Mmmm...food....

As promised, my food post.

Now, as I mentioned, we have very little implements for cooking in our apartment, and as we're new to the country and excited to get out and about, we've been doing a lot of eating out.  And it has been delicious.  Prior to coming to Korea, I must confess, I had never had Korean food. As our departure was approaching we kept talking about tracking down a Korean restaurant to give it a try, but at that point it seemed like we might as well wait for the real thing.

Our First Meal:

Our first meal in Korea was lunch-- our handler Sean took us out.  He was hesitant to take us out to get Korean food because, apparently, most Americans don't like it.  But we insisted-- hey, we just spent 30 hours in travel to get to Korea, we want to experience Korea damn it!  

It was very nice that, for that first meal, we had a Korean with us to order the food, explain what everything was, etc.  It was very stress free, and very delicious! 

bimbimbap

Unfortunately I photographed it after mixing it all up-- it looked prettier beforehand.  It's a mixture of beef, veggies, and rice.  

And here's the enormous platter of sides that comes along with it:

So here's the crazy thing about the way Koreans eat: they have all of these "sides," that don't really go together and don't necessarily go with the thing you're eating, and you don't really have to eat them.  I'm constantly thrown off my this-- I feel as though I should eat all of it-- or attempt to. I feel wasteful.  But that's just not how it works in Korea.  The way they eat seems very deconstructed: there are all of these individual elements that add up to a full meal: starches (rice usually), protein, lots of veggies.  There is usually soup-- also to be shared.  And you don't usually have your own plate or bowl, it goes from dish, to chopstick, to mouth. And in my case, sometimes to table or floor (especially soup, this feels like a camp team building exercise.  The spoons are so shallow and it's a long journey from pot to mouth!)  But all of these things don't necessarily work together as a cohesive meal.  If you like grazing--- picking at a little of this and a little of that-- definitely come to Korea. Or at least a Korean restaurant. 

Eating On Our Own:

Eating out when you don't speak the language, or read the language, is at times exceptionally difficult.  Some places have menus with pictures, which is great. We spot a picture that looks appetizing and point.  Places that are western style will often have English on the Menu, but the server doesn't understand the English so, again, we point.  But there are many restaurants where there is neither English nor pictures, and once we've sat down and discover this, I always feel committed.  For example, on Sunday we decided to have sushi so we found a promising looking japanese place.  The menu was nothing but Korean (had there been some Japanese we would have been better off, as I've eaten enough sushi to know the names of most fish).  So, we just pointed randomly as something on the menu.  It wasn't cheap (but was the cheapest thing there, Japanese is expensive here!), and I didn't really like it.  Bummer.  The sashimi was all still partially frozen, which I found very unappealing.

However, the people here are very friendly and try their best to understand us.  If they know any English they try to communicate that way-- but most people here really don't know English.  One neat thing is that it's common, as white people, to get free stuff.  We'll go to a chicken place and get free fries, or we'll go for bbq and get a free extra portion of meat, or we'll go for pizza and get a free slice of cheesecake.  It's pretty awesome.  However, we frequently end up with things we did not order-- and with no ability to explain that we didn't want it.  We usually just eat it anyway and pay.  I don't believe they're attempting to rip us off or anything, and it's hard to argue when they've also given us a bunch of free food. 

One thing that makes eating out easier is that you interact much less with the server than you do back home. Most restaurants have a little button that you push when you want something and, like in a diner, they constantly update your bill and leave it on the table.  When you're ready to leave you go up to the cash register and settle your bill there. 

Korean BBQ:

Korean BBQ may be the greatest thing ever.  You get a little grill right at your table and cook the meat yourself-- the meat is so flavorful and tender.  

And you get onions, garlic, and peppers to throw into the mix as well.  When the meat is all cooked, you take a bit of everything-- especially the ridiculously tasty red sauce (I have no idea what it's called), and wrap it up in a lettuce leaf like so:

Seriously, best thing ever.  I read an article before leaving Philly that Korean BBQ was blowing up there-- so do yourself a favor, and get some.  Your mouth will thank you.

Western Food:

For the first week or so we ate nothing but Korean food because, hey, we were in Korea.  But then we started to want a little variety and familiarity.  Now, we typically eat one Korean meal and one western meal a day (I know, I know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Except that we all know that's a lie. It's totally dinner-- you could make an argument for lunch-- but it's definitely not breakfast).  There are several things that you can get easily in Korea: fried chicken, for example.  There is fried chicken everywhere, and it is every bit as good/bad as it is back home.  Coffee-- we made the assumption that everyone would drink tea, because we're in Asia, but Koreans are obsessed with coffee, and overpriced sweet coffee beverages.  Waffles-- for some reason, waffles are everywhere.  Donuts--- ditto.  Other things are less easy to find.  While there are many places that serve burgers, they mostly taste...weird.  Like the meat isn't really ground beef.  However, there is one place called Kraze Burgers that is really good, though none too cheap.  Pizza is everywhere, but I'm largely skeptical of it. There is a really good place that we found that has good Italian style pizzas, and there is a place downtown run by a westerner that has good Chicago Style pizza.  

Things that I have not seen at all: Deli sandwiches, real dill pickles, anything with peanut butter, soft pretzels, and Mexican food. (this is probably an incomplete list, but I'm blanking at the moment).

So, the food is really good-- and there is plenty of good Western food as well.  As long as you aren't craving something really specific, I think most Americans would be fine eating in Korea.   

Hope this was at least mildly interesting-- I love food, so I'm liable to bring it up a lot.  

-Meg