Feeding My Passion

(My boss gave me an small assignment to write a single paragraph on Korean food.)

Before I came to Korea, I had eaten some Korean food. I had a Korean friend in college who took me out to the only Korean restaurant in our small college town in Missouri. It must have been unremarkable food by his standards, but for him, it was a taste of home, and I’m sure he ate there often. To me, Korean food was very different from the Chinese food I grew up eating in California. And it was delicious. In America, Korean food is still not well know outside of the major cities – you really have to seek it out, and I did sometimes. Pajeon, galbi, and of course, more kimchi. Compared to Western food, the most common flavors in Korean food are amazing and some of my favorites: toasted sesame oil, garlic, scallions, and chili powder. Before I came in June 2010, I had eaten more Korean food than most Americans whose parents aren’t Korean. But I was completely unprepared for the incredible variety of food and strength of the food culture here. For someone who enjoys eating with the seasons, Korea is great. Korean strawberries, your incredibly flavorful, soft, and delicious strawberries, show up in Spring, and you can’t find them again until the next Spring. Waiting is difficult, but they’re worth the wait. I could return to Korea every Spring for the rest of my life just for the strawberries. I could go on and on about so many fruits and vegetables here, not just how delicious they are, but that so many Korean know what province grows the best melons, what city makes the best dried fish, or what province has the best food overall, Jeolla-do obviously. And the food is so regional. There are five galbi restaurants on every block in Gyeonggi-do, for example, but they’re not as common as you travel south. And try finding moju, Gyeongju’s sweet and spiced version of makgeolli, in this area. Every area makes their own version of makgeolli! Kimchi is very regional as well, some places use shrimp sauce, some use anchovy sauce, some add squid and oysters, some use none. And I’m just talking about cabbage kimchi! I’ve actually made kimchi, six different types so far. But that is the tip of a very large iceberg. One of the first things foreigners learn is that kimchi isn’t just made from cabbage. I’ve been to the kimchi museum in Coex Mall, and they say there are over 170 types of kimchi! 170!! I like studying how weather and culture has influenced what people eat, and Korea is a great example of how people have adapted to the long, cold winters by preserving food without refrigeration. Kimjang, the kimchi making time of the year in early Winter, was, and still is, a remarkable family and community effort to make an important food that sustains Korean through the Winter. I’ve learned that you have to use mature kimchi to make kimchi stew, and that there are two different words for rice, ssal for raw, and bap for cooked. And I’ve learned so much more, but I still am just a baby when it comes to knowing Korean food. Not only is it delicious, but the culture and history of Korean food is incredible as well. I still have so much to learn, and my Korean friends have been very generous with their time, knowledge, and skills to help me learn more about their remarkable food.

I have friends who tell me about their relationships, especially when their relationships are challenging for them. It has happened so often over the years, ever since junior high school, that I take it for granted with my native English-speaking friends, even in Korea. But recently a Korean friend confided in me, and her trust has definitely given me a new appreciation for the trust my friends have placed in me. I can’t possibly take her trust for granted.

Besides the goal of having a healthier relationship with her boyfriend or with herself, she doesn’t appear to have any ulterior motives for telling me. And I’m very taken with my wonderful girlfriend, even long-distance, so I have no ulterior motives for being a sympathetic ear and offering my experience as a possible guide. I want my friends to be happy. That’s it.

I was in an unhappy relationship for years, and I’ll take most of the blame for the many problems that made it an unhappy one. It would be deeply satisfying to know my past difficulties helped my friends avoid some of their own.

So for their trust and for whatever that’s in me allows them to open up to me, I express my gratitude.