Food In Korea

It does sound just like Batman. I thought that during the first movie also, so I guess it’s just more of the same. Actually, I think you said the exact same thing when the first one came out. Also, random fact, John Williams includes a little tribute to Indiana Jones in one of the Harry Potter movies’ music. And the guy that did the artwork in the credits, Alex Ross I think, is huge in the comics world. When he appeared at Lee’s Comics, then on El Camino near 420 James, there was a line all the way down the block.

Some more on food.

Another cool Korean cafe thing is ones with couches. Like a table with two couches facing each other. Very comfy. Got pearl milk tea at one such place, the only bubble tea I’ve been able to find in the country. Weird thing is, they didn’t offer just plain pearl milk tea, you have to get a flavor. I got taro and it was disgusting. Bland taro flavor with tiny hard tapioca pellets. Almost as bad as the soapy tasting bubble tea we had in Canada.

Last night we had a traditional royal Korean dinner. It was unlike any Korean food I’ve ever had. That’s not particularly a positive thing, it wasn’t really good, just different. Much better was tonight, we had Pizza Hut. The toppings were normal with the addition of a ring of chestnut paste near the crust. Shockingly delicious. The chestnut pie at Starbucks is also very good, as is the green tea Frappuccino.

I dunno, I still don’t think there’s such thing as gourmet Korean food. Or whatever’s supposed to be gourmet and special isn’t particularly good. The stuff I’ve liked here most is the cheap stuff, the kimbap, the rabokki, the Lotteria Rye Shrimp burger. Maybe it’s a reflection of Korea’s history that its fine cuisine isn’t that developed? I dunno. But yeah, eating supposedly fine Korean food actually makes me like Korean food less.

One other thing.

I read this English language newspaper and it had a column called something like Views From Harvard with a Harvard Law graduate. Anyway, this guy was saying how Korea has a drinking problem and needs to stop, it has the highest rate of liver cancer in the world, much of which can be attributed to overdrinking. When presented with a scenario in which a coworker is unable to go to work because of drinking the night before, 55% of Americans judged said worker to have a drinking problem. Every Korean surveyed said it was understandable. Friend who works here says there’s like 3 rounds of drinking with coworkers, ends so late some go directly to work afterwards.

Anyway, at our hotel in Cheju they offered a Western breakfast, traditional Japanese breakfast, or traditional Korean breakfast. One of the choices for the traditional Korean breakfast was “broth to help cure a hangover”. I found that depressing, that drinking is so ingrained in Korean culture that dealing with it is a part of a traditional breakfast.