Seoul Food - Jeffrey Cronin

When I was in China...I learned to love the simple nature of many asian ways. I grew fond of asian food and learned to enjoyed many foods that were at first very strange to me. Over the years I developed a single culinary rule...the food I am trying to eat can not be moving while I am trying to eat it! After working and living in mainland China for years I left my position to attend Mississippi College School of Law. So when I heard the law school had arranged a summer abroad program in Seoul South Korea I knew I had to go. Yeah, yeah I would get a a few credit hours but the real driver for me was knowing I could study international business in an international environment.

Other blogs here talk about food, customs, behaviors, and the people of Korea. All these together make the country a great place to visit but of these I foundsome of the food interesting. Over the years I have eaten snout, ears, snake, urchins, worms, hearts, frogs, dog, and other foods I still have not indentified. So I was interested in knowing what Koreans eat.

Korea is heavily westernized in many ways and you can easily find KFC, Starbucks, Burger King, Smoothie King, and many other American franchises. But overall the food culture has remained typically asian. For example in many areas of the country there open-air fish markets were you can walk along the street and find coolers, tanks, barrels, etc. full of fish and sea critters just swimming around waiting for you. In these markets you just walk along the road looking at all the different fish and urchins until you find where and what you want to eat. Then along side these small shops there are seating areas available for you to sit and place your order. Once you've ordered the shop owner will catch your fish and pull it from the aquarium. He will then prepare your selection which may be a nice fish head soup or something.

One weekend our group visited Sokcho on the eastern coast of Korea. The weather turned cool and rainy one evening and a few of us were trying to decide where to eat. So we elected to hit the local fish market for dinner. As we walked through the open air market the weather turned cooler and rained more but eventually we found a nice little shop where we all could sit on the floor crouched to a couple of low tables. There we enoyed an exceptional pot of hot fish soup.

Also while in Korea I learned they love kimchi. Korean kimchi is a fermented vegetable that, IMO, has an earned tasted. After realizing Korean eat kimchi with any and all meals I decided to do a little research on the dish. Kimchi dates back some 3,000 years in Korea history and has remained steady in the Korean diet all along. In fact early Koreans used the pickling / fermentation process to preserve the vegetables they would need to store and eat during the long harsh winter months. Also, it has been discovered that the fermentation process not only preserved the vegetable it retains a remarkable nutritional value.

Well as economies globalize the need to understand and accept different cultures is ever increasing. One of the basic traits of a culture is thier food. Food is often a focal point of meetings or business gatherings; so knowing about other cultures and their food is important. One day you may attend a dinner provided by a foreign associate and you may be shocked if you have no idea what could be served.

Seoul Series -- Andrew Lake 1

No nation exports its popular culture more than the United States. South Korea is a perfect example of this.

All we had to do is walk down a busy street in Seoul. If it was American, or seemed American, it was ripe for cool.

We always saw people selling hats, t-shirts, shoes, and many other things. Many of these articles had something about them that was uniquely American. Sometimes it was Disney characters but that was the least interesting. The most interesting and pervasive items always contained English words and phrases on a hat or t-shirt. They were often written in large, bold text and would include a type of logo. What added the level of humor was that none, repeat, none of these words or phrases made any sense to a native English speaker. Other than random phrases of English, other items included advertisements for non-existent gas stations in the Midwest, and promotions for American sports teams that don't exist.

This display was not limited to Korean-made merchandise. Seoul was full of familiar American name brands. This is what surprised me. I have traveled to Europe on numerous occasions and American brands and retail stores were not easy to come by. Only the very largest American conglomerates such as McDonald's and Burger King had permeated the European market and even then, not quite with the success that American companies, large and not-so-large, have had in Korea.

Smoothie King, Starbucks, 7-Eleven, Dunkin' Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Cold-Stone Creamery, Baskin-Robbins, Haagen-Dazs, Bennigan's, and Outback Steakhouse. A walk down any busy street in Seoul will revealed these outlets. The busiest retail areas contained other familiar company stores such as Converse, Dickies, The North Face, and even Build-a-Bear. On any given period of the day, all of these establishments were bustling with patrons. I of course cannot forget to mention the many knock-offs sold on the streets but that is another topic for another post.

I asked a Korean friend about this and she explained this fascination with all things American. Her best explanation was that it exists. Americans have been in Korea since the 1950's and are large responsible for the founding and protection of the Republic. Koreans constantly travel to and are educated in America. Therefore, it is natural for Koreans to readily accept American "stuff" into their everyday lives.

Seoul Series - Laura Moore 1

What’s the beef???

June 10, 2008 – 100,000 protesters attended a rally in downtown Seoul.

June 11, 2008 – 8 Students and 2 Professors arrived in Seoul.

As we flew out of the United States, some of us knew in May there had been demonstrations in Seoul. Some of us knew that it was about the importation of U.S. beef; however, none of us knew how serious the situation was becoming while we were on the plane en route to Seoul.

We quickly became aware of the situation, on our first day’s trek around the city when we were strolling along the sidewalk in front of City Hall and practically strolled right into the middle of a labor union demonstration. Since all of the signs were written in Hangul, and none of us could read them, we were not sure what exactly was going on. It was later that day when we approached another protest that we figured it out. This protest had a banner with a picture of a “mad” cow on it. Still, we questioned, “What’s the beef?”

Is it really a protest against the U. S. standard of exporting beef? Surely not we thought. A quick “google” of the terms “South Korea, Beef, and U.S.” quickly filed our browsers with articles relating the previous 24-hours news. The articles outlined the situation. The South Koreans were upset about the government’s decision to re-open the country’s doors to the importation of beef from the U.S.; doors that had been closed since 2003 after the discovery of an American cow infected with the “mad cow” virus.

We had plenty of opportunities, during our 27 days in S. Korea, to ask the questions about the protests. We visited the U.S. Embassy and asked; what was their take on the situation and did we need to be worried. It was then that we first heard the term “Candlelight Festival.” The Embassy officials told us that the S. Koreans were very peaceful and were referring to the demonstrations simply as a “Candlelight Festival.” The Embassy officials did tell us to avoid the demonstrations because while most of the events were peaceful, as it got later the “festival” attitude changed to one more focused on disruption and riots.

I had a chance to discuss the situation with a Jenny. Jenny worked for the government on the trade agreement right up until the demonstrations started. She referred the protests as “Candlelight Festival” and said that it was not really about whether U.S. beef was bad or not. The people were upset because they do not believe that the government will protect them from harmful products, in general. Jenny said that most Koreans did not trust the President. Many felt that he was just a businessman only looking out for the government and not looking after the people.

It was interesting hearing this take on the situation. It started me thinking about what I was witnessing first hand. I was in a country that was exercising their rights. They were lining the streets by the thousands. They were speaking out against the government. Letting it be known that they were unhappy about what was going on, and as long as they were peaceful, they were allowed to do so. If we had been in North Korea this would never have even had a chance to happen. Instead we were in South Korea and they can express how they feel about the way the government is running things.

I was impressed by the passion of the Koreans. With the upcoming election, fast approaching it is our chance to speak out about how we think our government has been running and how it should continue. I have come home with a renewed excitement for our own democracy.

The next few weeks . . .

Over the next several weeks, the eight students that studied abroad in Seoul this summer will be posting their thoughts about their experiences in Seoul.  I am dubbing this as the "Seoul Series."  Each student will do two to three posts regarding their thoughts and experiences while visiting South Korea.  This is basically a self-reflective series from each student's perspective.  Comments and questions from readers are always welcome.  Hope you all enjoy!