Korean Table Manners
That all said, I have noticed that in terms of food the etiquette books are right on.
(some are listed here: Korean Table Manners)
Getting used to the stainless steel chopsticks, which are ubiquitous, is quite a trick. I thought I had some facility with chopsticks from years of using them, though I had in the back of my mind my sister telling me that when she first ate in China upon moving there that people would gather and point and laugh at her for holding the chopsticks like a child.
Stainless steel offers a whole new set of challenges beyond the child-grip--they are heavy and slippery. When I asked if anyone uses wood, I was told, with pride, "the Japanese use wood, Koreans use metal." And, thus far I haven't seen wood ones.
You really do not see people eating alone here that I have seen. So many of the style of restaurants are geared toward big groups, like the barbeque places.
Food in restaurants is amazingly cheap (at the restaurants you might find me, that is). You get usually three to five small dishes of artfully arranged sides, kimchi plus other stuff that can be quite elaborate and interesting. Today as I walked toward hoome I stopped for a bowl of bibimbap at a little place midway between Sogang and Sinchon Station (which is a huge rotary that is unbelievably packed). One of the sides was somekind of vegetable in a delicious brouth with a large hunk of ice in the middle. There were three other sides, plus a bowl of soup. Price: 3000 won, about 3 bucks.
One thing that I read in an etiquette book is that it is ok to leave the excess food, which is strange. Tables of several people will get up with dozens of little plates with these delicious sides in them. Where does it go? Likely better not to ask in many cases.
I had lunch in one of the two Sogang cafeterias, where you can choose between a good looking (and tasty, as it turned out) Korean meal and an institutional-looking western meal. The Korean meal was fish with red pepper sauce, chicken and turnip soup, kimchi, rice, a spinach side, and something that combined a kind of tubular green (maybe water spinach?) with tiny dried shrimp. That was 3500 won. I was graciously treated to this meal by my new colleage Donald.
(some are listed here: Korean Table Manners)
Getting used to the stainless steel chopsticks, which are ubiquitous, is quite a trick. I thought I had some facility with chopsticks from years of using them, though I had in the back of my mind my sister telling me that when she first ate in China upon moving there that people would gather and point and laugh at her for holding the chopsticks like a child.
Stainless steel offers a whole new set of challenges beyond the child-grip--they are heavy and slippery. When I asked if anyone uses wood, I was told, with pride, "the Japanese use wood, Koreans use metal." And, thus far I haven't seen wood ones.
You really do not see people eating alone here that I have seen. So many of the style of restaurants are geared toward big groups, like the barbeque places.
Food in restaurants is amazingly cheap (at the restaurants you might find me, that is). You get usually three to five small dishes of artfully arranged sides, kimchi plus other stuff that can be quite elaborate and interesting. Today as I walked toward hoome I stopped for a bowl of bibimbap at a little place midway between Sogang and Sinchon Station (which is a huge rotary that is unbelievably packed). One of the sides was somekind of vegetable in a delicious brouth with a large hunk of ice in the middle. There were three other sides, plus a bowl of soup. Price: 3000 won, about 3 bucks.
One thing that I read in an etiquette book is that it is ok to leave the excess food, which is strange. Tables of several people will get up with dozens of little plates with these delicious sides in them. Where does it go? Likely better not to ask in many cases.
I had lunch in one of the two Sogang cafeterias, where you can choose between a good looking (and tasty, as it turned out) Korean meal and an institutional-looking western meal. The Korean meal was fish with red pepper sauce, chicken and turnip soup, kimchi, rice, a spinach side, and something that combined a kind of tubular green (maybe water spinach?) with tiny dried shrimp. That was 3500 won. I was graciously treated to this meal by my new colleage Donald.
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