Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Swiss James]

http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0521,lalli3,64208,15.html

[Wangja]

Damn, SJ, that's not funny.

I hated kimchee from my first taste. But, I regret to say that gradually I could eat it, then enjoy it, now miss it after a week or so.

Woe, oh woe is me.

[skookum]

I started out easy, when I lived on Oahu, eating Kim Chee. Kim Chee - the stuff that comes in little jars with a lot of liquid and you don't find in Korea but at least it's spicy and somewhat tasty - it's been a long time though since I've had any. My first intro to genuine kimchi was with the heavy-duty stuff, from Gwanju. I bought two kilos of the stuff and had the runs for two weeks. But couldn't stop eating it.....

With kimchi you never know what you are going to come across - I ate in a place in Byeonsando National Park, on the Cholla buk-do coast. Terrible-tasting overpriced food, snarling greedy ajumah - I didn't eat the radish kimchi till after I tried the rest of the dreck 'cause radish kimchi hadn't been a kind I liked as well as others. But it turned out to outstanding - the one good thing in the experience..... Recently in a Gumi restaurant they served cabbage kimchi with so much flavor, tasty overtones like you'd find on some good French cheese. Next day I went back to the same restaurant and the kimchi was a new batch, good but nothing unusual....

Anyone been to the kimchi festival in Gwangju? I went about 2 1/2 years ago - you can try quite a variety there. And of course it's Cholla-do kimchi, not that namby-pamby Seoul stuff (Not that they don't make good kimchi in Seoul and elsewhere, it's just different.....)

[JacktheCat]

I have come to tolerate gimchee, but I don't think I'll ever come to love the stuff. Just too sour for me.

On the other hand, I am hopelessly addicated to gojujang.

[just because]

me too...I love the stuff, always on the look-out for it...

i was just in Australia for 6 weeks and I had my fix once a week of kimchi...

[lunalilo]

[quote="skookum"]I started out easy, when I lived on Oahu, eating Kim Chee. Kim Chee - the stuff that comes in little jars with a lot of liquid and you don't find in Korea but at least it's spicy and somewhat tasty - it's been a long time though since I've had any. My first intro to genuine kimchi was with the heavy-duty stuff, from Gwanju. I bought two kilos of the stuff and had the runs for two weeks. But couldn't stop eating it.....

quote]


Are you from Oahu? I grew up there. Yes, the typical "Western" shopping malls all have some type of generic Kimchi there; not too strong, not too mellow, just enough of a bite to it.

[Kimchieluver]

I crave kimchie after a hard days work, the dinerr just doen't seem right without it. I love it. It's better than beef jerky.

[Atkinson]

[captain kirk]

The sci-fi author of Dune, Frank Herbert, has the book 'The Santaroga Barrier'. If you like The Twilight Zone this is similiar. A whole delicious episode the length of a novel. I couldn't put it down.

A young psychology grad gets a grant to study a small California town that is alarmingly, completely self-sufficient. Nor does it like strangers, who are encouraged to move on. They marry their own. No-one ever leaves permanently. Those who are drafted scoot right back again after their service. The town owns its own businesses. Businesses from outside that try to start up, fail. A McDonalds or KFC set up in the town would fail, for example. No-one would eat there.

Darn peculiar so big business wants to know what's up there, all 'globalization' in the town is to no effect. So they sponsor this young psych grad to find out why.

The love of his life is there, too. They met at Uni, she went back to the town. He didn't hear from her, though they had a connection.

The novel starts from there. Is the town a cult? Why does he keep having accidents which are almost fatal? She still loves him and wants him to stay, permanently. Though the townspeople are suspicious of him if he'll stay for life, he's in.

And what is this substance in the food called 'Jaspers'. This secret ingredient that makes everybody feel good and seems to be addictive, like kimchi?

I really like this book and will leave the Korea/kimchi similarities alone. It's a sixties kind of book about a town that chooses the road less travelled. It's a good read. If you think of Korea after reading it you'll get a good chuckle.

http://www.troynovant.com/Franson/Herbert/Santaroga-Barrier.html

http://www.mugglenet.com/booktrolley/fh-barrier.shtml

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0765342510/103-0144371-8077454?v=glance

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

Good kimchi is like good beer. I think Norm Peterson said that.

I always judge a restaurant by its side dishes -- particularly its kimchi. Good kimchi can make a poor restaurant seem better, and, conversely, bad kimchi can make a good restaurant seem poorer.

Sparkles*_*

[shifty]

My conversion was whole and complete. Whereas, in the past, when it tasted like grass, I had been grumpy in the mornings and only a full bladder could get me outa bed.

Then when the force took hold, I would spring from bed, make a beeline for my kimchee and be cheerful thenceforth.

In my new location, however, can't find good kimchee, so's my taste has reverted to nearly as before.

But I know the potential and am constantly on the lookout.

[sillywilly]

Yeah, I can see that. Can't say I was totally addicted but close. But as addictions go, thats a healthy one. As long as you brush your teeth or have something to clean your breath onhand

[turtlepi1]

[sillywilly]

Its better than smoking.