All Korea Considered: February 2013

2013/02/15

Kimchi - The National Food

Some readers will have already had some experiences with Kimchi. The taste is either unforgettably stupendously wonderful, or really bad. I've heard very few neutral on Kimchi's taste.

You'll find kimchi at every meal...

Kimchi is on the lower left side; it's reddish/orange.

A real short definition of Kimchi is "Spicy pickled cabbage" and definitions are quick to add that it is the national food or dish of Korea. A closer look shows more texture:

Thanks to http://www.myhealthguide.carlyucaangay.com/health-food-how-to-make-kimchi.html

There are many kinds of kimchi, from the refreshing summer dish called "Water Kimchi" which is thin-soup like, and may even contain apple slices, to the heavy-on-the-anchovy variety. Some make it very spicy hot. Every family has its favorite style, and often it is made at home. Because of its very intense smell, one that WILL leak from whatever airtight container you have it in, many families have a dedicated Kimchi refrigerator.

See international Pop Music star from Korea: PSY selling Samsung kimchi refrigerators; it's worth the watch - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgxgql7T2dc.

In this convenience society, you can buy it already made for about around five dollars a pound, give or take. Or you can make it yourself. Home-made, it takes weeks to make a batch from beginning to end. But, since Kimchi is fermented, it keeps awhile without artificial preservatives.

One website (http://gastronomyblog.com/2010/11/13/how-to-make-kimchi/) has these ingredients for regular Kimchi:

2 heads Napa cabbage
2 cups sea salt
8 cups water

For kimchi marinade

1 cup sweet rice powder
5 cups water
1 cup coarse Taeyangcho red chili pepper powder
5 ounces garlic
10 ounces Asian pear, peeled and quartered
9 ounces onions, peeled and quartered
1 ounce ginger, peeled
4 ounces Fresno chilies
2 pounds radish, julienned
4 ounces minari
4 ounces red mustard greens
4 ounces Korean chives
4 ounces green onions
1/4 cup Korean anchovy fish sauce
3/4 cup Korean salted shrimp sauce
4 ounces fresh shrimp, chopped
4 ounces Korean salted shrimp

This month I am a student in a 4-hour-per-day Korean class, one that includes two field trips. A couple of days ago, we went to a Kimchi-making activity. It was a highly abbreviated Kimchi-making session, in which all the advance preparation was already done, and all we had to do was the final mixing.

Enjoy the pictures. (In this room, the main language is Japanese; there were two men, one from Australia and one from ... well you know.)

That's mine, on the right.

One of my teachers is on the right.

FYI, I have found a mild form of this very kind of Kimchi at Ingles!! If you are in Asheville, you can find GOOD home-made Kimchi at Kim's Oriental Food and Gifts, 5 Regents Park Blvd., near the separation of Patton Avenue from I-240, Asheville. Let them know I sent you!

Bon appetit!
Marc

2013/02/03

Short Korean Lessons

This post will interest the linguists. It coincides with my taking an intensive Korean language course during February here at Ewha. Here I depict and picture two words through which my English readers may find some deeper-reaching lens into today's Korean thought world.

First, Woori (우리)

Literally, it means "ours". I wonder if Western, native-English speakers (and I am one!) will ever "get" this concept-word. In East Asian/Confucian culture in general, and in Korea specifically, "me," "mine" and the "self" are second-fiddled to the collective "we" and "ours." The splinter of self usually snags the larger fabric of a collective society.

Perhaps you may feel more confident when you bank at "Our Bank" (below)...

... Or (above) put your money in "Our [Bank's] Investment and Securities"

(Look for the "우리" in these pictures)

"Our University," in this case Yonsei University, one of the top three in the nation.

Above: "Our distinctive Kalbi," a kind of steak.

I feel better shopping at "Our Agricultural Marketing Center". It feels to me that there is a collective trust and integrity to the establishment.

I need help with this one from a native speaker: "Our Wheat" is somehow connected to a National Policy which, I presume, guarantees its safety.

The last picture is of a nearby chicken restaurant:

"Our House of Chicken Crackers"

I am told that when a man introduces what a Westerner would call "his" or "my" wife to someone, he really introduces her here thus: "Meet our wife" (The situation is not reversed, however: She cannot introduce him as "Our husband.")

The good news: Woori (우리) conveys a sense that we are all in the same chain of responsibility, so what you do to one link affects everyone else.

The bad news: One Korean national (a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology) heard that I was considering this blog, and mentioned right away that when she heard Woori she felt more able to hide from responsibility behind the anonymous face of the crowd. (Can anyone say, "Ring of Gyges"?)

Woori: It's all a collective "We." This is hard to "get," but worthwhile to meditate upon!

Second word - 이야기: "Story" or "Conversation"

This word can also indicate "tale," "narrative," "history," "talk," "topic" and "statement." I notice this often in signage, but I am not sure I understand it all the time:

I love it, but what does it mean?

Above and Below are from the same "Beautiful Tea Museum" in the Insa-Dong district.

Storyways are everywhere for the traveler: in rest stops, train, bus and subway stations.

Do I understand why "Story" is so prevalent in business and public conversation? No! I call upon my Korean readers to offer their ideas.

And finally, one more picture, that incorporates both words: "Our + Story"

May our stories be good ones!

Marc

2013/02/01

What are you in the Market for?

There is something about an Asian Market. Here, the best markets are outdoors, no matter the weather. Markets in Korea concentrate collections of people, wares, ads, smells, foods, and experiences. Expect to get jostled and bumped, and if you go, have no timetable or destination in mind.

My favorite are South Gate (남대문 시장) and East Gate (동대문 시장) Markets. Both are huge operations (covering many, many acres) that run perhaps 18 hours a day. Arrive before 11:00 AM, and things will be quiet. Another lull occurs around 8:00 PM as the first and second shift of sellers exchange places, the latter ready to go till 3:00 AM.

These are crowded places. All possible space is given over to retailing, and minimal space is given to shopper space.

Prices are quite low, and can go lower if you bargain, or if the retailer is near the end of her/his long day. I see the same items in non-market shops a few blocks away, with up to a 50% mark-up.

Let's give the keyboard a rest. Images tell the rest of the story, with a few comments thrown in.

Thanks for reading,
Marc

Ah, the smells!

Rice Cakes of various styles and tastes.

Imported Food Section (above and below)

Life for the sellers is incredibly (it seems) dull. Smart-screen phones help many pass the day.

Saxy Saint Nick!

A real person; he's always there, advertising for a shop on the 6th floor of the department store nearby.

Many shops in high-density market areas have persons with portable PA systems: constant and audible 'billboards' for sales.

Moto-bikes are the ants in the pants of the market; they keep things moving (especially pedestrians!)

Fortune-telling booths

Famous market (Peace Market) at Dongdaemun Market. This building is about 25 yards wide and 1/4 mile long. Two stories, chock-a-block full of 15' X 5', 15' X 10' and 15' X 15' cell-stores, with a narrow 3' aisle bisecting the two lines of cell-stores.