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Food, Food?, and Food!

My first experience with food in Korea will make many of you laugh, but some of you will understand right away. The scene: I have just settled in to my first night in Korea, sitting with David relaying my journey when that old familiar feeling of hunger came up. Actually I was starving, my last meal had been on the plane at 3 p.m. and 6 hours later I was famished. David told me that there were few options at this hour, but I already knew exactly what I wanted. I told David and to my delight he said it was open and just around the corner. Soon we arrived at McDonalds and my hunger was satisfied. That’s right, my first ‘Korean’ meal and it was super good too. One thing I have found is that no matter where you go in the world, no matter what culture or what language they may have, there are two universals when it comes to food: Coke and a Big Mac. Sounds the same in every language and tastes the same in every culture. I have had Big Macs in Amsterdam, Santo Domingo, Chicago and Cheonan and the only difference is the person serving it. It’s comforting too in a way, a scary way actually. I see McDonalds and feel good about life, not because I love the food or am filled with a since of nationalism for the motherland. For some reason it is just nice to be familiar with something in a culture where I cannot read or understand anything that is said to me.

Back to food, which I feel is one of if not the biggest parts of the cross culture experience. We all eat and we all love to eat, this fact transcends all cultures. I often hear people say that all we ever do in America together is go out to eat, even if we go to a movie or bowling eating is seemingly a requirement. And this why we are fat right? WRONG! It is the same everywhere, eating is a communal thing, it is a bonding thing. It’s been like that forever, it was for a long time, the only part of the day that families or friends could get together. Work all day in the fields come home, do chores, then everyone pauses to eat together. It is a beautiful thing and it is not why Americans, or rather U.S. citizens are fat. The portion sizes in Africa and Korea are phenomenal, often outstripping meals I have had in the States. It is what is in the food that is making us fat and killing us, not the act of eating a big meal. 


Once again, back to food. The food in Korea ranges from the exotic and tasty to the disgusting and downright hysterical. My meals have been so turbulent that I cannot really compare them. Everything from breaded pork cutlet called donkkaseu (which is perhaps one of my favorites) to a plate of seasoned chicken’s feet (ordered by accident) to live octopus or sannakji, which I have yet to try but will in the name of science and bragging rights.


Needless to say Korean food has wondrous variety, much of which has never been seen in the states. Seafood is huge in Korea, which is fine with me I just have to get used to the general rule of seafood in Korea. What is this rule you ask? Well, if it is in the sea then by golly its seafood! This rule has led to some interesting soups and dishes, many of which have actually made me thankful that I cannot read the menu to see what it is I am actually eating. There are of course familiar things to be consumed, some super delicious fried chicken and corndogs, also there is pizza but it often falls under the hysterical category. I think when pizza first came to Korea a Korean asked what it was and some idiot said “oh, pizza can be anything you want it to be, as long as there is cheese” thus cementing a description of Korean pizza for the rest of time. There is no end to what they put on pizza here, name it and I have seen it. My first pizza (picture to follow) in Korea, was cheese, hotdog, green olive and hardboiled egg; we chose this because it was the most normal pizza combo available.  

Food will always be an adventure here and I don’t think I will be able to sample it all, though I will try. Much of it is very cheap in fact going out to eat is often more economical than making your own food, unless you’re really into instant ramen which is huge here, I mean literally three isles inthe super market are nothing but varieties of instant ramen. Unfortunatly I am ramened out from college. 


Here are some of the staples of Korea I have discovered so far:

Kimchi - basically this is fermented cabbage with spicy red peppers, garlic, ginger and fish sauce. There are literally hundreds of type of Kimchi from cucumber to seaweed but cabbage seems to be the most popular. I happen to like it,
which is good because it is served with every meal

Donkkaseu - Pork that has been breaded and fried with a really good sauce

Samgyeopsal - Pork bellies that come salted and you cook them yourselves at you table, this is quite common with meats here. You eat this in a lettuce wrap with garlic and bean paste

All of these are delightful and interesting but of course if there is any craving for North American fast food there is no shortage. Besides the golden arches I have access to: Kentucky Fried Chicken, Popeyes, Burger King, Taco Bell, and most recently Dominoes where pepperoni pizza can be had -praise Jesus. Of course most of these places have variations of what you are familiar with and additions that are stricly korean, like the shrimp burger at mcdonalds or the fried squid rings (that can often be mistaken for onion rings) at KFC. There is also more upscale dining like Outback Steakhouse. With all of these familiar and mysterious options I am sure I will end up writing about food again soon. Very soon, cheers!

