What You Actually Eat in Korea, Part 1

 Part 1: At the Supermarket

I'm always taken aback when Koreans ask me, "You actually like Korean food?" This question comes up a surprising amount and of course the answer is yes! I can't tell if they are genuinely incredulous at my tastes or if they just think they are supposed to act that way with foreigners. For example, the following is an almost exact transcript of a conversation that took place between me and a random Korean guy on the subway:

Guy: So do you like Korean food?
Me: Yeah I really like it! Gamgyetang* is my favorite!
Guy: Oh wow, really? Do you eat Chinese food?
Me: Yeah all the time. I eat pretty much all Asian cuisines. Chinese, Japanese, Thai...
Guy: You eat sushi?
Me: I love sushi! Actually I would love to eat some sushi right now.
Guy: You eat sushi?! You must be Asian...

*Yes...I was just trying to impress him.

Granted, I eat the Americanized version of these foods, but I explained that I couldn't think of anything more American than eating Chinese food out of the carton, or going out to a sushi dinner with friends. Koreans don't usually eat sushi rolls though, just fish and rice, but I eat that too.

Point being, I considered writing about my favorite traditional Korean cuisine, but since there are enough foodies out there with blogs espousing the beauty and wonder of every new dish, complete with flowery descriptions and D-SLR quality photos, I've decided to write about the other food...the on-the-go, I'm broke, or don't-have-enough-time-to-get-a-real-meal food. Personally I find this stuff much more interesting, especially when you see familiar brands touting products that wouldn't go over so well in the United States.

I'm going to skip a lengthy discussion of ramen (ramyeon in Korean) since the answer is yes, there is ramen for days and it comes of a variety of unfamiliar flavors. Though I'm not the world's healthiest eater, in general I try to stay away from it since it's very high in sodium and mystery ingredients.

One of the things most foreigners notice when they first enter Korean supermarkets are gift sets like these:

 

Tuna? Spam? I think most people would prefer an ugly sweater, so I shall enlighten you on two cultural notes. First, Spam is popular in Korea not because of some weird genetic affinity to synthetic meat, but because the Americans distributed it in high quantities as part of food rations during the Korean War and the rebuilding period afterwards.

I think some people have moved on from Spam due to current economic prosperity (my co-teacher has acknowledged that it isn't good for you), but it's also deeply ingrained in modern Korean food culture. My school cafeteria occasionally serves rice with vegetables and small cubes of spam. I've even heard of restaurants that still serve "army soup", soup containing Spam and other foods you probably wouldn't choose to eat during times of peace...or an armistice.

Okay, so Koreans like Spam, but why in such large gift sets? The second note is that in Korean culture, gifts are supposed to be practical. Things like food, vitamins, toothpaste, etc, are perfectly acceptable gifts. For my birthday I received two boxes of these guys which I love:

These little packaged cakes probably have a similar shelf life to Twinkies and would be right at home with an array of Hostess products (assuming Hostess hasn't gone under yet). For the most part Koreans really love sweets. How much you ask? My current public enemy no.1 in Korea is sugared garlic bread, the travesty that it is...but we'll get that in Part 2: Food On the Go, and on the Cheap.

Moving to the chip aisle. Chip flavors have gotten pretty wacky in the States, but in Korea  chips come in flavors of food that you can hardly find here. For example: these taco flavored chips advertise two large pieces of cheese...do you know how hard it is to find a legitimate taco in Korea? Let alone one with cheese? Even in Seoul it's hard to come by a decent taco. So you can't get the real thing, but you can eat the chip flavor! Makes Taco Bell look gourmet.

Although we typically associate chips with salty foods in America, chips in Korea also come in a wide variety of sweet flavors. Yesterday my co-teacher handed me what I thought was a cheese puff (silly), but it tasted like pineapple...broke my taste buds' little tiny hearts (note: I much prefer salty snacks to sweet ones...and I LOVE cheese puffs...please send some).

