More kimchi please

The food in Korea is awesome. It started on the Korean Air flight. For dinner, I had bi bim bap. The best part about it was that the airline came up with a way to serve it with the usual fanfare and production of a Korean restaurant. A big part of what I love about Korean food, besides the great spicy flavors, is that it's interactive. One is involved in the preparation of one's meal. You don't just receive a plate served to you in final form, but often there's a few steps at the table before the final product is ready for your mouth. The best example of this is Korean barbecue, where you must cook your meat at the grill in the center of your table and then assemble all of the toppings into a lettuce "taco."

The otherwise typical airplane tray of food contained odd looking compartments, such as a shrink wrapped package of piping hot jasmine rice, a bowl of veggies (shitake mushrooms, cabbage and spinach) and some spicy pickles. There was also a small plastic tube filled with red pepper paste and a small packet of sesame oil. I froze at first (it's been a while since I've had Korean food and we were on an airplane), but then I figured out that you just throw it all in the bowl, mix it together and then voila, dinner is served. The amazing thing is that it tasted, to borrow Hayden's favorite phrase, "fresh." And that's no small feat for an airline.

Breakfast at my hotel has the typical five star spread of cereals, omelet stations and smoked salmon. But it also has an elaborate Korean food section, including a prominent display of kimchi. Kimchi in the morning is way too intense for me - but I did have soup with udon noodles and a very delicious clear broth.

Just now for lunch there was a buffet that had a ton of very nice looking sushi, which tragically I had to avoid. (I could tell by the cut that it was probably amazing.) But I did have other delights including the famous kimchi, some various spring rolls and beautifully put together dumplings. I couldn't convince my stomach to go for the short ribs (maybe for dinner...) But I had some sweet and sour chicken, which was tasty.

I can't quite get into the rice ball desserts, which come in a variety of flavors, but the soothing miracle of Korean green tea more than made up for it.

Korea, what to say so far

I’m tempted to wrap my first impression into a permanent one. It may be unavoidable, but in Korea, like no other place, I’m concerned that I’m passing judgment too soon. I guess that’s because my first impression is that I feel like a hick who’s confused (and a little freaked out) by the “otherness” of this place. This is disturbing particularly since I consider myself such the world traveler.

I’ve never been this far East. I know and love Korean food from my NYC days of the occasional trek to 32^nd street for barbeque. But I’m finding it hard not to say things like, “this is so weird,” “how bizarre,” or to just kind of chuckle to myself.

It started on the plane when I watched a documentary about Korean Food in New York. I assumed, based on my aforementioned experience, this would be interesting and familiar. It was the former but not the latter. A famous TV personality came to New York and highlighted some Korean influences on New York culture in a sort of boasting manner. He visited Fulton Fish Market, for example, and exclaimed that not only do Koreans get to the market first, but they are the main drivers of the Fish Market economy. While I haven’t googled this, I find that hard to believe. Slowly, but surely, the video felt more like a propaganda film. It felt a little like something that might come from North Korea, save the nuclear destruction threats.

Today, at the opening conference, there was more of this propagandizing of Korea. I find it difficult to describe and there isn’t space for it in a blog. But let’s just say as we went through a plenary session and participants made suggestions for how the organizing body could be more inclusive, each suggestion was brushed aside or punted down the road for later – all with a smile and a bow and a return to Korean-centric presentations.

But on the other hand, this doesn’t come across as arrogant as much as it comes across as desperate for approval. A traditional musical group of women came out at the end of dinner and played Western music with their traditional instruments. They played “Let it Be” and “Dancing Queen” with wooden flutes and stringed instruments whose names I do not know. It would have been nice to hear some Korean music – there was a little, but it was mostly Western pop. It was as if they were saying to the audience: we want to show off our culture but we want to make sure you understand and like us for it.

To save myself from sounding so, well, Western (and ignorant), I shall write about the food next – which is fantastic!