SeoulCanadian, Eh -- Delicious Korean Food

People who love large amounts of fruit, vegetables, garlic, beef, pork, poultry, seafood, ultra-hot spices and, of course, rice are in gastronomic heaven when they come to Korea! As the images reveal, Korean meals involve incredible variety plus plenty of exciting visual stimulation. Generally, the food is all served at the same time - with no such thing as successive "courses" - and there are no strict rules about when to eat what.

During my first few months here, I experienced major difficulty with using chopsticks and, <blush> was occasionally panic-stricken at the prospect of going hungry. Thankfully, however, many Korean restaurants do have a few forks

kicking around and, when the servers see you struggling, they'll often bring you one. And as you can see on the right, I've finally achieved some level of mastery in the "eastern science of chopstickology." Once thing I didn't realize or expect is how much physical strength is actually required to effectively use chopsticks. Even after living here for almost a year, I still find myself occasionally having to rest my tired and sore chopstick fingers during a meal. On the other hand, I've also discovered that, with certain kinds of foods, chopsticks are much more efficient than forks!

Besides rice, another staple of the Korean diet is something called "kimchi" (pronounced KIM chee) This delightful stuff comes in over 100 different varieties and it's something that is part of almost every meal. The vegetables most commonly used in its preparation are celery cabbage, Chinese turnip, and cucumber. The prepared vegetables are sliced, seasoned with red pepper, onion, and garlic, and fermented in brine in large earthenware jars. Dried and salted shrimp, anchovy paste, and oysters are sometimes used as additional seasonings. During fermentation, which takes approximately one month depending on weather conditions, the kimchi jars are stored totally or partially underground in cellars or sheds built expressly for this purpose.

Another wonderful aspect of life in Korea is the "fusion" of Korean food with the best foods of other countries. One of my personal favorites of these fusion meals is the Japanese style pork and fish cutlet dinner. Not only is it very delicious but, as you can see, it is served in a most visually appealing manner. By the way, all the side dishes that you see, including soup, salad, kimchi, and other condiments, are all refillable. Whenever you run out of something, you just push a button to summon a server, and they bring more out to you right away--with no limits. This is typical in all Korean restaurants.

The next series of pics was taken at my favorite restaurant in all of Seoul. I eat here two or three times a week - provided there's room, it's so busy - and I usually have a cut of beef called "anchung" which is barbecued at the table, then dipped in seasoning, sprinkled with some vegetables, and wrapped in lettuce or some other kind of large green leaf. Then, it's just popped into the waiting, salivating mouth and enjoyed very, very much!

My favorite restaurant in Seoul! I have no idea what it's called, but I sure know how to get there!
The hard working, very friendly (but shy) staff at this great eatery.
This is the owner, carefully cutting and weighing the beef. CLICK! to see the full uncropped photo.
The spread, right after being served, just when the cooking begins!
Me, getting ready to demonstrate the "art" of eating "anchung," Korean Style. CLICK! to see the full, uncropped version
Once the meat is in the leaf, sprinkle it with whatever you want...
Then wrap it up... ...and pop it in!