Sweet and Delicious...I'm mildly curious as to what "Delicious" tastes like in chip form...a lot like honey it seems.

The one thing most foreigners would agree Korea flavors well is milk. I'm not a huge fan of these things, but many foreigners go crazy for these banana and strawberry flavored milk drinks (I going to go ahead and say  "milk drink" since I think the percentage of actual milk in there is a little questionable).

Foreigners however are in disagreement over a drink called Pocari Sweat. Some people love it, some people hate it. It's like the Korean Gatorade...except the flavor has been described to me as "actually tasting like sweat"...or even less flattering, "tastes like urine." Truthfully I haven't been brave enough to try it. Apparently it's pretty good for you and can actually be helpful if you're dehydrated (or hung over). I'll try to work up the courage some day soon and report back on the taste (still in recovery from the beondegi episode).

In terms of healthy snacks, outside of nuts, fruit, and vegetables (which can get rather pricey) the options feel pretty limited. I love granola bars at home, but the only brand I've seen here that makes them is Dr. You. They satisfy the craving, but just barely. I've grown to love Dr. You's flaxseed cookies (though I think they are more like sugar cookies with flaxseed). In the past cashews and almonds have been my go to healthy, yet filling snack, but they are very expensive here!

 

This little container cost me the equivalent of $6! I also eat a lot of yogurt at home, but here most of it comes in liquid form. You drink rather than spoon it, which for some reason does not wet my appetite. If you go to Costco in Seoul you can get almost anything you're missing from home, but it might be expensive and for me it is quite the trek for weekly groceries. Since I've only been here three months my cravings haven't been dire, but we'll see how long I can go without Kraft Mac n' Cheese and avocados before things get dicey...

For your entertainment, here's what they think of American food at Emart, a Target type chain with a full grocery section:

 

Actually America and Mexico are grouped together in this aisle, so I guess it's really "North American food"...apparently we subsist mostly on tomato based condiments and marshmallow Fluff. 

Prepare Your Birthday Suit: A Night at the Jimjilbbang (Culture Shocks #2)

Through a quick search on the internet I discovered that pretty much everyone whose ever visited South Korea and been to a Jimjilbbang, that is, a Korean "spa", has an “oh-em-gee! I went to the spa and everyone was naked!” blog post, but in the interest of giving a more thorough, and hopefully more culturally insightful description of this traditional gathering place, I’m going to recount my own experience.

I apologize. Let me back track. Korean “spas” are not what you picture when you think of spas in the United States. Spas in the States are temporary escapes where you slip on a robe, lie down on a table for about an hour, and awkwardly squirm when you turn over so the masseuse doesn’t see your butt. Afterward you might get a nice facial or your nails done, but nothing crazy. It’s a few hours of restful bliss before you leave and return to the less glamorous outside world. For most, it’s something you’ll do once a year if you’re lucky, if you ever even go at all. For Koreans though, the spa isn’t so much a brief escape from life as it is an essential part of it. 

You can still use Jacuzzis and get massages, facials, etc, at Korean spas, but you can also eat, play, nap, or even spend the night there, as they are open 24/7. They are huge facilities with many rooms and gathering halls in addition to the “spa” itself. Last weekend I went to my first Jimjilbbang, called Garden 5, because my friends and I wanted to spend the night in Seoul. It was located inside an absolutely enormous building complex that also housed a wedding hall (for Koreans there is no such thing as a “destination wedding”, only wedding halls). We arrived around 11 pm. Once inside I handed the receptionist 8,000 won (less than $8), took off my shoes, and headed upstairs.

I admit that at first I was a little shocked by the completely unabashed crowd of naked women and children brushing their teeth, taking showers, sitting in saunas, and lounging in Jacuzzis (I should probably note here that although the facilities are family friendly and for both genders, the actual “spa” portions are separate for men and women). I tried not to giggle as I peeled off my clothes and stuck them into my locker. After about ten minutes though I got used to it, in fact, I quite liked getting to spend a few hours hanging out in my birthday suit. It reminded me that at least among friends (and strangers who you will never see again) nudity isn’t the all-embarrassing, terrible thing many Americans make it out to be.

