At the Seoul Airport

Korea's campaign to promote Korean food is bigger and better than ever this year. They have a website, a blog, ads in Times Square and the sort of airport decorations that my ideal model home would have. When I stepped off what I can only describe as a hellish flight from Phnom Penh to Seoul recently I was delighted to get onto a moving walkway that sped me past a quick forecast of what my next four days would be filled with.



Luckily I was true to myself and did exactly nothing (save for the odd trip to Korean teenage nightclubs) other than eat my way through Seoul. I got started immediately without even leaving the airport with a giant bowl of kimchi rice porridge.



I was pleased to see a number of dainty Korean airline employees finishing off these giant portions (I'd estimate each bowl to have at least six cups of rice in it) at 6am. Watching other people gorge themselves--especially those who are genetically slender--is always something that cheers me up. Luckily there's no shortage of that sort of thing in Cambodia, but there's definitely a shortage of Korean breakfasts. More on this later.

The Kimchi Field Museum in Seoul

The museum suggests that you can take a picture here,
in case you don't already have any photos from your trip to Korea of traditional Korean women feeding you kimchi.

On my last day in Korea I hustled over to the Kimchi Field Museum, the thought of which I had been salivating over for days.


It's a pretty big place, all things considered, and they even have a library where you can study books and movies about kimchi and other traditional Korean foods.


Koreans love red pepper, but also garlic, leeks, green onion and anything else that is guaranteed to make their breath stink and their gums tingle.


The Kimchi Field Museum is located, as it appears food museums generally are in Asia, inside a mall. The largest underground mall in Asia, in fact, COEX.


I am not sure if I understood the point of this, it was this giant thing on the wall showing very small pictures of different types of kimchi. I'm sure someone was like, "Damn, everything in this museum is so old-fashioned. We need something high-tech, something futuristic! Let's make a big white kimchi hole!"


"You think that's high-tech? Check this out. This is science."


The museum brought together two of my great loves: kimchi and plastic food.




This was a display on how healthy kimchi is. They were trying to make the point that it's great for losing weight, but I thought this image also accurately acknowledged kimchi's gas-creating properties. She can't keep her skirt down!


Worldwide pickled vegetables


Kimchi tasting. I never like any of the ones made of greens as much as the cabbage, radish and cucumber ones. Making it green is just a step too healthy for me.





Although I'm a huge fan of kimchi, I wouldn't normally spend an entire afternoon dedicated entirely to fermented cabbage. However, the Kimchi Museum was really interesting and I'd highly recommend it for anyone buzzing around Seoul. In terms of actual information, it was definitely the best food museum I've been to, and they get extra points for providing information on everything in English. They even suckered me into buying a DVD with 59 kimchi recipes on it. Considering that it only took one kimchi recipe to get me kicked out of my flat in London, I shudder to think of what I may be able to do with 59.

One more Korean BBQ

Korean BBQ in Korea

Now, I know this may sound stupid, but when I first sat down in a Korean restaurant in Korea I thought to myself: I can't believe I am eating Korean food in Korea!

So here it is folks, bulgogi in Korea. Yum.

How civilized!

One of my constant laments about Oakland when I lived there was the complete lack of Korean delivery despite the abundance of great Korean restaurants. Visiting Korea showed me that many of my favorite Korean restaurants in California are true to their Korean roots--the dishes taste very similar. A few ways they differ: Korean seafood pancakes (pajeon) are served as starters in the US. In Korea they aren't served at restaurants, they are bar or street food.



The other big difference? In Korea they love to deliver your dinner straight to your door, and they give you real plates. That's right. Your bibimbap comes in a stone pot and when you are done eating it you leave it on your doorstep and the delivery guy comes back and gets it. Pretty sweet deal when you consider the fact that it only cost $4.50 to begin with and the delivery guy isn't expecting a tip for either of his journeys to get it to you.

Cooking class at the Institute of Korean Royal Cuisine

While I was in Seoul I took a cooking class at the Institute of Korean Royal Cuisine.





This was a good cooking class--first there was a lecture and demonstration done in Korean buy a woman in Korean traditional dress, and a translator who was relaying it to us in English. Then, we broke up into groups of three and cooked the dishes she had just demonstrated.

We made:
Dehachim: cooked shrimp tossed with vegetables in pine nut sauce
Kaktugi: spicy radish Kimchi
Dodokui: grilled dodok root (dodok is a kind of bellflower)
Yangji Gomtang: clear beef brisket soup





The instructor was a tough cookie, and I got the sense that the translator was softening things up for us. When she came by our table she freaked out because we didn't have enough salt on our radishes. She really looked angry. The translator was trying to convey the depths of her horror to us--"She says...she says you did it wrong. She says it no taste good when you are done." They both shake their heads at us in dismay. The fact that adding salt was an easy solution did not seem to abate their disappointment in us.







My favorite part of the class was when we sat down to eat the lunch we had just made, and the girl who is living in Korea and was showing off about studying Korean was unable to use her chopsticks. Unfortunately I was unable to get a picture of that, but imagine a 3 year old with a claw hand trying to eat with two metal sticks while pontificating about Hangul grammar.

Bulgogi hotdog

If you're sick of the LA Korean taco thing (how passé), how about a bulgogi dog? Finally, something to give the chili dog meat-on-meat action a run for its money! For you plebs out there, bulgogi is Korean marinated BBQ beef.

Korean Autumnal snacks

In Korea, they celebrate the the changing of the seasons primarily at the convenience store Family Mart with atumnal-themed snacks.

Here we have a pumpkin drink (pretty good) and a chestnut pastry (nothing to write home about). No idea what soborou means.

Gwangju's Namdo Traditional Foods Museum

Although in possession of a rather spiffy website and an enticing name, the Namdo Traditional Foods Museum was, unlike the Korean food that it showcases, pretty bland. This is probably because it was all in Korean, but there was only one real room of exhibits and they didn't bother turning on the lights in some places. The museum appears to be mainly for events, but I wasn't able to figure it out. Stick to the food in Gwangju if you're short on time.

Eat me

When I read that story a few years back about the guy who voluntarily allowed himself to be slaughtered and eaten, I thought who would do that? Apparently the animals of Korea, that's who. These little guys are begging you to get them into you.








Their little thumbs get tired from propositioning you!









They can't wait to serve themselves up to you!