Ask many Koreans about food and they will talk about how healthy Korean food is. As a food culture goes, Korean food culture is an old one — like other Asian food cultures — that is based largely upon what can be grown. “Processed food” in traditional Korean food culture might mean how to make doenjung (fermented soy bean paste) or Kimchi (fermented cabbage and other vegetables). Ask an American or European what is processed food and they might talk about hot dogs, sodas, instant oatmeal or most any other food item from the culture. Unlike the older food cultures of Asia, Western food culture relies heavily upon an industrialized food processing rather than the field-kitchen-table model that characterizes Korean food culture.
American food, per se, is largely about THE food industry and their business model that has become synonymous with the American food culture. Hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, cola — all processed, with additives designed to allow the food to keep longer for the sake of commerce. Additionally, much of this American food is simply fattening to eat, so much so that between 1991-2001, the rate of Americans growing obese has doubled. As most long-term expats in Korea know, if one goes back to visit America or England, the first difference we notice is how fat people back home are in comparison to Koreans. If one has lived in Korea for the last ten years, they will also have noticed the increase in Korean children and teenagers who look obese. It is easy to make an empirical deduction that this has occurred at the same time American fast food chains have become very popular here, as well as certain types of Korean fast foods (fried chicken) that have become endemic to even the smallest towns in Korea.
Even now, more attention is being paid to the impact of a very large and powerful food industry in America that shapes the health and well-being of Americans. An interesting article in the New York Times focuses upon the efforts of Robyn O’Brien, as a concerned mother of four and an unlikely critic of the food industry and its reliance upon industrialized food processing. Though some of Ms. O’Brien’s contentions regarding the connection between allergies and food additives are yet to be substantiated, the link between a good food culture with better health can not be denied.
Considering such, the next time you go out to eat, here in Korea, think about the food and you might appreciate it as one of the better things to living here.
102 Comments
Korean food culture is in the process of changing for much of the same reason that American food culture changed; the need (desire) for fast and easy-to-make food.
Simply put, for a growing number of families, mommy is not around enough to spend several hours a day making food. She has joined daddy in going off to make more money in order to… buy more processed food (among other things). Cup ramyeon for all!
I don’t blame the food industry. They are just meeting demand. It is our fault. Except for folks trapped in the middle of large cities, there is no reason that Americans can’t get some free-range localvore deer meat every year. Daddy would just rather spend his Saturday afternoons watching ball games on his wide-screen TV.
“ramyeon”
“ramyeon”
“fault”
Korean jjajangmyeon, which is loaded with lard. The original recipe is much leaner. Ironic when you remember that some Koreans like to put down Chinese food by saying it’s fatty.
PS. The correct spelling in English is ‘ramen’.
BTW, it’s not the culture that’s at fault, it’s the parents.
I ate at Ray’s Pizza tonight, and it was fantastic — that’s all I know about such heady posts.
I have heard digestive tract cancer rates in Korea are some of the highest in the world. And it is kind of logical that fresh vegetables are better than old and pickled. Add to that excessive chili…
Food for thought, hey?
Someguy, it is more than just the parents fault maybe. Parents, in this case, do not have any other choices other than what the food industry offers. True, one could grow their own and hunt around for food that is not processed but our way of doing things in the states makes it very inconvenient to do such. We pretty much eat whatever the collective food industry puts out and if there is no research telling us that there is a problem, we are not aware that there is a problem.
I would also point out that the U.S. Meat Industry — a very large and powerful business collective — has spent time and money to make sure that public confidence in the safety of their business model goes unchallenged and to make sure that those who challenge it suffer for it (Opra Winifrey as a good example of such).
Eating habits and what diet one keeps are different from having a good food culture “mandybitesdog”. It is still possible to eat a healthy diet in America, despite the food culture (or lack of one).
Likewise, if one eats too much mocchi and natto, I’m sure it would lead to health problems, like choking to death, presumably.
Although Korean food is better for you than McD’s, pizza and other Western staples, I’d argue that its health aspects have been greatly exaggerated by Koreans.
Korean foods are generally oily and high in sodium and many of their standard meat dishes (samgyupsal, bossam, makchang) are nothing more than fried fat. Koreans have abnormally high rates of high blood pressure and digestive cancers than other Asian countries. The lower carbs mean less obesity but doesn’t make them necessarily healthy either.
Much like fan death, if you listen to the claims of “Korean food is healthy” from the locals long enough, you start to believe it might be true.
Having said that, I’m off to eat some naengmyun for lunchy.
bossam is boiled, not fried…
Here’s a great tip: I watched chef Ramsay tour a consultee’s kitchen once, finding frozen food, packaged sauces, microwave ovens and deep fryers.
“So you’re not actually COOKING anything, are you? You’re just REHEATING, right?”
The guy’s face fell off for a moment. He’d never thought of it that way.
I personally love how I can get jeyuk bokkum from the “well-bing” counter of the nearby food court. Toss a few lettuce leaves on fatty fried pork and, presto, you have a healthy dish.
And in terms of chunky kids, it’s nothing new–I noticed 12 years ago that there were plenty of KFC-eating high schoolers around. Somehow, they lose it as they head into their 20s. My wholly unscientific theory is the army for the dudes and crash diets for the chicas as they enter college.
As soon as I hit the second paragraph and its hint-of-Morgan-Spurlock criticism of “American food culture”, I knew I was reading an R. Elgin screed.
The rate of obesity in the US — followed closely by Korea — has ballooned not because we are free to eat whatever we want, but because we are free to eat as much as we want without the burden of having to physically labor to get that food. The American lifestyle has become quite sedentary.
