Korean Job Discussion Forums

[shantideva]

Hi.

I'm a Korean, and working as an editor of a magazine. Nowadays, I'm making a feature story about "Food". I come to this bulletin board to ask something. After gathering your replies, I will make a article.

The question is ...
"What aspect of Korean food - or Korean table manner - makes you surprised or interested?"

I'd be very happy if you reply to my question with detailed reason or episode.

I'm waiting many replies.

Thanks.



**********
I apologize for inapropriate expression 'you foreigners'.
I didn't know the impression of that expression. (Sorry, I'm not good at English)
Thanks for pointing out my mistake.

[Carla]

Ok, if I can talk about food besides table food...

The silk worm larva. They sell them from carts on the street. Like hotdogs in New York. The smell, ohhh, horrible. I love Korea, I love most Korean food, I'll try almost anything once. But, no, I can't get past the smell, let alone try to eat it.

[Dodgy Al]

So you want us foreigners to write an article for you?

Yes I like kimchi.
Yes I can use chopsticks.

And you can quote me on that!

[Daegudavid]

[8minutepopsong]

lol~
oh, snap ;_;

[crossmr]

[CeleryMan]

After a while, everything tastes the same. Solitary lock down for your palate. Seriously.

[hochhasd]

I just arrived,but it threw me off when a Korean man came up to me while I was eating my pizza at the convenience(the place has a/c) store and said in the only English he spoke,"give me" very rudely. He did not say the word please, but he knew the word give me and no he was not homeless. He happened two have two large beers in his hands. I do not know this man,but I did give him a slice so he would go away. I know this is suppose to be about foods,but I could not help it. Is this practice common

[retrogress]

I will offer my experiences and the experiences of others that I know around the subject of eating at school or with coworkers:

Case A:

At school (elementary school) we foreign teachers often eat with Korean staff and sometimes with students. Something that bothers me ( and I have also heard my foreign friends who are also teachers talk about this) is Korean coworkers insistence that I eat with the rice and soup facing me. That is to say, my stainless steal dining hall tray must be oriented with the rice and soup next to the edge of the table.

First of all, I like to eat with the rice and soup away from me. I like to have my little side dishes nearer to me. It's just the way I like it. I learned quickly which (few) teachers didn't care how I did it and I ate next to them. When a teacher would command me to turn my tray around the "right" way, I would just remember not to sit next to them again.

Now, perhaps they thought that hte students would see me doing it the "wrong" way and then follow me rebelling against the system. The truth of the matter is, however, that the 1st graders who did mimic me for about 3 days, soon changed back to the "right" way to do it because that was there way. I understand that Koreans ahve "their way" to do it, but I also wish they would respect that I have "my way" as well.

I mean, I don't go up to Koreans in McDonalds and tell them to stop holding their hamburger with the paper wrapper just as I don't go up to chinese people and tell them to stop eating pizza with a fork. Everyone has their way to eat so for God's sake just let them (or me in this instance) eat in peace.

Case B:

this is not a complaint at all, but just an observation about what's different here in Korea:

I find that the obsession with "tea time" quite unique. Usually during the long break in the morning, teachers get together for "tea time" in which they almost always drink coffee mix and not tea. IT is all very communal/ collective done in unison. It is almost impossible to not take part. If you are just walking through the teacher's office during "tea time" they will insist that you come over and eat whatever it is that they're eating, usually cookies or sticky rice cakes. If you just say, "No thanks, that's quite alright" it is not enough. You almost have to at least taste what has been offered.

Again, they don't really understand that we aren't interested in "tea time".

On the flip side, if I was NEVER invited to tea time I would probably get my feelings hurt.

CASE C:

Once I didn't eat lunch because we had something dreadful for lunch. It's rare that this happens. Well, I had staff hunting me down and finding things for me to eat. They gave me bananas and crackers and rice puffs and milk and all kinds of things. It was really sweet and I felt cared for. At the same time I kept thinking, "Gee, can't a guy skip a lunch in peace?"

And I think this is the underlying theme here. Sometimes we foreigners like to make our own choices, go about our lives in our own way without having something push something down our throats.

And just in case you were wondering...for the 99th time, I don't really like watermelon.

Good luck with the article.

