Eating Korean Style

It has been over two weeks since I used a fork or had an American meal. Instead I am treated to meals largely comprised of vegetables, kimchi, rice and fish….primarily sushi. In Korea there are no “main dishes” only course after course of many small “side dishes” and soups. One meal I had had 72 side dishes for four of us on the table at the same time and it was only the first course. Outside of breakfast most of my meals are eaten in a traditional style of sitting on the floor.

With names like ear shell rice soup (one of the breakfast side dishes), hanchimuhoe, bingddeok, mom-guk or jandom mulhwoe I often had to inquire what I was eating. One of the eating highlights of the trip was on Jeju island where I was served what I could be describe as a clear seafood soup the only problem was that one of the fish in the soup is served alive. My soup was topped with three live abalones. My only comment was, “Why is it stilll moving.” Seulki’s parents explained it was served alive to show how fresh the fish was and once you are served you turn the fish over in the boiling hot soup and it finishes cooking. As you might guess I quickly turned over the abalones.

All in all I loved the Korean diet. I ate more in two weeks and half weeks than I would eat in two month in America and I lost 6 pounds….and never was hungry. Breakfast was one of my most favorite meals usually with seaweed soup or songi mushroom rice soup, plenty of side dishes including lots of anchovies and vegatables I have never seen. Hae Jin also made sure her family bought some English muffins….just in case. You can see them in the picture to the left.

The top picture is lunch with Won’s family (Won graduate from FA and lived with Dottie and I). We ate for almost an entire 3 hours….they introduced me to sweet korean beef. The dish above and to the right is some of the sushi I enjoyed with several families inlcuding Hae Jin’s, Seulki’s, You Jin’s and Hoi Young’s.

I will miss my Korean style of dinning. While I haven’t fallen in love with all 100 types of kimchi (fermented and spicy cabbage and turnips) I have learned to enjoy most Korean food. The desserts in Korea are delicious (ma see say yeo) fresh fruits served in a variety of ways….and very kind to ones waist line. When I arrive home I hope to change my diet to include some of the new foods to which I was introduced and enjoy.