So has Korea’s. Think hard: What opportunities for physical activity does a Korean child have? How about the adults? The challenge is not whether your food is processed, fatty, or salty — it’s whether you move your ass after eating it. (Or, don’t eat so much. Choose at least one, or two for best results. Don’t gorge yourself and move your ass.) Increasingly, the modern Korean is trapped in a chair. These people will lard up just as much as Americans or British people, don’t worry about that.
Actually, it’s a number of things that have its roots in the Nixon administration responding to rising food prices by plummeting the price of industrial corn, giving rise to the modern food industrial complex that has found creative ways of producing cheap foods out of corn, including corn-feed-lot fed cattle (whose stomachs can’t process corn without antibiotics), high fructose corn syrup and other chemicals, creating a monoculture of corn eaters.
I was just thinking about that last night during a home cooked Korean/American meal. As of now, the food culture in Korea is still based on vegetables, sound portion control of meat (likely grass fed and not corn fed), and foods processed by use of natural bacterias than fossil fuels in laboratory factories.
Not that poor parenting doesn’t detract from children scarfing down the wrong food groups, but to isolate the problem entirely to the homefront seems a little jaded… isn’t there a direct correlation between culture and parenting? … as per ‘Some Guy In Korea’s’ comment, I would have to say this is a little short-sighted… the industry is no different form the inundation of ‘quick n easy’ anywhere else in the world… Korean food is, in fact, quite healthy and quickly edging up in the ranks of some of the world’s healthiest… it’s also pretty easy to throw together some dishes… granted there are some packaged goods that have about as much nutrition as the box it comes in, but Korea is hardly at risk from going completely under… you ever think to wonder the reason that both parents are now out of the house working stems from the fact that the economy is a little frayed at the seams…
“Someguy, it is more than just the parents fault maybe. Parents, in this case, do not have any other choices other than what the food industry offers.”
Not really. Make some soup, rice, and whatnot, package in individual portions, freeze, and reheat in the microwave when needed. Salads and pasta are fast and easy to prepare.
“The rate of obesity in the US — followed closely by Korea — has ballooned not because we are free to eat whatever we want, but because we are free to eat as much as we want without the burden of having to physically labor to get that food. The American lifestyle has become quite sedentary.”
Not really. Which snack has more calories and fat, a handful of baby carrots or a bowl of ice cream?
Hmm…dunno ’bout that Brendon. Lifestyles in Seoul and Tokyo were hardly less sedentary in the 1980s than now. But the obesity rate is way up.
That is an oft-overlooked and very good point.
The overuse of products derived from corn in American processed foods that began at that time and continues today has been a tremendous disservice to the American consumer in numerous ways, including those you mention. It has contributed greatly to the obesity epidemic and other health problems, many stemming from corn allergies.
“Eating habits and what diet one keeps are different from having a good food culture” - sorry , i fail to see the difference.
if your basic point is that the average american diet is more fattening than the korean - than i agree. i wouldnt say that korean food is healthy though. its not very bad in terms of health and its very tasty. but i for one refrain from eating too much pickled crap (whether it be korean, japanese or western).
the dig at natto and mochi? mochi is not a staple like kimchi. natto is for the northern parts above tokyo - it actually is quite healthy - problem is it stinks like poo.
when i lived in korea my gripes were -
too much hot stuff ( i love it, but come on, some moderation)
they dont get salad. its not a hard concept.
fruit is expensive as.
any foreign food is awful.
hygiene issues in some eateries.
PS. North Americans weren’t very active in the 70s, and yet they were much skinnier than they are now. So, I’d say it’s not just how much energy you spend, but also also how much energy you consume, not how much food you eat. You can eat all the salad you want, you probably won’t get fat unless you smother it in salad dressing.
Kids in the U.S. in the 1970s were definitely more physically active than kids today are.
I blame Japan.
Well, no, but that seems to be the popular running joke here.
Perhaps the rise of TV + PC + Video game has also contributed to the obesity in U.S.? Though the introduction of Wii may reverse some of those effects. (haha)
“Korean foods are generally oily and high in sodium and many of their standard meat dishes (samgyupsal, bossam, makchang) are nothing more than fried fat.”
Well, I think the point is that meat dishes are consumed at a significantly lower frequency, and even when consumed it is consumed with quite a bit of vegetables (i.e. 상추쌈). High level of sodium is very true however… and actually… because of the gigantic consumption of white rice in a typical Korean meal, carb levels are quite high (though not as high as most “American” cuisines)
Corn syrup thing is a dead on.
You’re right manbitesdog, they don’t get salad. The whole fresh vegetables thing.
On the hygiene issue: There is a generation/education gap opening up between Koreans who love poking their spit-shiny chopsticks, spoons into all the little plates on the table and the Koreans who are grossed out by this.
I suspect that obesity is largely a result of a combination of the following: an influx of less healthy food, increased portion sizes/intake of calories, and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. There is also a genetic factor.
I think that the Korean diet is far preferable to a typical (if there is such a thing) North American one, at least in terms of keeping a healthy weight. However, that isn’t to say that eating spicy food every day - not to mention vegetables and fruit grown in Korea’s polluted soil and sprayed with serious pesticides - won’t have its own set of health implications down the road.
Interesting about the corn.
Are the corn, antibiotic and hormone diets of US cattle cited as a reason for opposition to Korean imports of US beef? (And could this derail Korean ratification of the KORUS FTA?) The bone shard canard seems so silly; corn and antibiotics problem seems like a real health concern from the little I’ve read.
