Tales from Korea: Part 2

Korean cuisine is an acquired taste. Even if you are a strict non-vegetarian. I realised this within my first two days of stay here. I can eat almost any non-vegetarian food, so long as it doesn't have more than 4 legs, doesn't belong to the invertebrate family in general, and the arthropod family in particular and is, more importantly, well and truly dead before arrival on my plate. Even better if it's actually cooked.


Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with eating wiggly, squishy things (they are all par for the course I suppose), but I have my nitpicks. Thankfully, there are other things to like about Korean food. For one, it's quite healthy. Plenty of vegetables in their diet. Indeed, the national food of Korea is a dish called Khimchi, which is made from fermented cabbage (or radish). It has quite a strong aroma and take some getting used to. I still haven't.

Eating in a Korean joint is quite a social experience. For one, you don't get any plates to eat from; only chopsticks. Although they will give you a fork and spoon if you ask nicely. Secondly, raw meat is cooked right there on the table and eaten fresh from the hotplate. Not an ideal experience for strict vegetarians, admittedly. A good thing then that I'm not, eh? Meat is not usually spiced, but is to be eaten with salt or with the vegetables. It's not as bad as it sounds. No, really. Interestingly, each joint specialises in a single kind of meat. So you may eat at a joint which serves only chicken or pork or beef or fish or octopus. But not a combination of them together. It's easy enough to figure out what kind of meat you'll be served at a joint by merely looking up the cute animal caricature they have on the signboard outside the shop. So you may find a pig winking at you or a cow giving you a thumbs up, in anticipation its glorious martyrdom that involves you devouring it, no doubt.

The one thing you won't ever find in a Korean joint is "spicy" food. Oh sure, they may have dishes labelled "spicy" (pizza places included) but make no mistake, this isn't spicy as we know it. Not by a long mile. In fact, Koreans seem to like their food on the milder side. Too mild in some cases. I mean, I couldn't find salted butter in the local store - only sweet butter. That could also be because I can't decipher the labels, none of which are in English. But judging by the fact that I couldn't find packaged curd either - they prefer sweet yogurt - I'm guessing salted butter is simply not an option.

There are a few Indian joints scattered about, luckily. I say "Indian" joints but most of them seem to be run by Pakistanis or Nepalis. Not that it really matters. Because as well know, when it comes to food, there are no barriers. More so when it involves hot spicy curry with freshly baked naans, IMHO. Amen.