| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Knappstar
Joined: 05 Jan 2005
|
 Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 8:07 am Post subject: Lack of "food courage" in some south koreans |
 |
|
I think we can all agree that, by western standards, koreans eat some of the most insane foods ever.
I had lunch this past weekend with my head teacher, and we went out for sushi. While there, we had live squid, jelly fish, sea urchin, and sea slug, among various other exotic dishes. I tried each without reservation, and truly enjoyed the experience.
On the way home, my head teacher offered to help me with some grocery shopping, since I still have trouble figuring out exactly what everything is. (I've only been in Korea a month.) One of the items I picked up was a jar of feta cheese in olive oil. When we got back to my apartment, she offered to help me bring my bags up to my apt. As soon as we got in there, I cracked open the feta I had been dying to feast on, and began to gorge. She gave me a funny look and said "WHAAAAT is that? YUK!" I said, "Oh, this is some greek cheese, give it a try, its really tasty." And she refused..so I reminded her of my culinary adventures, and she finally gave in..and loved it.
Still, I find it hard to believe someone who will gladly shovel something that can possibly kill you while alive (jelly fish) down their gullets would think twice about something as harmless as feta.
Anyone else have similar experiences? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 9:12 am Post subject: |
|
|
| The food is unique. They do eat some nasty looking stuff. I can eat maybe half the stuff in restaurants, but a lot of it still weird to me. The Taiwanese eat some nasty-looking stuff too. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
peony
Joined: 30 Mar 2005
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 9:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
| its very true, i know people who will gladly scarf down raw beef liver and live sashimi but are unwilling to try thai food |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
khyber
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Compunction Junction
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 9:22 am Post subject: |
|
|
frankly, a lot of the sea food you mentioned (except sea slugs) are eaten back home...in some cases delicacies.
i was surprised when i ordered a shabu shabu at the rest. near my house and didn't realize it was "hae mool". also got all kinds of crazy stuff. The only thing i didn't touch was the urchins....everything else i suffered down (i'm not a fan of the sea)
by western standards korean food is a bit strange. But compared to, as mentioned taiwanese food, korean food may as well be burger and fries
that is some of the funkiest stuff i've EVER seen. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PolyChronic Time Girl
Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Location: Korea Exited
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 4:24 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Most Koreans only like Korean food. I have met many Koreans who say "I only like Korean food." It's part of their culture and don't want to part with it. I was very frustrated when I went on a Korean package tour to the Phillipines and not once did they try the cuisine there....we had to eat at only Korean restaurants...I was really p*ssed about that....last time I take a Korean package tour.
My hubbie is like that...when we went to Thailand, he took all those Ko-joo-jang tubes from Asiana airlines and poured ko-joo-jang all over the Thai food...sacrilege if you ask me and I even got angry at him because of it but realized I can't change that about him...
I think Koreans really have their taste buds programmed only for Korean food...they rarely go for anything else. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 4:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| PolyChronic Time Girl wrote: |
Most Koreans only like Korean food. I have met many Koreans who say "I only like Korean food." It's part of their culture and don't want to part with it. I was very frustrated when I went on a Korean package tour to the Phillipines and not once did they try the cuisine there....we had to eat at only Korean restaurants...I was really p*ssed about that....last time I take a Korean package tour.
My hubbie is like that...when we went to Thailand, he took all those Ko-joo-jang tubes from Asiana airlines and poured ko-joo-jang all over the Thai food...sacrilege if you ask me and I even got angry at him because of it but realized I can't change that about him...
I think Koreans really have their taste buds programmed only for Korean food...they rarely go for anything else. |
I took a couple students for mexican food at Chili Chili's. "Teacher! Yupgi!" They found it strange and couldn't eat it, despire it pretty much being the basic ingredients of Korean food. Just prepared in a different way.
You get many North Americans who find anything not meat and potatoes/pizza too strange. But in general, North Americans who travel outside of North America to exotic lands will try the local cuisine. Koreans seem to believe they can only eat Korean food when they travel. A friend who used to work for MBC before she moved to London guided an MBC film crew around the city. She swore "never again!" Half the team was like "Indian food, you bet!" The other half, the older set mostly, were like "but why can't we eat Korean food?" "Because we'd have to travel half way across London to get to a Korean restaurant for a 45 minute lunch?" *grumble grumble* |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 5:39 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| PolyChronic Time Girl wrote: |
Most Koreans only like Korean food. I have met many Koreans who say "I only like Korean food." It's part of their culture and don't want to part with it. I was very frustrated when I went on a Korean package tour to the Phillipines and not once did they try the cuisine there....we had to eat at only Korean restaurants...I was really p*ssed about that....last time I take a Korean package tour.
