Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Arthur Fonzerelli]

The only safe way to not eat recycled food is to never eat out.

I hope you enjoy your stay here as you always eat home-cooked meals.

[Mankind]

[Real Reality]

fidel wrote,
"Do you know how many restaurants are in Seoul alone competing for the won? Well do you? I'm sure Real Reality could fill us in."

After Korean War though there were more than 170 restaurants in Seoul in 1950s, not a Galbi restaurant was there.
http://www.cablecar.co.kr/english/ijo_history.html

According to the Korean National Statistical Office (KNSO), the number of restaurants in Korea had surged from 548,986 in 1997 to 595,791 in 2002.
http://www.rangeland.com.au/frame.asp?URL=%2FClientSide%2Fnewsitem%2Easp&ARGS=iNewsID%3D3503%26sBack%3Dnewsindex%2Easp

Seoul: Hotels and Restaurants 112,156.
http://english.seoul.go.kr/

[fidel]

Mankind it seems like you have got a bug up your ass. I was just trying to poit out that it is unwise to eat Kimchi from some small places that do reuse leftover kimchi and that the way to tell if it has been 'out' before if it isn't layered.

I wasn't 'attacking' korea. Just pointing out some small piece of local advice that koreans know but most foreigners don't. I didn't make it up. I have asked why they( I mean Koreans) aren't eating the kimchi in a particular place and they have told me the reason why and what to watch out for.

[shawner88]

I've been here for four years and I've eaten at restaurants and street vendors a zillion times. I got sick one time, and I'm pretty sure that came from bacteria on a beer bottle.

Back in the states, I got food poisoning at restaurants three times...all the times from chicken.

[phaedrus]

[VanIslander]

The first time I saw gimchi being thrown back into the tub I could only .

It would bother me more if I thought restaurants back home were more sanitary. But for those who haven't worked in them, you may be shocked to hear about the workplace practices of teenagers working at your old fastfood joint.

I think our risk of getting ill from restaurant staff greatly outweighs the risk we face from other customers.

[The Bobster]

When The Bobster was a mere tyke, working his way through univ and taking time off from same to travel a bit around his country of birth, he sometimes worked in various types of restaurants as a dishwasher, busboy, waiter, and occasional short-order cook. You can rest assured that whether the venue is a greasy-spoon truckstop diner on the interstate or a five-star country club steak emporium, some of the same frightening examples of unsanitary practices can be found in the kitchens and storage areas of these places.

I would guess the same to be true in Korea. I don��t sweat it much.

[djsmnc]

It does seem a little disgusting that the food may be recycled, but no food is ever perfect, regardless of where it is prepared and served. Every place has its little secrets about where the food has been, be it in mom's kitchen, or a 5 star restaurant.

Vegetables are raised in cow poop. That in itself should be an indication that things will never be perfect... Your choices in Korea are:

A. Eat in traditional restaurants and set aside any reservations you may have about what may or may not have happened to the food

B. Eat in western restaurants which are staffed mainly by young people who are not afraid to pick up that chicken fillet they just dropped on the floor and put it back on your plate.

C. Cook your own food at home, making sure to cook it all at a very high temperature and eat it before it cools off.

D. Live in a bubble and have an IV drip in your arm to provide you with nutrients because you are worried about germs.

[phaedrus]

I don't want to eat at restaurants anymore.

Before I started reading this thread the loogies in burgers thing was a joke that went in one ear and out the other.

Now I'll actually think of that when I eat a burger. Or I'll think about some kid's mouth on my kimchi................... yuck!!

[fidel]

People, I know restaurants can sometimes be unsanitary, both here and abroad but was just pointing out a sure fire way to spot whether you have been served dodgy Kimchi. Unlike back home, unless you spot the gobbers or dirt you can't really tell the difference.

If it's piled in a heap, rather than nicely layered which shows it's been cut from the same batch it probably has been out there before.

I've never had food poisoning here yet and eat at all sorts of places without any qualms. However, if you like your kimchi new and tasty avoid those small piles.[/b]

[bellum99]

I have been here for years and it is recycled sometimes. I once got some Kimchi and I was eating and at the bottom of the bowl was a half smoked butt (some guy out his cigarette).
This is the worst I have seen but i see the kitchen staff recycle it.

[Ryst Helmut]

Thank God we make our own Gimchee.....

Shoosh,

Ryst

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Sorry Mankind. I have personally witnessed people recycle side dishes in Korean restaurants many times over.

This "recycling sidedishes" was witnessed by me in Korean restaurants located in Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Canada, England, and in America.

One of many examples:

In Andong, I wached a Korean man cough all over the table (no, he did not cover his mouth), and watched some time later when he left as the ajjuma took the side dishes back to the kitchen. I got up to "use the washroom" and peeped into the sidebar window.

What did she do with the sidedishes?

Refill them with new food on top, and serve them to a family which had just entered.

I am a people watcher. I observe and make mental notes of things I have seen.

True, I have seen a few restaurants recycle food in North America and Europe, but it was done in a far more sanitary way, mostly just decorative garnishes however.

[Holden]

They don't always recycle. Ever walk by a restaurant and see huge bags of food refuse sitting out front? Many of them are full of kimchi.