Koreans come to spas with their friends and their families. It’s common for people to work and study late, so even children can be found hanging out late into the night with their parents. Lots of men who work late will just spend the night at jimjilbbang instead of going home. I find it hard to imagine hanging out naked in the spa area with any members of my family, but for Koreans it’s beside the point. In a culture that values cleanliness, it’s a great way to relax, bond, and distress. Community is also high valued. People tend to go out in groups; in fact, it's difficult to find restaurants where you can order a dish that doesn't call for multiple diners. I'll do a post on Korean eating later, but I will say that if you're a big germ-a-phobe, or don't like to share, Korea might not be the place for you. 

Anyway, back to the spa. It’s not weird, and at least in my case I didn’t feel like people were staring (though I’ve heard sometimes they do, might be worse when you’re a foreigner; in general appearance is very important in Korea), Personally I think it’s much better than any alternative I ever had for hanging out with my friends in high school! There were four enormous, almost pool sized Jacuzzis, each with a slightly varied temperature (which was displayed on a digital screen), so if one was too hot and the other was too cold, the next would be just right!

What actually blew my mind more than anything was the 97 degrees Celsius sauna! That was not a typo: 97 degrees CELSIUS. That is 206 degrees Fahrenheit! I actually saw a woman sitting in there for about a minute. I have no idea how you can do that without protective clothing. I stuck my hand through the door out of curiosity, and yes, it was exactly like sticking my hand in an oven. There were lots of warning signs on the front of it, but they were all in Korean…and I’m still not sure what to make of it. Definitely fits the old, “beauty is pain” moniker.

While I was not adventurous enough for the oven sauna I did opt for a body scrub. I’m not sure how to put it delicately so I’ll just paint a picture for you. The last time I got a body scrub I was on a cruise in Europe. The woman was wearing a crisp white uniform and I was lying down on a nice plushy massage table, covered by a towel. The scrub was a part of relatively gentle, full body massage. Sounds nice right? Well in Korea, they really don’t like dead skin. This time I was splayed out naked on a slippery pink table being man handled by a half-naked Korean masseuse wearing scratchy wet glove. It’s okay if you’re laughing right now cause I am too.

Instead of rinsing off in the shower afterward the masseuse just dumped buckets of water on me like I was a wet dog. It was kind of gross watching brown clumps of my own dead skin running off the table. This scrub was definitely more for beauty than for pleasure. For the first five minutes or so I was desperately trying to suppress my laughter. I guess it’s true what they say about humans being incredibly adaptable, because after all was said and done, I have to say, I don’t think my skin ever felt better!

But the experience didn’t end there. Once we were ready to go to bed we put on what looked like military issue pajamas. I’m not sure if you absolutely have to wear them, but everyone does, and it makes it so you don’t have to bring your own. In most jimjilbbangs people sleep on thin mattress pads on the floor in a big common area. It’s usually pretty loud and noisy, and the lights are almost always on…if you come here you’ll quickly learn that Koreans don’t value their sleep as much as most people. 

However this particular spa had a “movie” room, that is, a giant room that had a large screen and was filled with lazy boy chairs! It was the only room with the lights off where virtually everyone was sleeping. So I separated from my friends and plopped down a chair between two snoring Korean men. Not the best sleep I ever had, but better than staying up all night wandering the streets of Seoul (the last bus to Yeoju is around 10pm I think). It was extremely difficult not to laugh when I first entered...seriously, imagine walking into a huge dark room filled with nothing by stretched out lazy boys and listening to a harmony of softly snoring Korean men (there were probably women too but it was hard to see).

