear from a teacher ever now and again how surprised they are I am not eating the kimchi.

Get over it already.

[crazylemongirl]

I hate seafood with a passion so school lunch is a hit and miss affair with me. Sometimes they have really nice lunches: samgyetang, jajangmyeon, donggass etc. But most of the time it's fish and some crazy side dishes.

However my Vice-Principal seems to be on a mission to fatten me up. Every time I see her she asks me if I've eaten and whenever she sees me at lunch she comes over and complains that I'm not eating enough as apparently losing weight seems to a bad thing. Go figure.

But yeah what I eat is the topic of much discussion, especially when it comes to eating by myself. During the summer session I made my korean teachers a western style lunch. We had cold roast chicken, a cambert pasta salad, a french stick and some cherries for after. It was a nice lunch. They still ordered kimchi jiggae afterwards

[rapier]

Most often its just their way of being friendly, and starting a conversation with something innoffensive and neutral. Make friends! they might start talking to you about other things!

Think about it. When you first meet another person, you generally talk about mundane and neutral topics. If that person keeps themself to themself to themself endlessly, then you don't advance beyond that same meaningless surface small talk. Get friendly.

I can imagine a Korean in England for example: "Why are these people so obsessed with talking about the weather" etc. Every culture has a basic handy startpoint for conversation. In Korea, its food, for several historical reasons.

[d503]

So I like Korean food, my school serves a nice lunch, and I make myself western food when I crave it at home. What gets me is the watching, I'll admit that the first week it must have been real funny to watch me attempt to eat with chopsticks and a spoon, hell I laughed too. Now though I can eat with them to a respectable degree but I still get watched. I went out with my co-workers once and after about 30 minutes of them watching me eat, I got slightly flustered, and one of them noticing this just says you eat so quiet. Ugh, seriously I mean if I slurped and spit everywhere stare away but not because I eat in a quiet and neat fashion. Such is life though and so long as they keep bringing my rice and kelp I'm happy.

[Derrek]

yeah, I know what you mean.

Generally, I like to walk up to ajummas and say, "Wow, you're skin is getting so tan... why don't you wear sunscreen?"

Or...

"You're over 30! Why did you get plastic surgery?"

Then again, I'm only trying to be friendly and start a conversation.

[bosintang]

I think Koreans, in general, are obsessed over what we eat. It never stops. I think one reason may be, as someone above as pointed out, is that it's an easy conversation starter, much like the weather is in Canada. (Gonna be another cold one tomorrow, eh?" Yeah just like today, yesterday, and the last sixteen weeks!).

Another possible reason is that it is because food is an extremely big part of Korean culture. In fact, as far as I can see, it's really the ONLY sacred thing left about Korean culture! I remember one kid mis-hearing me and replying that they didn't like gimchi. The other kids in the class started taunting her that she wasn't Korean because she didn't like gimchi! Could you imagine the flip-side and kids in a Western culture taunting a kid because they didn't like...uhh..broccoli?

[ulsanchris]

[matthewwoodford]

[crazykiwi]

oh dudes, i feel sorry for you. I get the meanest lunches ever! chicken drumsticks, crumbed fish, pork with yummy sauce which is not spicy, some clear noodle stuff, jajungmyun, hell i get a different meal each day. and my co-teachers at my kindy never ask if i like, want to eat, or hate kimchi. because i told them on the first day, im sorry, i think kimchi tastes bad and no, i dont want to try it again. not in a bad way as to offend, but in firm manner so as not to encourage them asking me again. sure my cook always insists i have a third bowl of rice or another heap of chicken wings, but she only does this cause she knows i wont say no to that! as for her sea weed soup, well i just make a funny face and enough is said.

[eamo]

Some of you guys are eating school dinners!!! Quel surprise!!! It's not very good.

Take the power. Order your own lunch in. I do everyday and I'm constantly surprised at the good food and service you can get for 5000 won.

[Yangkho]

Yeah, in some cases, it's a great conversation starter, but you're being a little too defensive of Korea. Nobody here is bashing, not at all.

Belief in their diet, its superiority and its health benefits is part of their being. This belief in, this almost worship of their national dishes gets reinforced every day during every meal...and often every time they turn on a television.

If you eat anything other than Korean food, you're making a mistake. You're not healthy. Poor soul, you don't know what you're doing to your body.

I'm not trying to be negative here, and I do agree that their cuisine is generally healthier than ours, but if you're a person who spends three or four late nights a week sitting in pojangmachas, downing enough soju to intoxicate an entire athletic team, are you really that much healthier than Joe Westerner?

I onced watched in horror as a few adult students convinced a classmate to take an entire suitcase full of Korean food on an overseas trip...because there's no telling what horrible things her stomach would have been forced to encounter out there in that culinary wasteland known as Western Europe! It's certainly not a region known for its food!

If anyone criticizes you and your food choices, just do a literal translation of ���� for them.

[Swiss James]

I've been reading the book 'Roadmap To Korean' by Richard Harris and he mentions that a phrase like "Have you eaten?" isn't really a genuine question, it's more along the lines of "How are you?".
i.e. they aren't really looking for an answer, it's just an opening gambit to a conversation. He says the same thing about "Where are you going?", so that:
"Odi i kayo?"
"Ne ne"
is perfectly acceptable.

Just a thought anyway.

[OiGirl]