“SsslluurrPPp… aaahhh””SssllluurRPp… AAaaHhh”
“SsssllluuuRRrrPPP… AAaaahhhHH”
I burst out into laugher as my friend released exhaled with contentment after having another slurp of the Korean-style soup known as kahlgooksoo.
“What? Why do you laugh?” he inquired out of curiosity.
I couldn’t stop smiling, knowing that if my mom was present, she would give him the evil eye and a good smack on the head for showing disrespect. I merely replied, “It seems like you’re really enjoying your meal.” Catching onto what I’d meant, he stated, “I can’t explain this feeling. If you lived in Korea for 10 years, then you’d understand.”
As a friend of mine picked me up at the Incheon Airport upon my arrival to Korea, he introduced me to what I feel to be the most significant feature of the Korean culture – the food. I’m a simple man. I can be satisfied about life while eating a good meal; hey, what can I say? I love my food. Little did I know, so do the Koreans I met.
I was fortunate enough to stay with a Korean family until I got myself settled; with that came certain benefits several foreigners can only experience. Although I’ve encountered a number of different aspects of the Korean culture, I will only focus on the food for now. A typical Korean meal would consist of a main dish, which is usually but not always present, and a number of side dishes. For those unfamiliar with the culture, these side dishes would consist
of your occasional kim (sheets of dried seaweed), kimchi (pickled cabbage and vegetables made spicy with red pepper, a national favorite but not recommended for those with weak and sensitive taste buds), along with other assorted dishes.
During my stay, I enjoyed a variety of dishes. Sahm gyup sahl, one of the Koreans’ many kinds of barbecues, is pork cut up and grilled on the table. You don’t need to worry about cooking the meat; the server does it for you. For those who enjoy sushi, hwe dup bahp may be for you. It’s a form of the Japanese chirashi, a dish with bits of raw fish placed over a bed of seasoned rice. Hwe dup bahp includes assorted vegetables and a very spicy red pepper sauce, called kochoojang.
The meals I had in the Korean rural area were unforgettable. Imagine sitting along the coastline, facing the Yellow Sea, and watching fresh clams and mussels spit at you for grilling them alive for dinner. Or picture a bucket of live shrimp being poured into a hot plate, where they jump and squirm until they become pink enough to eat.
I had many more amazing and unexpected experiences like these as I began to study overseas. A new culture has been exposed to me, a culture that has broadened my perspectives on everyday life, food only being a part of it(although a very important part). I invite readers to taste a culture foreign to them, and a good way to begin is through the food. For some good Korean dishes, take I-95 north to Milford on Route 1, where you can find a nice Korean restaurant, though nothing quite beats what they have in Korea. Once you do, I can only suggest what the family tells me at the start of every meal we share, “Manhi muhguh”, in English “Eat a lot”.
For more information on applications for the Gilman Scholarship for the coming semester or year, go to http://www.iie.org/programs/gilman/.