 Another thing to note here is that not all jimjilbbangs are as nice as the one I went to; as with anywhere you go, if you decide to ever try out a Korean spa you should look into its reputation first. I was lucky to be guided by two friends who have been living here for a while already. Though for some people the experience is too much, too fast, too soon, I found it to be a great introduction to Korean life…now I feel like I could pretty much do anything and not feel uncomfortable…at least 50 people in Seoul have seen me naked now anyway right? Might as well bring on the rest of the adventures. I’m sure some of you reading this right now think I’m totally nuts, but I didn’t travel over 6,000 miles sit squarely in my comfort zone! When life hands you dinner party material, get to it! So that begs the question, if you came to visit, would you join me at the jimjilbbang? I’d love to know what you think.

On another note, I should probably start a list of restaurants in Seoul/ Gyeonggido (the surrounding province) that you should go to if you visit! First on the list is Mies Container in Seoul. I think CNN or something did an article on it, saying it was like “Hooters for women” because they like to hire “masculine men” but it is way classier and has way better food than Hooters ever would. There’s always a line out the door (of men and women!) but it moved quickly. In the interest of not wasting any time however, we drank a small bottle of raspberry flavored wine with ice while waiting. I don’t know the Korean name for it, but it’s great! I wouldn’t drink it by itself, but with some crushed ice it tastes like an alcoholic raspberry slushy.

Once inside, the place had a great atmosphere and I guess what you’d call an “industrial chic” design. In most Korean restaurants you sit on the floor or they have an “eat and go” kind of vibe, but this one was more western in its “sit on a chair-relax and sip your wine-and hang for a while” vibe. Truth be told I didn’t think the guys were particularly manly, but we ordered the Salad Pasta (a salad with pasta in it) and their Garlic and Bacon cheese pan which was to die for! Seriously, it was a large pan of delicious cheese smothered in garlic and bacon, which you ate by dipping it into maple syrup; that’s right, no bread, no crackers, all cheese. Yum. It’s also quite an odd dish to see in Seoul since most Koreans don’t like or eat cheese. 

We did have a funny interaction with the guy who was taking our order. He was wearing a head, sweat band thing with a Republican elephant button attached to it. We asked if he knew what that symbol meant and he said no (he didn’t really speak any English), so my friend finally managed to explain what it was through hand gestures and yelling “George Bush! not Obama!”, so he promptly took it off and thanked us.

Stayed tune for my next post: Big Girl Things Part Deuce: Amanda Buys a Motor Bike. That’s right folks, I’m gonna have 50cc's of pure street cred.  

Eating in Korea and other Culture Shocks

--> Those who knew me before the age of 14 can attest to the fact that I was once a very picky eater. My diet consisted mostly of frozen chicken nuggets, spaghetti, and Kraft Mac n’ Cheese. Although my tastes have expanded greatly since then, there are still some foods that I’ve always been hesitant to try, particularly in the seafood arena. So I don’t know if it was the jet lag, the head spinning amount of new things to process, or the four shots of Soju (it's the staple Korean liquor, it's about as strong as watered down vodka and tastes like it too), but in the last 24 hours I’ve eaten, and rather enjoyed, both pig bone soup and intestines…of what animal do you ask? I don’t know, their innards were about noodle sized and tucked away in a massive plate of seafood, so perhaps a fish?

Pig bone soup (Gamjatang in Korean) was actually my first meal in Korea so I was eating it unawares but I’m glad I did because it is AMAZING. In fact, I think I might be hard pressed to find something I like more. Pork is pork right? I didn’t enjoy the intestines as much but it wasn’t because of the taste, because honestly, at least the ones I had didn’t taste like much without soy sauce. They kind of look and taste like plain ramen noodles, only a little more squishy... 

Gamjatang, just add rice.

So I want to do a series of posts on Culture Shocks since I know I’ll encountering a lot of that. Though I should note that I think the term “culture shock” has a bit too much of a negative connotation for me. While I expect to have uncomfortable, frustrating moments, as I said before, that’s kind of why I am here…to be shocked and surprised. I certainly shocked my co-workers in return, who politely mentioned at the dinner table that they thought westerns were taller. I admit, the change in the height bell curve here has been nice for me. I’m still short; it’s just less obvious.

