"Diet is 'die' with a 't'." - Garfield
| My story about eating in Korea | Warnings to any and all new recruits |
This page is a little different from the rest because it is in the form of an essay rather than a point by point explanation of various issues. I will begin by telling you about my personal problems with Korean food. There is a good reason to do so, so please bear with me.
This is how I feel about Korean food
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Warnings to any and all new recruits
Now that you've read this, you can see why I focus so much on food. It's a daily concern.
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Vegetarians Religious concerns Allergies Diabetes and health concerns |
Koreans do have cast-iron stomachs and will eat anything. (Or those who can't eat anyway and vomit it out later. Read Part 9d: The Abnormal Korean Societal Norms for more on this.) And most westerners who come here can eat Korean food without any problems. If you can, enjoy, and more power to you.
But for those who can't eat just anything, whether through lifestyle
choice or from medical necessity, people coming to Korea need to be
aware and informed of the facts. Korean society is one of capitulation
to the group, and Koreans expect foreigners who come to Korea to live
as Koreans do, and to eat what Koreans eat. And for some people,
that's just not possible.
As I said before, Koreans eat anything and they expect people
coming to Korea to eat everything. And remember how I also said
that some Koreans try to feed me certain food after they already
know that I can't eat it? The same applies to vegetarians.
Some Koreans I have worked with told vegetarians, "You just
haven't tried it!", as if the availability of meat in Canada
were the issue.
Most Koreans consider pork, animal fats, and
broth from flesh not to be meat products. Consequently,
many "vegetarian" meals served in restaurants really aren't.
If you eat out, you will have to be explicit and very careful about
ordering. In Part 9d: The Abnormal Korean
Societal Norms, I discuss how Koreans prepare food in
restaurants. More often than not, the cook will prepare it how he
likes it, not how the customer asked for it, and that includes the
ingredients used.
At my first school, there were several vegetarians who ate
bokimbap (a mix of rice, vegetables, and egg, in a
black bean sauce) because the school director told them it
had no meat. Several weeks passed before they found out it
was made with animal broth. When the vegetarians said
"no meat", they specified no fat or broth, not
just muscle, and the director knew this. Needless to say,
people were not happy and it caused friction in the workplace.
If you haven't done so already, check out the other pages in this
section:
On those pages you can find lists of where to buy veggie-friendly
food and places to eat in Seoul. Check out Part 5b for some
of veggie-friendly recipes which can be made solely from ingredients
available in Korea.
One big problem for vegetarians is that on most processed foods sold
in Korea, the labels are written only in Korean. If you can read
French (Spanish might help too), most of the foods sold at
Carrefour have French labels. You might have to peel off a
sticker with Korean text to read the French, but it's there.
If you are a vegan, I would recommend you not come to
Korea at all. I don't say that to be unkind to you; rather,
I say it because it will be damned difficult for you to find enough
food on a daily basis. Some vegetarians I know have given up and
gone back to eating meat products just to survive, not by choice.
I said elsewhere that I'm an atheist, but that doesn't mean I'm
intolerant. (As the joke goes, "A humanist or atheist
can't tell you to go to hell, but christians can and will.")
Now that I've offended you, let me make it up to you.
Despite the fact that roughly half of Koreans are christians, and
about a third are buddhists (many of whom are vegetarians),
Koreans are more concerned with how many are part of their
religion than whether they themselves follow their religion's
rules. (But isn't that true of any religion, that only the
non-members have to obey the rules?)
Aside from the Korean muslims (a newspaper in 2003 reported
approximately 100,000 Korean muslims in Seoul, not counting the
foreigners) very few Koreans follow their religions' rules for
living. That included the rules for eating.
If you have specific dietary rules for your religion, Koreans may
try to give you foods you are not permitted to eat, even if they
have the same religion as you. This is especially a concern if
you are jewish, since seafood parts and broths are used in almost
everything cooked here. The only way to ensure you aren't eating
shellfish is to cook for yourself.
(Some catholic women I worked with were harassed at easter by
our catholic director. The director knew how the women felt but
kept offering them meat meals for lunch. The women were upset
while the director felt they had no right or reason to be.)
As I said to the vegetarians, check out the other pages in this
section for advice on where to buy things. You may also find
places to go through the newspapers: the Korea Times and
Korean Herald have lists of religious services in Seoul.
You might meet English speakers there willing to give you
information and advice.
For people with food allergies, especially potentially fatal ones,
living in Seoul can be a nightmare. Given what I have said about
Koreans expecting everyone to eat the same things they do, and
their willingness to eat anything and everything, I would recommend
people with allergies not to come to Korea.
If you are going to come, then I have a few warnings. At the same
time, if you have questions about other food allergies, let me know
and I will print my research here.
Many Asian recipes use nut and seed products throughout.
Peanut and soy bean oils are used for cooking many
foods. Rice in many restaurants is mixed with sesame seeds.
And with labels solely in Korean, figuring out which Korean products
contain traces of nuts (probably most of them) is the devil's
own job.
If you limit yourself to buying raw ingredients and cooking yourself
you should be fine, but be aware when eating out. Many meals are
sprinkled with nuts and seeds. Even a hamburger at McDonald's could
be dangerous because of contamination from Big Mac buns.
If you want to find out more before you go, contact these medical
clinics for information on living with allergies in Seoul. (Both
sites and offices offer service in English.) Also check my
links page for more hospitals and clinics.
At the moment, I don't have much to offer. If anyone reading this
has concerns such as getting insulin or other issues, I could try
to find out. Be sure to look at the medical links above in the
allegies section.
What I can tell you is that Korean snacks and treat tend to have less
sugar and many are rice-derived. Ddukboki is a soft "rice
stick" that is popular as a lunch or snack. There are bean-filled
jellied-rice treats, some filled with jams or fruit. Many crackers
and other snacks are also rice- and not wheat-based.
Salt is not overused in Korea, but just as with Chinese food,
monosodium glutemate, or MSG, is overused and everywhere.
In Closing
If any readers have similar problems with food - what they cannot eat,
how Koreans have responded, or concerns I haven't addressed - feel
free contact me via my Feedback page. I
am more than happy to help people who have health or personal reasons
for eating specific things.
(With one caveat: don't attempt to proselytize to me, whether
religion or vegetarianism. I respect your views and I am willing
to help you, but don't ask me to join you.)
I am not a vegetarian, but I can appreciate the reasons people
choose to be one. My only impatience with vegetarians is for
idiots like PETA who think they have a right to tell others how
to live. They are as annoying as religious proselytizers.
(If you want to make it a law that you have to kill the animal
yourself, I can go along with that. Just don't ask me to
give it up because you don't want to eat it.)
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