(I personally hope the FTA is passed ASAP.)
I’d always understood that the purpose of feeding cattle antibiotics was not to enable them to digest corn, but that for some reason it promoted faster-than-normal growth. For whatever reason, a nefarious practice, to be sure.
#26 - 3 answers: Korea, like many countries, has a host of barriers to protect local agriculture. Beef is just one component of these measures. Second, mad cow disease, which you gotta admit, has been a pretty good excuse to uphold the trade barriers. Australian beef is advertised here as “clean and safe”. Last, garden variety anti-Americanism. Ship arrivals of Aussie beef draw out the farmers, but don’t get nearly the media coverage of a US beef shipment with a hunk of spine in it. Also note the public demonstrations against KORUS FTA, absent from KOR-EU negotiations.
#20 “when i lived in korea my gripes were -
too much hot stuff ( i love it, but come on, some moderation)
they dont get salad. its not a hard concept.
fruit is expensive as.
any foreign food is awful.
hygiene issues in some eateries.”
Amen Brother! Why do you suppose Koreans don’t eat salads? Is it because kochujang doesn’t pour well?
#11…..In the voice of Homer Simpson:
Mmmmmm….boiled fat.
You are all right, of course — it’s all those things working in combination — government policy, capitalism changing family life, capitalism changing the food that’s offered, farming techniques, food advertising and sales techniques, people making poor dietary choices, people eating too much, snacking and desserts, portions served being too large, and everybody exercising less and less in the digital-ubiquitous-entertainment age.
We all do what we can while stuck in the mix of all these factors… i try to make the best food choices i can every day, try to stop eating when it’s just enough, try to get home for the wife’s healthy and delicious meals as often as possible, and ‘power-walk’ to and from work each day with weights in both hands, climb mountains or otherwise work-out… Still, i’m fortunate when a year goes by and i haven’t gained another kilogram…
well, it’s not so much “digestive cancer” , but stomach cancer, and that is higher than anywhere else in the world in Korea and Japan.
numbers don’t lie, and stats will show you that Koreans are thinner than Americans.
Americans eat too much protein, at a cheaper price. Gogi is so much cheaper in America, they eat more.
Koreans eat less protein, and eat leaner sources, as in tofu, fish.
I think they eat those pork bellies, because better cuts of meat are too expensive.
KORUS FTA may change it, but Koreans are thinner on average.
too much salt, yes. Undeniable.
fattier diet? Relatively, no. Less fat. Korean and Japanese diet is actually touted as being lower in fat relatively. You can check up on that, too.
what is that half-ass expert, Sonagi, to say on this matter?
I’ll predict her to say that Korean food is the poison diet #1 in the entire world.
joke? What joke?
I blame Japan.
Come on? Doesn’t anyone take responsibility for their own actions anymore? I love certain foods, and I eat them to excess at times, but no one is forcing me to do it. I may pay the price with a few extra pounds, stomachaches, blocked arteries, and a couple of years cut off the frail and dementia-suffering end of my life. I can also fix this by eating healthier (more fruits and vegetables), exercising, and limiting the sizes of my portions. Probably not going to happen as food is also a type of drug like nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, and other addictive excesses (sex).
I like the tastes, the smells, and the pleasure I derive from eating. Plus, I can eat in public (smoking–not so much anymore and sex is rather difficult at times), I can eat and drive (can’t do that while drinking and sex is rather difficult at times), and it isn’t illegal like other pleasurable activities (kill me when they outlaw sex).
What’s with this mad cow? Just how many millions of Americans have died eating mad cow tainted beef in the United States? And how many millions have died from the Asian bird flu there as well? Both are bad, but are specs on the mole hill compared to other common diseases, cancers, and accidental deaths.
I nearly kicked the bucket from the normal flu this past weekend. I wish the U.S. government would spend my tax money on on a disease that actually kills over 36,000 people a year in the United States when the bird flu hasn’t killed a single one there. Ah, but we must be prepared for it like we were with Y2K. Give me a break. Maybe if more people tore out their excessively chemically-enhanced, manicured lawns and planted organic gardens they’d be eating better and spending some time off their rears instead of in front of either their big screen hd TVs, computers, or gaming consoles.
Followed by a long paragraph about American food. Once again, Western = American. Europeans have long established food traditions that include very healthy ingredients. Though our roots are only 400 years old, does the writer think that the Jamestown settlers ate Campbell soup and drank Coke? Somebody needs a lesson in the history of food processing. The first modern refined food item, white flour, started showing up in grocery stores about 100 years ago. Prior to that, Americans ate fresh or pickled vegetables, whole grain porridge and bread, and meat if they could afford it.
And nutrients matter, too. The body wants not only calorie energy but also essential vitamins, minerals, fats, and amino acids that it cannot synthesize itself. A person eating enough calories but not getting enough nutrients will not feel satisfied.
Antibiotics do not impact digestion. Rather, they fight off the diseases the cow contracts because it is forced to eat grain, rather than the grass and hay its system was designed to digest. A cow’s stomach pH is neutral by nature, but grain consumption turns it slightly acidic, creating the perfect home for dangerous strains of E-coli bacteria. It is BGH (bovine growth hormone) and the consumption of grains that fatten up the cows. Too bad domstic grass-fed isn’t available in Korea, but there is Australian beef. I understand that all NZ beef and cheese are grass-fed because pasturing is cheaper than feeding imported grains. I wonder if the same is true about Autralia. Perhaps a silver lining on the cloud of rising grain prices is that farmers will find it more economical to pasture than to force-feed grain.
i just read Sonagi’s input.
