Korean Food (September 2002)

Well, yet another month has passed in Busan.  The time seems to really be speeding along, although in retrospect in seems like an eternity.  It’s funny how that works sometimes.  I guess when you’re fully occupied it doesn’t drag along.  Anyways, I didn’t really want to dwell on the meaning of time, or anything quite so complex.  My brain is already hurting from all the student evaluations I had to write this month.  Every month I have to do these evaluations which are a royal pain in the neck.  Last month I only had to do 21, but this month it’s around 60.  I basically have to sugar coat them, to ensure that parents continue to keep their children enrolled at the school, but still be somewhat critical.  After all, the English schools here are a business so they’re run like one: profits first, education second. It’s difficult, and takes a while, but fortunately I only have to do 60 every second month.

I’ve been putting off talking about my culinary experiences since I arrived here, mainly because there haven’t been too many that warrant discussion.  However, I have delved into the Korean cuisine on more than one occasion and have grown to truly appreciate some of the food here.  One thing is for certain, it’s all spicy!  The national dish here is called Kimchi.  Basically, it’s fermented cabbage with tons of pepper paste.  It’s kind of nasty stuff, especially if you see how it’s made, worms and all!  It does grow on you though, and is great as a side for rice, which is also eaten in abundance here.  Everything is served with rice, which I suppose isn’t much different than any other East Asian country.  Seafood is also very big here, although it isn’t what you’d expect unless you’ve been here.  Sushi isn’t a big thing here, as the majority of Koreans cook their fish, usually fried.

What I mean about not being what you’d expect is some of the choice stuff here.  I mean, I’ve mentioned in an earlier letter about seeing fried squid cakes and eel on a stick.  I was walking through the Somyeon district here (one of the many shopping districts in this town) and there are these little carts all over the place that sell these eels on a stick.  They take a live eel right out of a tank by the cart, and throw it into a metal pan, wriggling and sliming all over the place!  The chef du jour slices and dices the thing, and like a worm that’s been chopped in half, all the little bits continue to squirm around like they have a mind of their own.  The eel is skewered and then deep-fried live.  Afterwards, it’s covered in sauce and served on the stick.  The whole process reeks of nastiness, but the end result is quite tasty! The dried squid cakes aren’t bad.  They taste like salty dried fish.  Not something I think I’ll try again because the texture is wrong, and the things are too salty for my taste.

One popular style of restaurant here is Mandu.  I usually eat lunch at one during the week because it’s cheap and really good, although quite greasy.  I usually order a dish called Tungsu-mandu: meat dumplings fried and covered in sweet and sour sauce with cucumbers and carrots; and chamchi kimbap: rice, tuna, roots, lettuce, tofu and some other unidentifiable things, rolled in seaweed.  For my N.American fix I’ll sometimes have Dong-cass.  This is a pork patty, covered in sweet sauce, and served with rice and salad.  Very good stuff!  Another popular restaurant is called a galbi restaurant.  These places are heavily frequented by Koreans and should only be entered if you know what you’re doing.  At a galbi restaurant you cook your own food.  There is a barbeque set into the table, and when you order they fill it with blazing hot coals.  They bring you strips of pork and beef marinated in a sweet sauce, along with a huge assortment of side dishes.  The meat is cooked over the coals and using chopsticks, a skill I have yet to fully master, you take a small strip of cooked meat and set it in some lettuce with various roots, rice, and kimchi (if you want).  We had a feast, washed down with some Korean beer that was excellent!  I think these places are a great idea, but they would probably never fly back home.  Two reasons: people don’t go out for dinner to cook, and they’d probably be considered a fire hazard.

One thing I’ve heard about, but have yet to experience, is eating live octopus.  I’m not so sure I will try it, but I may if the opportunity presents itself.  I have heard about other foreigners trying it, and choking or getting sick.  One guy was telling me he tried it with a Korean friend of his.  He said that it was really tricky to keep the thing in your chopsticks because it moved a lot.  All of its tentacles would try to grab on to anything close.  It was especially difficult to get it into his mouth because the tentacles were sticking to his cheeks.  The octopus don’t go down without a fight (forgive the pun).  He said it was sucking on his tongue as he started chewing on it, and it was all he could do to stop from gagging.  Apparently, the Korean he was with ended up getting sick.  I don’t know if he was exaggerating about all of this, but I thought it made for a nice and disgusting story, nonetheless.

Chusok (Thanksgiving) was just last weekend.  The custom here is a little different than back home, but essentially the same.  Family, friends, and food!  Although, the feast is Korean style.  No Turkey and stuffing, that’s for sure!  They also give gifts and money.  More so than during Christmas, which isn’t as big a deal here as it is back home I’m told.  Anyways, I was invited to my employer Seo-Ryung’s (Emily) family dinner at her parents.  I was a little apprehensive about going, because this was going to be a diehard Korean affair, but I thought, “What the hell, it’ll be a new experience.”  I went out and bought some imported jams as a gift for her mother.  I wanted to make sure I wasn’t the ignorant foreigner that couldn’t follow simple tradition.  We arrived and I was told to follow her lead.  First, I had to pay my respects to the grandmother.  I went into her room with Emily and Peter and had to do this bowing ceremony.  Afterwards, we went into another room and repeated the process with her parents.  Gifts were exchanged at this point. The dinner was eaten on the floor, oriental style, with a huge assortment of dishes.  There was a sweet potatoe noodle with tofu and vegetables, various sweet-pickled roots, a salad, beef marinated in something good, and rice whiskey.  It was a great dinner and a good experience to enjoy a traditional Korean holiday with a Korean family.