Comments on: When your “Army Base Stew” is just a little too authentic

By: The Marmot

The Marmot — Sat, 01 Nov 2003 01:26:32 +0000

Barley rice - yummy, but it gives the worst gas. Coicidentally, I still see SPAM gift packs at stores, and I believe one commenter recieved one from SK in lieu of illegal campaign contributions.

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TITLE: BEST RECENT READING
BLOG NAME: Interested-Participant
Robert Koehler of the Marmot’s Hole has a post describing how innovative Koreans prepare low cost “Army Base Stew.” No thanks, I’m full.

By: Wedge

Wedge — Sat, 01 Nov 2003 00:46:52 +0000

I’ve always heard budaechige (as in the article “army camp stew”) originated with leftover, stolen, or black market SPAM, hot dogs, cheese and the like from U.S. Army bases. I’m not sure how fresh the stuff was, but SPAM and hot dogs are probably good for a couple decades anyway. The 50s and early 60s were a time when even the Norks were eating better and the Southerners cut their rice with barley (which is far better used to make beer). Incidentally, there are a couple of good budaechige restaurants across the street from the USO tucked up next to Yongsan/Camp Kim, which is the area mentioned in this article. Was one of them the offending restaurant? D’OHHH! This article could be fishy, as Korean articles often are. Anyway, the stew itself isn’t going to contain bacteria as it’s boiled for a while.

The goods from U.S. bases were always considered luxurious and even in the 90s (not sure about the 00s) you could still buy SPAM gift packs for your Chuseok and New Year’s gift needs.

As a sidenote, in ‘93 a couple of times I drank soda from the dispensing machines in Seoul’s subways and always seemed to get a gut bomb afterward. I didn’t make the connection until the Korea Herald ran an article citing massive quantities of bacteria found in something like 70% of those machines (they don’t clean them often). That’s one article I believed.

By: Kevin Kim

Kevin Kim — Fri, 31 Oct 2003 11:56:41 +0000

My mother left Korea in the 1960s; budae-jjigae was a new concept to her when I told her about it in the 90s. She was repulsed, and that attitude didn’t change when she saw the real thing. Her “poor man’s stew”– and quite possibly my Dad’s favorite Korean soup– was and remains sujaebi.

Kevin

By: QBJ

QBJ — Fri, 31 Oct 2003 08:01:29 +0000

Actually, the story I was always told was during the Korean war, when everybody had collaped down around the Pusan perimeter, US army started supplying the Korean army as well. The Korean soldiers, looking at the SPAM, hotdogs and hamburger they were being given, threw it in the pot with the ramien, kimchee and other odds and ends. Thus the name Army stew. First I’ve heard it was from “leftovers”.

By: The Marmot

The Marmot — Fri, 31 Oct 2003 07:20:37 +0000

Shawn, I got it from YTN, via Yahoo! Korea (it’s linked in the post). The translation’s my own. I haven’t seen this in the English press yet, and I don’t expect to, because the story’s not all that serious - more like a “Strangely enough” piece over at Yahoo! USA.

By: shawn

shawn — Fri, 31 Oct 2003 06:43:22 +0000

That looks exactly like the same story that was in the paper two years ago. Where did you get that. I’ve been a subscriber to the Korean Herald for years and they often run the same stories over and over again. I’ve seen the one about North Koreans being good workers in Russian logging camps at least 7 times, exact reprint.

By: Antti

Antti — Fri, 31 Oct 2003 03:21:38 +0000

The version that I was told about the origin of budaejjigae was the meat and spam cans (or tins?, kkangtong) originating from the US military. As it was a restaurant keeper who told this, it's not surprising that he didn't talk about leftover foods. Pictures from the 50s and 60s Korea: http://www.anthropology.or.kr/database/LMW/v_content.asp?gubun=1&idx=50 http://www.anthropology.or.kr/database/LMW/v_content.asp?gubun=1&idx=56