Once again, [nonsense].
That is very true for two reasons: a) kids used to walk to school but now get rides; people in small cities and towns worry more about safety than we did in the past; and b) more sedentary play choices with electronic games and the internet. When I was growing up, the only vice was the television.
Then do us all a favor, brother, and provide some corrective data. Thanks.
I’ve also noticed that an expanding gut is also the sign of a nation’s growing economy. This means that the average person can afford not only more food with their buck (won, peso, euro, pound, etc.) but richer foods (fattier) as well.
In my own family, I can see this as certain siblings get more rotund as their wallets (and purchasing power) expand. Even on my meager salary, I am able to afford steak three nights a week to go along with my pork, chicken, rabbit, and goat diet. I know if I went back to my cheaper diet of mostly rice and fish, I’d be much leaner again. I just hope I’m gone before cows and pigs are forced into extinction because the contributions they make in regards to global warming.
yes, the “blame it on fast food” argument… but really how often do you really eat at a fast food place? I eat there once or twice a month? Thats going to make me fat?! No one else that I know, here or in the US eats at fast food places regularly, and on the occasion that I do go into a mcdonnalds for a mcmorning, I don’t see a lot of fat people, instead I see a lot of thin girls wearing mini-skirts. Any explanation for a society to universally get fat must be found among some aspect in every-day life. As Brendon pointed out, spaghetti is a great diet if you are doing hard labor on a farm in italy, not so much so if you sit in class all morning and afternoon, only to sit in a hakwon craming all night and then spend your free time in fornt of a computer playing crazy arcade. Also, yes, processed food in the grocery store, where everyone shops on a regular basis is also a very likely cause.
Where does Spam-worship fit in this analysis?
The traditional Korean diet is quite healthy and should be distinguished from what is available in restaurants. Yes vast quantities of fried meat and other high fat foods are consumed but this is not average fare. A good indicator that the traditional diet still exists is the continued (though perhaps diminishing) presence of street markets. These sell practically no processed foods - just fruits, veg, meats and fish. When 엄마 stays home and does the shopping and cooking for the family, likely everyone is eating rice along with sidedishes and soups on a regular basis. Depending on the skill of the homemaker, those soups and sidedishes contain a wide variety of veggies and proteins (sometimes even Spam) and is all very low in fat.
This type of diet is however very labour intensive, so due to economic and other social factors processed foods will likely be more in demand in the future. As #38 mentioned, affluence plays a role too. More dough means more meat means more calories. Add to this the popularity of American style fast foods and Korea’s traditional food culture will erode.
For those with a sincere interest in eating culture, I recommend this lengthy (twelve pages!!!) but very informative article. The author suggests that one of the biggest changes to the American diet in the past hundred years had been a move from ‘food’ to ‘nutrients’, which of course is directly related to the food industry in general. Additionally the modern diet is based on processed foods mainly derived from corn, soy and a few other grains. The resultant lack of variety along with a heavy load of sugar has put a huge strain on our bodies, and we are in fact in the midst of “a national experiment in mainlining glucose.” Anyway I could go on, as the article does, but you can read it yourself if you’re so inclined.
Unhappy Meals
“captbbq”, if you read the article on Ms. O’Brien, you will note that she talks of “processed” foodstuffs, thus it is not just fastfood but almost all the food on the shelves back in the US that contains preservatives, artificial additives. Basically, the less industrial-style processing, which includes preservatives, artificial additives, etc., the better the food. Even now, the U.S. food industry is attempting to lessen the standards and definition of what is deemed “organic” food — just for the sake of that market share that is becoming more discriminating in their food selections, not to mention the additional markup for foods that are labeled “organic”.
“Sodajonze’s” comments are quite good. He is also right to talk about the poor substitutes for traditional Korean food that is in some restaurants here. A classical denjung chi-gae is never supposed to be as spicy as is found in most of the quickie Korean places. They simply try to hide poor cooking and denjung with hot pepper which is hell on the stomach.
Another big problem is that the food industry sponsors much of the research into food and can not be considered an unbiased judge of data. There is also much long-term research that has yet to be performed due to a lack of funding. Due to such, the general public is often left to more empirical methods in deciding what is good to eat and what is possibly harmful.
here’s what you need for caramel made at home:
sugar, heavy cream, butter
here’s what is used to make caramel for sale in a store:
corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, nonfat milk fructose, corn starch.
not a drop of butter. that’s why i try to eat korean as much as possible. it’s just healthier.
btw, take a look at the list of ingredients in korean ice cream and compare it to the ones in american ice cream. never ever thought i’d say this but korean ice cream is superior to american one.
Aha, the unpopular med-student desperately tried to make one of his nemeses to respond, and she finally succumbed.
BTW, the Spam-worship is a relatively recent developement, probably since the 90’s.
globalvillageidiot said”
I suspect that obesity is largely a result of a combination of the following: an influx of less healthy food, increased intake of calories, and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle.”
Actually, I remember seeing a study on this, and the surprising thing is that Americans actually take in fewer calories than they did one hundred years ago, but that we are much much less physically active than we used to be - not too surprising, considering all the labor intensive work in the old days.
For those complaining about a lack of salads in Korea - 15 years ago, the only place you could find any western food at all (which consisted mainly of bad Don Gahs) was in dimmly lit, little tea houses (dabangs). And the coffee was horrible instant stuff - the same as in vending machines - despite costing W3-4,000, more than at Starbucks today. No Outbacks, Bennigon’s, TGIFs, etc, choices were tightly constrained. I would ask why people put up with it, and they’d say “Koreans don’t like ‘wondu’ coffee.” But tastes have changed alot, and more and more different types of food are becoming available here.
