By Bernard Rowan
Dining in Korea has many shapes, forms, and fashions. I'm sharing my experience about eating out as an education. I'm not a "foodie," and art nouveau and other kinds of dining experiences have doubtlessly entered the scene. What I'm sure of is that Korean dining shows us a way to better health and happiness through friendship.
While there are Korean buffets, most dining occurs in restaurants specializing in a main dish. Galbi, samgyeopsal, seafood, and samgyetang restaurants are examples. Unlike other cultures where menus range across all the specialties, it's fun to visit different establishments and neighborhoods in search of the best dishes ― or just to try out different approaches to them.
My favorite meals occurr in the countryside away from tourist-type restaurant strips. A genuine experience of locally made kimchi, tofu soup, side dishes, and fish comes to mind. I remember an elderly woman, or halmoni, sat in the middle of this bustling old farmhouse collecting the takings. Happy and jolly, her fifty or so customers impressed me. I had to try it!
When dining in Korea, get down! I mean sit not on chairs but the ondol or other flooring, perhaps with a mat. I'm over six feet and not that limber. I've had pain after sitting cross-legged for two or more hours. However, go ahead! Take off the shoes when entering. Take the choice to dine in an enclosed room. Often set apart by a sliding wooden or glass door, sitting down to enjoy an intimate lunch or dinner with friends makes it all the better. It's more personalized and inviting than eating at a Michelin star establishment, I assure you!
I've written about drinking in Korea before. It's a wonderful accompaniment to food, and its etiquette is a great way to celebrate meeting and having new friends. Like Korean food, drinking isn't "about me" as much as "about us" _ the group of friends together. Recognize this maxim. A good appetite and satisfaction concerns how the food and drink bring health and enjoyment to self and others. In a sense, good Korean dining makes life a little more real through celebrating a meal this way. It's polite, friendly, considerate, and human.
Next to note is that dining is a social affair. Of course, there are ways that single people and parties of one can find good food and enjoy eating out, but it's supposed to be as a group. I remember visiting a restaurant not knowing the custom. The kind owner set an empty place across from me to simulate a party of two! Go as a party, and foreigners like me should eat out with Korean acquaintances, friends, or associates.
It's not a commercial gambit, either. The roots of a good Korean meal arise from a family setting. The (extended) family atmosphere permeates good Korean restaurants. The restaurant's organization and decoration say it. The people preparing the food and how they prepare food also say it. Koreans know "the taste of the hand" makes for good cooking, and while that may alarm germaphobes, it stands for putting one's heart into the cooking as well as one's personal effort. A good restaurateur will in some way show an interest in whether the patron likes the food and drink.
Korean food is healthy when a sense of harmony informs eating out. I love meat, but the image of going to a galbi house and gorging on two dozen ribs is anathema (if tempting)! It's not about devouring a big hunk of meat but about balance. The side dishes are an education in Korean culture themselves. They help to make digestion of protein even better. The end of the meal, to my mind influenced by Buddhist culture, usually features a bowl or rice or some other grains (barley), or rice enriched with beans, and perhaps a soup. This eases and complements the other foods or main dishes. I think this is the main meal!
I'd prefer to leave to others the higher science of a typical Korean table and nutrition. I've read a proper Korean meal encourages good health. The food, its preparation, and the way of consumption contribute. I'm speaking in general terms about the Korean eating experiences I cherish.
Don't be too serious! Experience eating at a good Korean restaurant. Do so together ― meaning two or more people. Then learn about the meal and dishes you've just eaten and begin to experience how Korean diet is a window to this great and advancing world civilization. Mani mogu!
Bernard Rowan (browan10@yahoo.com) is associate provost for contract administration and professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at Hanyang University.
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While there are Korean buffets, most dining occurs in restaurants specializing in a main dish. Galbi, samgyeopsal, seafood, and samgyetang restaurants are examples. Unlike other cultures where menus range across all the specialties, it's fun to visit different establishments and neighborhoods in search of the best dishes ― or just to try out different approaches to them.
My favorite meals occurr in the countryside away from tourist-type restaurant strips. A genuine experience of locally made kimchi, tofu soup, side dishes, and fish comes to mind. I remember an elderly woman, or halmoni, sat in the middle of this bustling old farmhouse collecting the takings. Happy and jolly, her fifty or so customers impressed me. I had to try it!
When dining in Korea, get down! I mean sit not on chairs but the ondol or other flooring, perhaps with a mat. I'm over six feet and not that limber. I've had pain after sitting cross-legged for two or more hours. However, go ahead! Take off the shoes when entering. Take the choice to dine in an enclosed room. Often set apart by a sliding wooden or glass door, sitting down to enjoy an intimate lunch or dinner with friends makes it all the better. It's more personalized and inviting than eating at a Michelin star establishment, I assure you!
I've written about drinking in Korea before. It's a wonderful accompaniment to food, and its etiquette is a great way to celebrate meeting and having new friends. Like Korean food, drinking isn't "about me" as much as "about us" _ the group of friends together. Recognize this maxim. A good appetite and satisfaction concerns how the food and drink bring health and enjoyment to self and others. In a sense, good Korean dining makes life a little more real through celebrating a meal this way. It's polite, friendly, considerate, and human.
Next to note is that dining is a social affair. Of course, there are ways that single people and parties of one can find good food and enjoy eating out, but it's supposed to be as a group. I remember visiting a restaurant not knowing the custom. The kind owner set an empty place across from me to simulate a party of two! Go as a party, and foreigners like me should eat out with Korean acquaintances, friends, or associates.
It's not a commercial gambit, either. The roots of a good Korean meal arise from a family setting. The (extended) family atmosphere permeates good Korean restaurants. The restaurant's organization and decoration say it. The people preparing the food and how they prepare food also say it. Koreans know "the taste of the hand" makes for good cooking, and while that may alarm germaphobes, it stands for putting one's heart into the cooking as well as one's personal effort. A good restaurateur will in some way show an interest in whether the patron likes the food and drink.
Korean food is healthy when a sense of harmony informs eating out. I love meat, but the image of going to a galbi house and gorging on two dozen ribs is anathema (if tempting)! It's not about devouring a big hunk of meat but about balance. The side dishes are an education in Korean culture themselves. They help to make digestion of protein even better. The end of the meal, to my mind influenced by Buddhist culture, usually features a bowl or rice or some other grains (barley), or rice enriched with beans, and perhaps a soup. This eases and complements the other foods or main dishes. I think this is the main meal!
I'd prefer to leave to others the higher science of a typical Korean table and nutrition. I've read a proper Korean meal encourages good health. The food, its preparation, and the way of consumption contribute. I'm speaking in general terms about the Korean eating experiences I cherish.
Don't be too serious! Experience eating at a good Korean restaurant. Do so together ― meaning two or more people. Then learn about the meal and dishes you've just eaten and begin to experience how Korean diet is a window to this great and advancing world civilization. Mani mogu!
Bernard Rowan (browan10@yahoo.com) is associate provost for contract administration and professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at Hanyang University.
