After a long week preparing for the intense summer sessions, we had a day off. But we couldn’t figure out what to do. In Korea, what seems like another planet, we couldn’t figure what to do? It was me and my co-workers from Canada. Well, one of them is from South Africa but he is Indian decent and grew up in Canada. He loves the African culture and we talk about it all the time and I show and tell him what I can about my people but I know almost nothing about the Indian culture other than what I read in my American History books about the “Trail of tears” (if you want to know more about the history of Indians in America, here is a good start)Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation and so forth.

So I asked him, what can you tell me about India and its culture other than what I read about in history books like The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century and other American history books. By the way, I highly recommend this books, it is by far one of the best books I have read. You can buy it for a very low price from Amazon.

Anyhow, like Andrew Zimmerman he said well, the best way to start experiencing a culture is to try its food. He decided to take us, me and another teacher at my school to an Indian restaurant downtown. He had been frequenting the restaurant and he told us the food was authentic. The restaurant even went as far as “importing” an Indian chef who makes all the meals.

While we waited for our food, he ordered these:

It was floured and fried chicken served with a slightly sour tomato based sauce. To me it didn’t taste like chicken though because the meat was a bit stronger than chicken to me. However, they were good.

The moment of truth came when the main dish came out. I was excited to taste Indian food in South Korea.

We each ordered the sampler because it combined a little bit of everything.

This was my plate:

It included shrimp curry, mutton curry (which is either goat meat or sheep and sometimes lamb depending on the restaurant), rice, vegetable (eat your veggies kids they are good for you), yogurt, baked chicken, a spicy sauce, and traditional Indian bread. The price was 16 thousand won, which is about $13. The bread was ginormous:

He even showed us how to eat the meal. You can dip the bread into the curry or dip it in the yogurt and eat. With the rice, you can put half your curry in the rice and eat. Either way you eat it, I have to say the food was marvelous. Like my Norwegian roommate Kim used to say, “it was legendary.” I will ask him to show me more about the wonderful Indian culture that is in our face in America but we know so little about. We finished off the meal with a nice and warm Indian chai tea.

Andrew Zimmern always says “the best way to learn about a culture is through the food they eat.” He is Bizarre but I love his show because he is not scared to try anything, experience different cultures and immerse himself in them even if for a short time. He has aired an episode about Korean before but I don’t know if he covered the “dog eating topic” that I wrote about on this blog. That would be interesting. Anyhow, my dinning explorations are adventurous but not at that caliber yet. I still don’t know if I would try dog meat. But I can tell you about my favorite place to eat. I say favorite only because I have eaten there more consistently, it’s cheap and it is “mashisayo,” or delicious in English. It is located in the shopping center they call NewQua in PyeongTaek although it is spelled New Core. Picture below.

There are many shops and on the seventh floor there is a food court. There are several places to choose from including a place that sells pizza. There is potato pizza, bar-b-q pizza with corn and peas, squid pizza and other kinds of of bizzarr toppings you can choose from. I have not eaten there yet but I hear is not as bad as it sounds. Yeah right is what I usually say to that.

Once you are in the building, there is an elevator but it is always crowded and people tend to touch foreigners in Korea; that is something I am still getting used to. To avoid the touching, I take the escalator:

After making my way up to the 7th floor where the restaurants are. I make a right and the restaurant I frequent is right there. Here is the one minute video I took before eating:

To accommodate everyone, there is a picture menu on the walls of most restaurants. This is very convenient for English teachers and foreigners who do not have a strong handle on the language.

Here is a close up of the food.

The price of the whole meal is the price of a burger back home in U.S. I paid 7,000 won for the meal; that is about $5 or less. In fact the food is so cheap that the ladies or (ajumas, what they call a married woman in Korea) in the picture below were arguing over who was going to pay for the meal they had.

Oh, you don’t believe me, I didn’t think you would. The reason they were arguing rather is because they all just met to eat without talking about who invited who. In Korea, the person who invites another out to eat is the person who pays.

On the way home after dinner. The soju and meat tent was being setup. Soju is Korea’s national drink. It is very strong and I recommend not drinking unless you can hold your liquor. I mean, really hold your liquor, not a weak grip, really hold your liquor.

If you would like to try, email me and I will ship you a bottle but you have to cover shipping.
Here is what soju looks like.

The food culture in Korea is fantastic.

In this video my co-worker Shannon, shows us how to use a chop sticks to take out the bones out of a fish to make it easier to eat. Chopsticks can be a little hard to use when it comes to eating certain types of meals; this is one of those meals.

Korean dining is very interesting. When you order food in Korea, the price you see is the price you pay because taxes are already included in the purchase price of goods in Korea. Not only that, when you order food such as Rice and fish, you also get side items like kimchi, soup, other types of kimchi, and vegetables for free. The side items that you get for free are unlimited; meaning, you can ask for more during the course of your dining at no extra cost to your bill. In the U.S, you pay for everything you eat. The meal in the video above was about 16 thousand won. That is roughly $13; three of us ate and we were full. In the U.S, the same meal will run you about $30. What do you think? Should U.S restaurants offer free side items? That would be great wouldn’t it? I will pray for such a day.

There have been cases of swine flu in Seoul. We (foreign Teachers) were warned to avoid going to Seoul because there was a story in the news today that claimed that a few foreign Teachers (about 5) have been suspected of having swine flu symptoms. To avoid catching the illness that has proven fatal to a number of people around the world, we were told not to go to Seoul. I don’t know the precise figure but I hear that several people have died in the U.S as a result of swine flu. Please comment on this if you know the precise figure. How many people have died or have caught swine flu in your country? Could eating the famous Korean dish (kimchi) prevent swine flu?