BTW, the Spam-worship is a relatively recent developement, probably since the 90’s.
Ummm…actually no. The origins of Spam worship harkens back to the days of the Korean War, whereby dirty, hungry children raided the garbage of US Army camps like rats, scavenging scrapped food portions. How else to explain the unlikely combination of ramyun, spam, and cheese in budae chi-gae?
So, like hushed, ubiquitous prostitution in Korea, the seeds of Spam worship were planted by the 50s era US military, and Koreans became hopelessly hooked on it like an unshakeble bad habit.
Spam dates back to the war. Ever hear of budaechigae?
BTW, the Spam-worship is a relatively recent developement, probably since the 90’s.
(I posted 47 before 46 appeared)
Spam and budaechigae may have been around since the Korean War, but they haven’t really been popular until recently. Ham is not a food most Koreans can acquire taste easily.
I really like Korean food. However, Korean food is no healthier than any other type of “traditional” food. Their food is the best thing about their culture IOMO.
Koreans know almost NOTHING about Western food history. They just make blanket statements about it. Unfortunately, many Westerners have forgotten about their food history too.
Korean food is healthier than Pizza Hut, Burger King, KFC etc…of course it is. Any dumb ass know’s this.
One thing I love is that many Koreans actually think Italians only eat pizza and pasta. And they say foreigners are ignorant about their culture!
It’s all about eating WHOLE FOODS, like our grandparents did. When I was a kid we had pasta, pizza etc… about 6 or 7 times a year. It’s all about MODERATION. The rest of the time we, as well as most families in knew, ate meat, potatos, veggies, whole grains…Milk was the number one drink in my house. Most Koreans would never believe this.
They actually think Outback serves traditional “everyday” Western food. Funny, I never had wheat germ, oatmeal, parsnips or poached Atlantic salmon at Outback.
Before anyone puts me or my ideas down do some research. You can, for example Google, Vince Gironda Nutrition. You might actually learn something.
@28 “Second, mad cow disease, which you gotta admit, has been a pretty good excuse to uphold the trade barriers.”
Nothing to admit, actually. “Good” excuse in the meaning that it’s better than no excuse. But does the excuse hold a single drop of water? No. American beef is safe. If someone is telling you otherwise, probably they are either looking for leverage in an FTA negotiation with you, or they are a politician whose electorate is heavily weighted with 한우 farmers.
@46
“So, like hushed, ubiquitous prostitution in Korea, the seeds of Spam worship were planted by the 50s era US military, and Koreans became hopelessly hooked on it like an unshakeble bad habit.”
wait a second, it’s ok that you blame America for the Spam (see link below), but I thought that baduk and wjk had conclusively convinced everyone that Korea’s pervasive prostitution was to be credited to Japan. You apologists should get your story straight.
http://tinyurl.com/33afgk
(humorous link courtesy of the Total Spender, wherever he may be)
Back on topic… Interesting post here… I’ve wondered about just how good the food truly is in Korea too… sure, lots of veggies, etc., but lots of salt, etc.
So I’m curious, has anyone seen a credible scientific study or analysis done on the healthiness of Korean food? I’d really like to read it.
Also curious… anyone know how the rate of stomach cancer of Koreans living in Korea compares to ethnic Koreans living in other countries with non-Korean diets?
BTW, spam goes great with kimchi and matzoh. And both last practically forever.
I deliberately chose the word “excuse”, rather than “reason”. I’m aware the excuse is getting stale.
“Safe” is a statistical concept. If the US could do what Japan does, and ensure that EVERY animal is tested, only then would “safe” become an absolute.
Since I have Korean ice cream in my freezer, I will actually do that. Could you do the same for U.S. ice cream and then we can compare?
From my recollection, except for higher-end brands like Breyer’s, U.S. ice cream will be mostly corn syrup, corn starch, guar gum, carageenan, some non-whole milk dairy products, etc., so I’m not doubting your point.
Anyway, I agree with those who say it’s not that Korean food per se (note the spelling, Elgin) is healthier than “Western food”, it is a matter of using fresh ingredients, style of cooking, etc. that makes the difference.
And I will continue to discount any claims by Koreans of their culture’s inherent “healthiness” vis-a-vis the U.S. as long as their truly unhealthy worship of cheap alcohol and prodigious consumption of tobacco continues.
My biggest gripe with Korean food is the large serving of white rice that accompanies every meal, save for bowls of noodles. Brown rice isn’t just healthier; it tastes and smells better,too. My local supermarket carries brown rice versions of short grain, long grain, basmati, jasmine, and this incredible aromatic rice that fills my kitchen with its blended sweet and savory essence.
We should merge the pot smoking thread and the caramel/ice cream thread.
Right, the ingredients of ice cream in the US varies drastically from brand to brand. Cheap stuff has a long list of junk ingredients. The good stuff can have only four or so more natural ingredients. I don’t know about the different brands of Korean ice cream, but I suspect similar variation exists (although the ice cream section in the Korean supermarkets is much smaller than those in The States). Regardless, because of the variation in what you can find in American ice cream brands, comparing the two makes no sense.
But if any single person in the Marmot’s Hole would be guilty of choosing one sample out of a group with a lot of variety but with one thing in common (the common thing, for example might be “American ice cream” or “an expat in Korea”), and then use the one sample to judge every other item in the same group (e.g. the other brands of American ice cream or every other expat in Korea), who might we expect it would be?
