Korean Job Discussion Forums

Explat · Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Location: Downtown Pleides

I don't know what it's like around Seoul, but for the rest of us who live in or near a medium sized city, there is hope at last on the vegetable front.

HomePlus has significantly expanded its selection of canned vegetables in the past few weeks, adding DelMonte sweet peas, lima beans, string beans and even canned spinach.

They had added some S&W vegetables a couple of months ago, including peas and carrots and mixed vegetables, at remarkably high prices. While S&W is a respectable American company, DelMonte has better quality and the prices on the new items are better.

The selection is really fairly wide, for Korea, including canned carrots, potatoes, zucchini, and cream corn, as well as inexpensive kidney beans from Italy, which they have had for awhile.

I think HomePlus-Tesco is to be commended for going far beyond the offerings of EMart or LotteMart in this department.

I hope folks will buy these new veggies, even if the prices are a bit stiff (like three times the price in the States). Green sweet peas (the REAL THING, not the ball bearing imitations) are 1,500 won, lima beans 2,000 won. We surely want HomePlus to keep carrying these items, and perhaps with greater volume they can lower prices, which will most likely lead to increased sales.

Why not give some to your co-teachers. Use them in class to teach the kids food vocabulary!

Of course, there is still room for additions. My first choice would be garbanzos, i.e., chick peas. They are great on salads, in soup, and of course for making hummus, if we can ever get some tahini, which is just sesame seed butter. I would be perfectly happy with dried garbanzo - cook them up in a pressure cooker and they are delicious.

They have the basics of canned vegetables covered now. Most of the other canned vegetables I would buy back home were other types of beans, like butter beans, and black eyed peas.

Now if we could just get some cornmeal for making cornbread to go with some black eyed peas and butter beans!

I sure would like to see some dried lentils and some dried split peas. I love to make split pea soup. Of course, some canned Campbells split pea soup would be mighty nice, too, seeing as how HomePlus has some other Campbells soups.

Any other suggestions from you folks?

I would like to congratulate and thank the buyers and other folks at HomePlus for their kindness in thinking of us foreigners in Korea. Having a wider selection of food from back home really makes life more pleasant here in Korea, just as having Korean food abroad is important for Koreans.

Imrahil · Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 5:21 am Post subject:

I was in Lotte Mart a week ago and I actually found some dill pickles!!!! It ws the first time I have ever seen those in Korea.

thatwhitegirl · Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Location: ROK

I make my own version of tahini by blending sesame seeds in my little blender. Perfect for hummus. I don't add anything extra to it, although I suppose you could.

I think Homeplus is doing well. I can buy good olives, Tesco brand dill pickles, coconut milk for curries and kidney beans. If they could get chick peas I would be ever so pleased. Smile

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

You can get dried chick peas and lentils at the Foreign Food Mart in Itaewon. It's in the same block as Whatthebook?, so you can make a day of shopping when you come in to Seoul. They also have tahinni, but like the other poster said, just crush sesame seeds in a blender (I add some sesame oil).

Explat · Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Location: Downtown Pleides

Sorry, I'm not traveling all the way to Seoul to buy chick peas.

I don't know what you use for a blender, sesame seeds or tahini, but when I tried it, what I got was nothing like tanini.

This is how tahini is made:

thatwhitegirl · Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Location: ROK

I have one of those little blenders with different sized cups. I think that the recipe posted above is good for raw sesame seeds. Since the ones we can buy in the store are already toasted, you just need to blend them. The little blender works really well. It turns into a buttery/oily paste very fast. I don't think it would work well in a big blender though.

Explat · Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Location: Downtown Pleides

Hey, I know what I would like to see in canned vegetables: sauerkraut.

Besides the fact that they have hot dogs here, they have some fine fresh sausage that would be mighty fine cooked up with some sauerkraut and potatoes.

And after all, what is sauerkraut but fermented cabbage? It should feel right at home in Korea!

NightSky · Joined: 19 Apr 2005

sauerkraut has been asked for before and I've posted about it before:

http://www.johncook.co.kr/detail.php?c_code1=37&c_code2=000&c_code3=000&pr_code=37000000_10000012

captain kirk · Joined: 29 Jan 2003

Why would anyone eat canned vegetables? Is there a war on or something?

simone · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Location: Now Mostly @ Home

Virtually all canned foods have a liner which contains BPA, which is a hormone-distrupting chemical.

As of last week, (in Canada) all baby bottles and sippy cups containing it have been banned. The US FDA still says it's safe.

All I know is, I'm not feeding any canned food to my daughter, and all her bottles are BPA-free plastic.

My big problem now is the big water tongs that I drink ALL my water (and all her water from) are made with BPA-containing plastic.

Guess it's time to install a water filter.... but what will I do at work?

cangel · Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Location: Jeonju, S. Korea

Ban this ban that... What, are we all going to turn into? Fear-mongers who are afraid of every little thing? I'm not judging those who try to do their best to protect themselves and others but I will eat the h e l l out of some canned vegetables. No worries. People have been eating canned vegetables for decades and nobody seems to be any worse for wear.

I also noticed the canned vegetables at HomePlus. I bought the DelMonte whole green beans (which I have been unable to find fresh here in the ROK) and they were great. The cut green beans from S&W were terrible - do not buy. Tonight I will tear into a can of spinach. Now if I could just get some brussel sprouts...

Fresh is better. I always try to buy fresh. However, canned vegetables keep for a long time and are always on hand. Nice in a pinch but not as nice as fresh.

KumaraKitty · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Location: Bucheon

They have Strawberry oatmeal crisp cereal now too. We bought some yesterday, it was really yummy! I am really enjoying a lot of the Tesco products they have brought in. Our Homeplus had diced peaches in light grape juice not syrup like all the other brands. They were 980won each and came in a plastic cup with a reusable lid. They were wonderful during the middle of my pregnancy when all I wanted to eat was fruit! Too bad they stopped carrying them though. I thought when I bought them all they'd realize "Wow, high demand, let's get more!". Same with the Honey nut cornflakes they had. Bought it, loved it, then they stopped carrying it.*sigh*
We also buy the Tesco pastas, shells, macaroni, penne and lasagna. It is cheaper and nicer quality then the other brands.
Hubby loves the green beans so he stocked up on those in case they disappear again.
On a side note, our Home Plus installed Self serve checkouts. They have English or Korean. Fairly simple to use IF you read the directions. You can check out up to 5 items on your own and usually there is never a line for them. Saves me time when I'm grabbing some stuff quick. You just have to press the touch screen for English and it walks you through fairly easy. Once you scan an item, you must place it and LEAVE IT on the metal counter until you pay. It recognizes how many items are on the tray so if you remove one it messes up. You can pay cash, debit or credit using the machine. The Koreans think I'm a genius when they see me use it because I don't think they realize I am using it in English. Great time-saver if your Home plus has one!