Touchdown

Well it is by far a new experience. I am in South Korea, in the city of Cheonan to be precise, in culture that I have really thought about or had much interest in…ever. This world moves so quickly and I have been thrust into the middle of it. I have been trying to catch my breath since I arrived and it is only sixteen days, later that I have the energy to put together anything to relate back home. Now that I have some time, let me back up a bit and give you a brief timeline of my arrival in South Korea.

My journey began at 6 p.m. in Nampa Idaho on September 3^rd – I was actually supposed to leave the 25^th of August, however my passport which was sent in for the proper visa did not arrive on time, in fact it did not arrive until 3:30 p.m. on the 3^rd which cut things very close – I drove to Boise to catch my plane to Portland. I was super excited to be in Portland at first, but after spending 11 hours in the baggage claim I was ready to leave. From Portland it was on to wonderful San Francisco! My plane in San Fran was supposed to leave at 12 p.m. and my plane from Portland landed at 11:15 a.m. so my plan was to run full speed from terminal to terminal, which I did, got on the plane right away, and settled into my lovely seat in Coach next to a Korean boy and an American with a tiny dog (which barked uncontrollably for almost the entire 14 hour flight). I was ready to take off for my first flight across the great Pacific! I was ready but the plane was not “just a little problem with the fuel tank ladies and gentlemen, we will take off as soon as it is fixed.” Fuel tank, what could be wrong. Nothing major I’m sure or else they wouldn’t fly right? Should take just a few minutes right? Two and half hours later we are ready to fly, the whole time waiting I am thinking of all the possibilities and the longer I thought the worse the scenario became, what I imagined as a finicky gas cap quickly became a gaping hole created by some unknown creature of the air, the longer we were on the tarmac the hotter it got and the more my air monster who eats gas tanks became a reality, I envisioned myself looking out the window shortly after take-off and seeing the beast savagely sink its shark-like teeth into the fuel tank. I became frantic but no one would believe me, the stewardess thought I had gone insane. I became wild with fear and began screaming, the plane had to be grounded in Hawaii the whole time John Lithgow is laughing at me. But to my dismay, I was not in the Twilight Zone, I was somewhere worse - a plane full of angry, sweaty people who were two hours into their flight haveing gone no where.

The plane finally landed in South Korea to my great relief, because the dog was getting super annoying, although his owner was super nice. The poor dog would just not shut up and everyone from the stewardess to the 70 year old Indian woman in front of me was getting very ticked off. I felt bad for the dogs owner because there was not much she could do, although I do have fond memories of thinking about drowning the dog in the airplane toilet. Once we got throught customs I was greeted by David Laird, which was nice because it was a familiar face in a new world. What wasn't nice was the discovery that we had about a two hour bus ride to our destination, the great city of Cheonan. We finally did get to Cheonan, though not to our dorm. We got off the bus smack in the middle of Downtown (a little note on Cheonan, it is considered out in the country by those living close to Seoul, which it may be when compared to Seoul's 10 million+ people, but Cheonan itself seems like a bustling city with amost a million people). It was a bit overwhelming because I was dead tired, it was saturday (remember i started traveling thursday) and we still had to catch a cab. Davids girlfirend, the first Korean I met in Korea, lukily was already waiting with one; we just had to find her. Once we did and exchanged greetings we were off and I quickly became aware of th fact that Korean cab drivers are like Dominican cab drivers are like African cab drivers, basically seatbelts on is the advice. Finally we arrived at Korea Nazarene University, quite the impressive outfit i must say - I will put some amzing pictures up later.

Once i finally got settled - a feat which took about an hour and a half because I had the wrong room key and had to wait for someone to come find the right one - it was about midnight. What a long journey with many delays and crises! The whole time my mentality was that of a vacationer, the fact that I am going to be here for at least a year was not sinking in. It still hasn't completely sunk in but I am thankful for a safe arrival. Just relfecting on this has exhausted me and I must conclude here but I will have another post very soon that will have more substance than just a play by play.