Our lovable Pawi of course.
Hey, I’m liking the softer, ice cream-loving side of Pawi that we seldom get to see. Nobody who would introduce caramel and ice cream in a thread about healthful foods can be all bad.
Don’t be fooled by his puppies and ice cream sweet talk. He still hates us expats.
You’re right on target Songnai. White rice (and stuff made from it) digests faster and therefore is not as good for you as brown rice.
Of course white rice isn’t evil or anything. Carbs are about the same, GI isn’t.
Koreans mix white rice and other stuff with vegetables which lowers the GI of the dish.
This whole, Korean food is the healthiest in the world is propaganda.
Steamed veggies, whole grains and meat (not fried) is just as healthy as any other type of food. Mix it up with an active lifestyle and yer good to go.
Again, look at the old timers back home, especially the old farmers.
Ice cream, no matter who makes it with whatever ingredients, just ain’t good for ya.
How have I made it through three relatively healthy decades eating white bread, eating American beef, drinking whole vitamin D milk, and eating tons of Rocky Road ice cream?
Cheap, abundant foods and improved medicines/treatments have us living longer than ever. So, enjoy whatever foods you want to eat–Western, Eastern, Southern (my choice), etc. You can always get a gastric by-pass later.
Almost everybody makes it to 30 doing that! It is precisely in your fourth decade that this is gonna “catch up with you”, John. Every buff youngster sez “oh, it won’t happen to me” but just you wait, m’lad…
As for Korean food being healthy or not, it very much depends on what you order.
Go on out anywhere along the Baekdu-daegan mountain-range and in a good-quality restaurant order the sanchae-jeongshik (hand-gathered wild-mountain-vegetables prepared in a variety of styles, usually with a braised fish and maybe some grilled pounded deodeok roots) — that’s the healthiest goddamned meal on the entire planet!! You’ll feel amazing after stuffing yourself with it… especially if you order a little insam-ju to accompany. If the white rice with black beans or millet cooked with mineral-water in a stone bowl were changed to organic brown rice, this meal would be so healthy it would kill you!
What about those wonderful street vendors:
Odaeng (random fish parts mixed with flour), dukbokki (processed white flour simmered in a stew of msg and chilipepper paste… or the pigs blood sausage (Sundae) and deep fried vegetables, seafood, etc. that are dunked and left festering in two-week old oil.
That’s the thing, Josesiem. What would normally be considered street food is a typical dinner in the American diet.
Ah, Korean street vendors. Among the things Korean elementary school children are taught during class in order to be a prudent child citizen:
1. Don’t follow strangers who offer you rides.
2. Don’t open the door to strangers when you are home alone.
3. Don’t buy food from street vendors.
I’m completely serious.
They’re taller and the eyebrow hair has increased and thickened.
So, like hushed, ubiquitous prostitution in Korea, the seeds of Spam worship were planted by the 50s era US military, and Koreans became hopelessly hooked on it like an unshakeble bad habit.
Nonsense. Prostitution was a long-established Korean institution long before the Japanese or Americans arrived on the scene. However, better diets for the average Korean was a direct result of the American contributions to the national economy.
“I’m curious, has anyone seen a credible scientific study or analysis done on the healthiness of Korean food? I’d really like to read it.”
I have yet to see any credible scientific study eminate from Korea. The typical study on foods such as ginseng simply identify compounds in the foods that are thought to have antioxident or other beneficial properties and speculative conclusions are made. No critical study is ever made of the actual effects of consumption of those foods. It’s all about making claims using scant, deliberately manufactured support.
By and large, Koreans appear rather underweight and underdeveloped physically. While better nutrition since the US occupation has added inches to the height of the younger generation, Koreans generally remain less physically active than they should be, tend to drink to excess and continue to fill up on low value carbs such as white rice and noodles while eating insufficient amounts of protein and may suffer deficiencies of certain vitiminss.
Another problem is that ingredients are often inferior even to the ingredients of Korean food overseas. Koreans in the US often provide better quality ingredients. There have been numerous quality control issues with regard to Korean food.
The main problem with Korean food from a culinary perspective is lack of taste variety. Spices are limited to red pepper, bean paste, etc. so the food tastes can be quite monotonous.
One area where Korean food tends to be particularly good is seafood, due to the fact that Korea is surrounded by water on 3 sides and greatly influenced by Japanese fresh fish cuisine. I love sashimi but the quality of it varies in the US where much of the country is landlocked. In Korea, you’re always close enough to a port to get fresh seafood.
Finally, it is important to distinguish the food itself from actual diet. The extremely high prices of healthful foods in Korea tend to put a crimp on the average Korean diet. An inadequate diet of rice and kimchi for lunch, noodles for dinner are not uncommon. I refer to this as Koreans fast food.
Mizar, I think that the idea is that a healthy food culture should not rely upon industrialized food processing so much because the results — based upon what one may read and see in the states and other places — are that such leads to problems with allergies, diabetes and other diet-related problems. The careful choosing of what one eats and the awareness of what constitutes healthy food is vital to a healthy food culture, IMHO. Korean food traditionally does not include a large portion of meat — like our diet in the west does — instead, they have more vegetables. Americans and Europeans eat way too much red meat which has been linked to colon and prostate cancer.
As another factoid, right now, I’m sitting state-side and making a list of the commercials I see. Most are for dieting, exercise to improve one’s weight, drugs or food that promotes good health. That is how things are nowadays in this modern industrialized nation and I hope Korea might avoid the same curse but . . .