Kimchi is free and served as a side dish along with other dishes at all restaurants in Korea. There are over 120 versions of kimchi. Reports in Korea claim that eating Kimchi prevents catching swine flu. Could this be true? There have been little to no signs swine flu in Korea. The signs that have been reported have been from foreigners entering Korea or already in Korea. Could it that it is a government cover up to promote the famous Korean dish? Why? What do you think?

For those who do not know, here is the history of kimchi:

“History of Kimchi

Kimchi represents Korea’s best known food. Koreans serve kimchi at almost every meal, and few Koreans can last more than a few days before cravings get the better of them. During the 1988 Summer Olympic Games, thousands of foreigners were introduced to it for the first time. Despite a reputation for being spicy, most people usually develop a taste for it, and many foreigners also find themselves missing it after returning to their home country.

Origin of Kimchi

Since human beings began cultivating, they have enjoyed vegetables, which are rich in vitamins and minerals. However, the cold winter, when cultivation was practically unavailable, led naturally to the development of a storage method- pickling. As a kind of pickled vegetables, kimchi was born in Korea around the 7th century.

Use of Hot Red Pepper Powder

At the earliest stage, kimchi was just salted vegetable, but during the 12th century they saw the appearance of a new type of kimchi with some spices and seasonings, and in the 18th century, hot red pepper finally became one of the major spices for kimchi. In particular, thanks to the introduction of Chinese cabbages in the 19th century, they witnessed the same type of kimchi as we know it today.

The Origin of the Name, Kimchi

It is suspected that the name kimchi originated from shimchae (salting of vegetable) which went through some phonetic changes: shimchae – dimchae – kimchae – kimchi.

Reasons Why Kimchi Was Developed in Korea

Few fermented vegetable foods are found worldwide. Some possible reasons why kimchi was developed as a fermented food especially in Korea are as follows: (1) vegetables were popular to the ancient people in Korea whose main industry was agriculture; (2) Koreans had a remarkable technology of slating fish which was frequently used as a seasoning; (3) Chinese cabbages (Brassica) appropriate for making kimchi were widely grown.

Major Historical Periods of Korea

The development of kimchi is reportedly rooted in the agrarian culture that began before the era of the Three Kingdoms on the Korean Peninsula. Due to the cold Korean winter, they had to come up with the storage technology of vegetables as a means of securing food.

- Kimchi in Ancient Times
It is difficult to identify the process of development of kimchi in ancient times, as historical records of the times are barely available. We can only assume that they simply salted vegetables in order to keep them as long as possible.

-Three Kingdoms Period
The first record found regarding kimchi is during the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C. – 668 A.D.). The record is written as follows: “The Kogureou People are good at making brewing dreg, malt, bran, and pickling.” This implies that fermented food was widely used in everyday lives. However, no writings of this period mention seasonings or ingredients.

- Kimchi during the Goryeo Kingdom
Though no direct records as to kimchi are found as in the previous period, cabbages are mentioned in an oriental medicine book titled Hanyakgugeupbang. There were two types of kimchi- jangajji (sliced radish preserved in soy sauce) and sunmu sogeumjeori (salted radish). In this period, kimchi began to receive new attention as a processed food enjoyable regardless of season as well as storage food for winter. It is suspected that the development of seasonings at that time enabled spicy kimchi to appear.

- Kimchi in the Joseon Period
It was after foreign vegetables, in particular, Chinese cabbages (Brassica) were introduced and used as the main material that the current type of kimchi was formed. Hot red pepper was imported to Korea from Japan in the early 17th century (after the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592), but it took roughly 200 years until it was actively used as an ingredient of Kimnchi. Therefore, it was only during the late Joseon that kimchi became associated with its red color.

Royal Court of Joseon

Normally three types of kimchi- whole-cabbage kimchi (jeotgukji), diced-radish kimchi (Kkakdugi) and water kimchi were served for the kings of Joseon. Jeotgukji for a good deal of pickled fish (e.g. croakers) was added to the kimchi. A cooking book of Joseon, Joseon massangsansik yorijebeop, explains how to make jeotgukji as follows:
First, cut well-washed cabbages and radishes into small chunks and salt them. Second, mix them with chopped hot red pepper, garlic, dropwort (minari), leaf mustards (gat) and some seaweed. Third, boil fermented fish in some water and cool it. Fourth, add it to the above blended stuffs. Fifth, store them in a pot and wait till they are fermented.

Even if the main materials of water kimchi (dongchimi) are radish and water, more garnishes were used to enhance the taste in the royal court of Joseon. The radishes used for water kimchi should be of a wholesome shape. In addition, they should be washed and salted for a day before being stored in a jar buried under ground. There is an anecdote that King Gojong, the second last king of Joseon Kingdom liked cold noodle in the dongchimi juice mixed with some beef juice as a winter-night-meal. Hence, they prepared special water kimchi with pears, which were exclusively used for the cold noodle.

Modern Kimchi

Kimchi has been scientifically proved to be highly nutritious and recommended as a future food by many nutritionists at home and abroad. So the export of kimchi to foreign countries is rapidly increasing. Korean immigrants to China, Russia, Hawaii and Japan first introduced kimchi abroad, and have continued to eat kimchi as a side dish. It gradually gained popularity even among foreigners. Accordingly, kimchi may be found wherever Koreans live. Especially in America and Japan where relatively many Koreans live, packed kimchi is easily available. In the past, the production and consumption of kimchi was confined to Korean societies, but nowadays it has become a global food.”

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