So onto actual culture shocks: I already mentioned the shoe thing, so I think they next thing would be introductory conversations. I mentioned how some students came in asking me questions that might raise some eyebrows for teachers in the States: How old are you? Do you have a boyfriend? But in Korea this helps them determine your social status and how they should treat you. While I’m still not sure how I feel about the emphasis on status yet, I think it’s interesting that these seemingly personal questions are accompanied by a shy disposition. When I answered the students’ questions they basically giggled and ran away. I asked a teacher in the room if I had embarrassed the students and she replied that they are just shy.

Though I find the disconnect between such forward questions and the shy attitudes a bit hard to understand, I am certainly feeling some shyness in the reverse. Many of the teachers who speak English have been very friendly in speaking with me and offering to show me around when they have the time. I am excited to speak with them and want to establish connections with them, but I admit I find it difficult to ask an older person about their age and if they are married (granted the latter is pretty much a given), even though this is a big factor in determining your relationship with that person.

I find it almost painfully embarrassing to ask an older person about their age and marital status like I’m conducting a census, since I’ve been taught my whole life that it’s extremely impolite to do so. It’s not that you have to ask people how old they are or ask personal questions, but it shows an understanding of their cultural emphasis on status and hierarchy. Even a few years of age can make a big difference in the way people treat you. I’m trying to rid myself of the fear that I will encounter the one Korean person who is offended when I ask them about their age.

On my first day I got to attend the school’s 42^nd birthday ceremony. For the most part it was a lot of people making speeches that I couldn’t understand, but at the end the kids put on a sort of talent show. It was like a battle of the bands meets dance competition. Between school, work, and more school I have no idea when students in Korea find the time to be so awesome.

The students put on some fantastic musical performances, including a great rendition of one of my favorite American songs, Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?” I’m devastated I didn’t have a camera to record the dance performances. A few groups of boys danced to K-Pop songs, which turned out to be like a live version of America’s Best Dance Crew. If you don’t get that reference, then it reminded me of the time I went to a Backstreet Boys concert in sixth grade. That not ringing a bell either? Then imagine a group of high school or middle school boys emulating these guys, cause that’s what they were doing, and the girls were screaming like they were the real thing:

Korean K-pop band U Kiss. Note: the students dancing were dressed like this.

 And the girls who danced were trying to move it like these girls:

The girls were not dressed like this, they wore their school uniforms.

I think this is the group another teacher told me the girls were dancing to. EVERYONE listens to K-pop, young and old. I'd post music videos but the internet connection I'm stealing is too slow. You can Youtube them easily though. During the ceremony, I found it interesting that the boys’ dance moves were noticeable more energetic than the girls’. They were all talented, but the boys flailed and shimmied while the girls kept their limbs controlled and close to their bodies, often repeating the same moves. It seemed like a clear demonstration of the different behavioral expectations for boys and girls in Korea. Though all students tend to be shy on some level, the boys seem more forward and confident than the girls, who’ve probably been taught to be more reserved and demure. 

After the ceremony I went to a dinner hosted by the school’s Chairman for all of the teachers. Teaching is a highly respected profession in Korea; being a teacher here is akin to being a doctor or lawyer in the States. My school in particular is one of the best in the area, almost the equivalent of a private school in the US, so the teachers have a lot of school pride…which they exhibit in the form of loud toasts and shots of Soju. After giving a toast (of which there were many), the teacher giving the speech would shout “Yeogang!” (the name of the school) and everyone would respond by shouting the Korean word for “for”, to emphasize that the toast is “For Yeogang.” Even just sipping after each toast, I still managed to drink four shots of Soju. I’ll save the “drinking-in-Korea” post for another time.

In big girl news, I finally figured out how to turn on my hot water (to save energy you turn it off and on)…don’t make fun, this would have been an easy task if my control panel wasn’t in Korean:

What I'm working with...I have no idea what most of those buttons do.