My hubbie is like that...when we went to Thailand, he took all those Ko-joo-jang tubes from Asiana airlines and poured ko-joo-jang all over the Thai food...sacrilege if you ask me and I even got angry at him because of it but realized I can't change that about him...
I think Koreans really have their taste buds programmed only for Korean food...they rarely go for anything else. |
Man, he should have tried the Thai sweet chili sauce. Mmmmmmm. My wife loves it. It's sold in Korea. It's great with chicken. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 5:46 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| mindmetoo wrote: |
| PolyChronic Time Girl wrote: |
Most Koreans only like Korean food. I have met many Koreans who say "I only like Korean food." It's part of their culture and don't want to part with it. I was very frustrated when I went on a Korean package tour to the Phillipines and not once did they try the cuisine there....we had to eat at only Korean restaurants...I was really p*ssed about that....last time I take a Korean package tour.
My hubbie is like that...when we went to Thailand, he took all those Ko-joo-jang tubes from Asiana airlines and poured ko-joo-jang all over the Thai food...sacrilege if you ask me and I even got angry at him because of it but realized I can't change that about him...
I think Koreans really have their taste buds programmed only for Korean food...they rarely go for anything else. |
I took a couple students for mexican food at Chili Chili's. "Teacher! Yupgi!" They found it strange and couldn't eat it, despire it pretty much being the basic ingredients of Korean food. Just prepared in a different way.
You get many North Americans who find anything not meat and potatoes/pizza too strange. But in general, North Americans who travel outside of North America to exotic lands will try the local cuisine. Koreans seem to believe they can only eat Korean food when they travel. A friend who used to work for MBC before she moved to London guided an MBC film crew around the city. She swore "never again!" Half the team was like "Indian food, you bet!" The other half, the older set mostly, were like "but why can't we eat Korean food?" "Because we'd have to travel half way across London to get to a Korean restaurant for a 45 minute lunch?" *grumble grumble* |
I think the younger people are a bit more open to trying new dishes than the older people (as people age, digestion becomes a problem, so they tend to stick with foods they know they can handle), although some older folk, like my in-laws, travel especially for the purpose of eating some of the local medicinal dishes. Reminds me of a story that one of my friends told me. He used to be a tour guide. On one of his tours, some old lady had brought a tupperware jar of her homemade gochujang on the plane. She was holding in in her lap. As the plane was going up, the jar popped and gochujang exploded out. There was gochujang all over the ceiling. He was so embarressed that he spent an hour cleaning the area. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thorin
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 6:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I was at a party once where the youngest guy was forced to eat different kinds of cheese in some kind of hazing ritual. After each bite, he would quickly eat some kimchi in order to get the horrible cheese taste out of his mouth. You should have seen the look on his face. It was like he was eating maggots and roaches for one of those Survivor challenges. Meanwhile, I'm in heaven snacking on the same cheese... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
canadian_in_korea
Joined: 20 Jun 2004
Location: South Korea
|
| Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2005 7:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hmm...maybe some of you can elaborate on the Thai food..?...I've never been there...what strange things are you talking about?
I brought a toaster oven with me from home...it bakes/broils/rotisseries..its great.. I've made a few casseroles, lasanga...my husband liked them all....he'll eat just about anything....he eats kimchi with almost everything...myself I can't do it....if I mix korean side dishes with my western food...it makes me a little squamish.... Perhaps it depends on your cooking style but I find that although Korean food is for the most part very healthy...there is a lot more salt and sugar added than the western food I cook. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
skookum
Joined: 11 Mar 2005
|
| Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2005 5:34 am Post subject: What the heck is THAT!......hmmm, it's tasty.... |
|
|
Keeping in mind that older Koreans grew up in an era with not much at all in the way of non-Korean food (except maybe Japanese, if old enough). It took Westerers a long time to get used to Asian cuisines. 50 years ago Chop Suey was the big adventure. Thai restaurants were unimaginable. Now Korean society in general hasn't been "cosmopolitanizing" for very long at all.
I had been introducing folks I worked with back in America to Asian food items. Folks who got over the initial odor liked durian fruits. Some really like ka rae ddeok. But what really put some people off was chap chae noodles. "Ee-uuw, it looks like worms!"  |
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