[crossmr]

[wakingup]

Obviously, many things in the manners are different - the communal nature of eating (instead of individual plates, cooking food all together, sharing side dishes, etc) and not even having your own plate at some places, using chopsticks, sitting on mats on the floor at some restaurants, not wearing shoes at some restaurants, etc. Honestly, I love sharing food and trying many different things, so Korean style suits me. (I also love sitting on the floor and eating shoe-less - though most of the restaurants I go to are not that style, since many of my friends find it uncomfortable.)

The thing that surprises me the most is how adamantly the workers at restaurants will come tell you the WAY you are supposed to eat something - what you should mix together, how you should unwrap something, etc. I've had this happen to me in more than one restaurant. There is one I go to that really wants to help me mix my onions into some other things, but I never do. The lady is so nice about it, but it gets a bit tedious - I see the signs, I know I can make a dish with the things they've brought, but I don't want to. We always laugh about it when she comes over. She must think we're really dense.

I also notice that Koreans seem less inclined towards finger food - they use wrappers for burgers, eat wings with chopsticks, etc.

As far as the food itself, the weirdest food I've seen is the octopus (I think?) that literally wriggles in your mouth as you eat it. I was surprised at how into soups Koreans are. I was surprised that the food has not nearly been as spicy as I expected.

[skdragon]

surprised: that there was a certain day to eat certain foods (and at times prepared by certain people only)
interested: to try lots of dishes I couldn't eat outside Korea (like dog, and the usual insect side dishes for beer)
fun: to learn how to twist and turn away from the table, hold up hands and pour other people drinks when having soju or beer

good luck with the article

[Ilsanman]

Surprised: Too many rules about how to eat, as a few of the posters have said.

Everytime I eat, I have someone telling me to eat in a different way. I can't even eat a 비빔밥 at the restaurant without the 아줌마 hovering over me, telling me to stir it more. It's frustrating, and 'we foreigners' mostly don't like it.

I am an adult, and I will eat any way I wish.

[Ilsanman]

Oh yes, one more surprising point.

Koreans eat a lot of parts of the animal that some other countries don't, or very uncommonly eat. For example, cow's head or tripe. Maybe it's a good thing, as the animal is used for efficienctly.

What I find silly is that these foods are packaged as some sort of specialty food and sold at very high prices.

[silverquill]

Well, my viewpoint will be a little biased since I learned to love Korean food when I lived with a Korean family in a small village for a year while serving with the U.S. Peace Corps many years ago. When I decided to return to Korea a year ago, I had kimchi in my refrigerator. So, I really do love Korean food, from simple country fare, to fancy restaurants.

There are still some surprises. For the first six months of this year we lived in a very rural area, and the last weekend there we went with some Koreans to a restaurant in a little village, smaller than a village, and ate at a place we'd often walked past. They asked if we liked ogengi (okay it doesn't look good in our alphabet). I had no idea. The soup turned out to be fluorescent blue-green snails - not that bad if one can get past the color.

And, after resisting for all of my previous three-year stay, I finally ate two beondeggi! (The boiled silk worm lavae). Taste better than they smell - really, but I'm not keen on the texture.

So, I had dog soup once, but haven't had occasion this time, but I found it quite delicious.

But, here is a new experience, what is sometimes called "fusion." In many restaurants in the larger cities, the cuisine is neither traditionally Korean nor entirely Western. It is instead, a fusion of ingredients and preparation, that is modern and uniquely Korean - and very creative.

Here appearance and serving are more important than in America. The "plating" of some dishes is quite amazing, stressing the importance of visual appeal.

A couple of other casual observations. Stainless steel! Never seen so much of it anywhere. In the old days it was all aluminum and wood. Stainless steel cups, bowls, lunch trays at school, the total kitchen (except the tile floor), and even a lot of tables!

Or, how about coming to the table with big scissors to cut the food?

And, there is never a lack of food! It just keeps coming. In a restaurant, if you empty one side dish, it is immediately replaced.

Korean snacks -- an endless variety of crackers, cookies, etc Some are strange but many are well-suited to the American palate. Admit it, we all love Choco-Pies! Kosomi is another of my favorites.

I know many of my foreign friends struggle with Korean food, but for me it is one of the positive aspects about being here. My wife, loves it as much as I do, and she just jumped right in.

My favorite comfort food, really Chinese I guess, is a bowl of Jajjangmyeon!