R. Elgin, here’s are some additional facts for you. Now that the Korean lifespan has been extended so called “adult diseases” - diabetes, cardiovascular illness and the others you mention are emerging in record proportions. While better nutrition was greatly infulenced by the introduction of much-needed meat into the food supply, Koreans still suffer from bad eating habits and an epidemic of these diseases in Korea has been predicted by the UN.
Korea has one of the highest rates of Alzheimers, stomach cancer, and has enormous problems associated with food quality. For instance there are high rates of heliobacter, which has been virtually eliminated in the West.
Many Americans like myself(yes, I am a citizen) eat a lot of vegetables, and have cut down on carbs - but Koreans continue to gorge on carbs. This - and Korean fast food is in my opinion the key Korean nutritional problem. Although articles typically tend to cast the blame on “Westernized eating habits” (whatever that means!) it is a Korean problem, caused by rice, noodles, and a rather monotonous, non nutritional diet.
Quality food in Korea is also extremely expensive. The food supply needs to be rethought.
Elgin, while you’re in the US, take a trip down the frozen foods aisle. Notice the nutritionally sound choices that are being offered. These are not the old meat and potato “TV dinners” but a good mix of meet and vegetables with reduced calories and saturated and trans fats. Office workers in the US pop these in the microwave at work and can enjoy quality food on the go. Contrast this with Korean fast foods - ramyeon, white rice and kimchi, etc.
The article states that “Western food culture relies heavily upon an industrialized food processing rather than the field-kitchen-table model that characterizes Korean food culture.”
Nonsense. How many young Korean ladies even know how to cook these days? Do you think most Westerners are sitting down to dinners of processed foods more often than than home cooked meals?
There is endless variety in Western diets and Westerners are more conscious than ever of the nutritional value of the foods they are eating. Conversely, there are people with bad eating habits in any nation.
There are some valid criticisms to be made of the modern food supply chain, but there are also enormous advantages. Meats and vegetables and other staples are in supply year round and healthy choices abound.
So don’t overgeneralize when it comes to Western food. Western nations tend to offer a great variety of foods compared to Korea and with so many choices available, some people make the wrong choices.
Of course Korean food can be quite healthful. I myself eat Korean food several times a week but still enjoy better quality than most people in Korea. For instance, we do not eat that nutritionless polished white rice that starves Koreans of their B vitamins. We mix it with other grains, such as brown rice, beans and barley. We eat a variety of banchan (side dishes) instead of just rice and a single dish.We don’t gorge on junk foods like rameon and we don’t overdrink as many Koreans do.
But we also eat healthful Western food - salads, a variety of fresh and cooked vegetables, meats and seafoods.And we exercise regularly.
Like it or not, the West and Korea are industrialized. So it’s not a question of turning back the clock but making better eating choices.
In both Korea and the US, food today is better than ever. Modern Koreans can eat as only noblemen did in the past. However,we all still need to work on nutritional variety and a more rational approach to eating. And this has nothing to do with “processed foods”, which many consumers avoid.
While you may criticize Americans for eating too much meat, you may also criticize Koreans for not eating enough. Since quality American beef was banned for no apparant good reason, Koreans can only afford pork these days. This makes no sense since, while the quality of Korean beef has improved recently, the supply is woefully insufficient. And what is Korean cuisine without kalbi or bulgogi?
Have you read the long list of ingredients in tiny print on the sides and backs of those “natural” foods? I have. No hidden MSG in the form of maltodextrin, hydrolized vegetable protein, and autolyzed yeast protein for me, thanks. Virtually any frozen or canned meat or soup product contains one or more of these flavor enhancers because otherwise, they would be bland Another common processed food ingredient, vegetable oil, is also unhealthy as the refining process damages the volatile polyunsaturated fats. Organic doesn’t mean sh#t; if it’s refined, it’s unhealthy.
Lean Cuisine boasts of a few selections with “one whole serving of vegetables,” but otherwise, processed meals tend to be high in meat and carbs. So-called low-carb options boost their protein content by adding processed, refined, isolated soy and milk proteins. Yuck.
Among so-called healthy frozen food alternatives, Kashi probably uses the fewest additives, but their entrees cost $3-4 and don’t taste very good Frankly, if you want to eat healthy, you need to cook from scratch using real food. Period.
Based on what I see my middle-class colleagues bring to work, what is served on the tables of my family and friends, and the amount of floor space devoted to various foodstuffs in grocery stores, the answer is a resounding “YES!”
Sure, if you like nutritionally depleted, pesticide-laden produce from Mexico and Chile. And don’t forget the energy costs associated with shipping produce thousands of miles across the continent. One eating habit the Koreans (and many other nationalities) get right is eating with the seasons. In the wintertime, I supplement the meager offerings of the local farmers’ market with frozen vegetables, which retain most of their nutrients. Replacing high-sodium pickled veggies with healthier frozen alternatives would improve the healthfulness of the Korean diet, but given the holy status of kimchi, that isn’t likely to happen. Kimchis served in restaurants and sold in supermarkets are usually pasteurized, which kills the friendly bacteria that kimchi is noted for, yet another reason why kimchi is overrated.
?????????????? When were you last in Korea? 1953?
Koreans don’t need to eat a lot of beef. There is no research demonstrating that beef consumption is linked to greater longevity. The participants in the Okinawa Centenarian study eat a plant-based diet with some fish, a little pork, and very little beef. The quality of Korean beef may have improved in flavor but not in nutrients; Korean beef is grain-fed, not grass-fed and thus has an unfavorable Omega 6:3 fatty acid ratio, not to mention all the wonderful toxins and pesticide residues obtained from sprayed grains and stored in the cow’s fat tissues. It might surprise some folks to know that we Americans absorb more toxins and pesticides from meat than from produce, a fact that reflects our dietary habits.
Sifting through mostly baseless generalizations and uninformed opinions, I did find two points on which we agree: 1) the Korean diet would be healthier if white rice were replaced with brown rice, barley, and other whole grains; and 2) there is far greater variety in American eating habits, no surprise since we are a larger and much more diverse nation.
Thanks Sonagi. You saved me some time in writing a rebuttal for the very same reasons you listed.
I would also add that American beef contains too much antibiotics and the industry goes to great lengths to hide health-related problems. I gave up eating any beef some years ago since I realized one could not trust the industry, anywhere.
I usually add a cup of barley to my white rice when I cook a pot as well (in Korea).
I also noticed a new line of breakfast food from Quaker Oats that includes three types of grain. I think they have got the right idea there. Eating well should not be a complicated affair but, rather, simple, though they still include additives (preservatives), which are mostly a mistake, IMHO.
I believe R.Elgin’s initial post overstated the healthfulness of the MODERN Korean diet and overgeneralized the diverse situation in the USA. Sonagi’s habits demonstrate what is possible if one is fastidious about nutrition.
But MSG is yummy! It’s like LSD for your tongue. :9
Well, Slim, I’ll confess to having made up a batch of mint chocolate brownies today to celebrate the snowday. I did use only the finest ingredients: Amish butter, Lindt’s dark chocolate (only major brand with no milkfat), Hershey’s non-Alkali-processed cocoa (Dutch/alkali processing damages beneficial polyphenols dark chocolate is noted for), turbinado sugar, farm eggs, and whole wheat pastry flour. The brownie was a nice treat after a hot bowl of Thai-inspired soup: tofu, shrimp, spinach, collard greens, shitake and wood ear mushrooms, simmered in homemade chicken broth flavored with freshly squeezed lime juice, minced lemon grass, galangal, and chiles.
I don’t know where you live, Elgin, but have you tried to locate vendors of grass-fed and pastured meats? Prices are more expensive than factory farm junk, of course, but are sometimes cheaper than the organic or natural meats sold in supermarket chains. A 12-oz. package of Prairie Farms organic chicken sausage retails for $7.99 at our local supermarket. Outside of town is a historic farm that sells a variety of homemade pastured pork and beef sausages for $6.99-7.99 a pound. Two great websites for locating locally grow produce and pastured eggs and meats in your area:
http://www.localharvest.org
http://www.eatwild.com
Ummmm. Brownies.
I actually have to thank sonagi (kangaji?) for supporting the lion’s share of my comments, although his commentary is marred by what is known in logic as “hasty generalizations”.
Characterizing the Western diet in general based on the observation of a limited number of colleagues and friends? tsk, tsk. Maintaining that Koreans don’t typically eat beef, when in fact, numerous quintessential Korean dishes incorporate beef - oxtail soup, beef shortrib, even mandu and kimpap. The MSG comment was particuarly funny considered its widespread use in Korea as compared to the US.
A few corrections. First, I left Korea last year so my information is fairly current. Second, kangaji doesn’t appear to recognize the improvement in instant dinners in the US. This may be due to youth? However, to better appreciate this point, he need only compare them against Korean packaged foods.
Slim summarized my comments well. However, he mistakenly credited songaji instead of me with fastidious eating habits.
Elgin, you are entitled to your opinions of the beef industry, but if you’re like me, you consume red meats in moderation and are generally in excellent health.
Songaji, are you in PA? That’s also where I currently reside. I must say that I can better understand where you’re coming from as I find a much greater variety of quality foods in the tristate area (New York, NJ, Ct) where I have my roots.
The problems with generalizing about Western diets based on the area in which one lives are quite obvious.
I don’t have any real basis for judging your eating habits, whereas the LADY who goes by the handle Sonagi has for many months here and elsewhere demonstrated an acute degree of concern about what goes into her body.
Uh oh. Our friend Mizar is resorting to name-calling, “Kangaji.”
First of all, one cannot talk about “the Western diet” since the countries of North America and Europe have greatly varied eating habits. Second, you left out the detail about supermarket floor space as evidence of American food consumption habits. You implied that most Americans eat home-cooked, not processed foods. What is your evidence of this?
I lived in Korea nearly a decade and I don’t recall ever eating mandu with beef. Pork is the preferred meat ingredient. Likewise, restaurants that specialize in kimbap offer dozens of different kinds, and the standard rolls served in ordinary restaurants usually contain not beef but ham. Oxtail and beef rib soup are hardly quintessential; rather, they are special meals like a Sunday roast found on traditional dinner tables in American homes.
MSG is widespread, but at least in Asia, it is listed on the label, so you know it’s in there.
Examples, please.
Kangaji was indeed out of line.
On MSG, I find it hard to believe that food ingredient labeling laws and policies in Asia are as strict as they are in the West.
“MSG is widespread, but at least in Asia, it is listed on the label, so you know it’s in there.”
What label?
Sonagi, I’m on the road. I reside in Seoul, thus grass-fed beef? — I think there are more grass-fed Canadians here than cows and they are not that cheap! :o)
Indeed, I am very selective about what goes into my body.
As for MSG on Korean labels, it’s not a matter of strictness. There’s no need to hide the presence of “miwon” in Korean food because Koreans don’t have any MSG-phobia. I first discovered that MSG itself could be purchased in Korean grocery stores when I mistook a bag of “miwon” for salt.
Food labeling laws