At Zenkimchi, Joe McPherson writes:
I’ve hinted it many times, and we just keep getting confirmation after confirmation. The Korean government and corporations dream of conquering the world with their prissy pretentious overpriced “well-being” concept of Korean food–you know the postulations like “Americans pay $300 for Japanese food, why not Korean” and “Americans only eat hamburgers, so they’ll like Korean food because it’s well-being.”
But reality blows their sanitized fabrications out of the gukmul.
Read on about Korean junk food’s invasion of America at Joe’s blog.
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Somewhere TK is getting a flame thrower ready…
‘Gamja’ fries – aside from being pretentious, it’s like saying Mount Paektu san.
Believe me… Mount Baektu is the last thing on the minds of the gyopos that concoct these.
Looks delish. Rather have that than KFC.
I am patiently awaiting Ask A Korean!’s response and look forward to some bloggy evisceration!
I… I don’t even know where to begin. I could only sigh reading the MOTHERFUCKING RECIPES INVOLVING MAYO!!!!!!!!
TK,
Do you have any idea now much mayo modern Koreans use? Especially in western or western inspired food. In Korea… pizza and Big Macs have mayo in them…
Yes, I am very well aware of that. I love mayo too — all my sandwiches have extra mayo. But it is blasphemy to use it with soy sauce.
Ahh, poor thekorean, it seems French mayonnaise has, via the US, proven your K-heritage to be memetically unimmune if I may deploy Minjokjuija-esque jargon all over your bowl of swampy kochujang stewy whatchamacallit! :^0 J/k lol. (If it comes down to it I will blame Japan.)
But the real coup is intermixing Korean and Mexican — forgive me Pawi –, like The Kogi Truck. It is no longer really Korean food anyway, it has Komingled, a little mayonnaise is a harmless lubricant now. The invasion of mayonnaise has not yet undone the Japanese, representatives of whom by the way are creating their own fast food partymobiles with The Kogi Truck as prime referrent — six months ago in Venice I witnessed a Jap sushi truck floating remora-like around The Kogi Truck, this on Abbot Kinney outside the crowd at the Brig, who loved The Kogi Truck btw.
On the マヨネーズの侵略: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUST10775120070813
to some, pizza w mayonaise is italien fare for the hordes of koreans who crave it.
excluding the ‘i-cook-basmati-rice’ showoff brigade, korean food can be very popular in the states if the focus is right. pulgogi, tweji pulgogi, kalbi, mandoo, and pancakes should be the center of attention for any korean trying to attract whites to k-fare.
… that and better service and better romanization of menus. White folks are quite intimidated when stepping into a Korean restaurant. They always want to drag their gyopo friends like a security blanket when they venture into a Korean restaurant. Typically, Korean restaurants get plus four or five stars for the food but always minus two stars for the service.
On Korean and Mexican fusion being basically Mexican food. It’s basically Americanized fused Mexican food. What is seen as “Mexican” food in America is barely recognized by Mexicans in Mexico as Mexican food. The good news is that since there are some Korean flavors in this fused American/Mexican food and the word “Korean” is used in association with them… it will make Americans more curious of Korean cuisine in general.
Koreans have been putting bulgogi in burritos for decades. First gen immigrants would by a Mexican restaurant and sneak in bulgogi just like they sneak in bulgogi when they bought a sushi restaurant. The Korean first gen didn’t know how to market this stuff to whitey. The second gen does know how to market to whitey so that’s why you see the explosion all of a sudden as the second gen reaches their 30′s and have developed the capital and management skills to open and run restaurants.
Would *buy* not “by.”
Forget overseas. Let’s focus on the dire food situation in this country. Particularly if you are alone, you’re limited to street food and kim-bap nara, which are commonly unsanitary places. But honestly, Korean food is good but very one-dimensional, making it nice a couple of times a week at most. But before all you defenders of Korea’s cultural perfection, pounce on me, Korean food is often lighter than much of what the average American eats.
I respectfully submit that you probably have not seen the full array of what Korean cuisine can offer.
Fair enough. If you’re having han-jeong shik business dinners every night, a bit more variety. But again, if you are alone, you cannot get that. The average individual in Korea is eating the same gochu jang based taste at nearly every meal.
That is why you must learn to cook. Except for a select few, much of Korean food is actually fairly easy to cook.
Corollary TK,
Korean food is easy to make if you have ready access to doenjang, gochu jang, kimchi, anchovies and good soy sauce.
Without those ingredients you cannot make most dishes.
Korean women who followed their service member husbands in the early stages of Korea immigration or to dinky small towns always had problems cooking authentic Korean food.
I know how to cook Korean, but that is not my point.
Mayonnaise=오뚜기=Mayonnaise
You know what? I betcha the whiteys will love 오뚜기’s cream of cream soup, too. Their cream of powder soup is a good one too!
Happy family width 오뚜기 slurp loudly for more deliciously! Unique Korea slurping culture to the world!
Check out the company’s financials. Almost as old as its freshest mayonnaise.
seouldout,
News for you… but the Japanese and Chinese slurp just as loudly.
@WangKon: How dare you put things in perspective by mentioning other countries! That’s just a cowardly attempt to cover up Korea’s inadequacies.
On a more serious note. I remember visiting a ramen place in Tokyo… The people there seemed to take their slurping very seriously, to say the least.
Also, while I disagree with Jim_Kim that Korean cuisine is one-dimensional, I have to note that Korea is just about the worst place to be when I want to dine out alone. Owners getting visibly irritated by solo customers, rarity of small tables that sit fewer than 4, the general public attitude that takes pity on solo diners (a huge contrast from Japan), the list goes on…
News for you…hook line sinker.
Not at the taxi driver shikdangs. That’s their
bread and butterrice and kimchi. Good food, ample portions, and reasonably priced. And open 24 hours. You oughta check ‘em out.@22 Sweet. Yeah, I usually recommend truck stops for expats in the US seeking a decent meal.
That stuff looks nasty
seouldout: very true, taxi driver restaurants are freaking awesome. Good solid food for great prices and they’ve got to be good since the taxis drivers can easily go elsewhere if it isn’t.
I love that Korean food. But as the article mentions, I really, really, REALLY hate the “well being” meme that has gained popularity. I saw a kimbap stand in freakin’ Vienna that had a sign which read 월빙 for crissake. Enough is enough. Especially when the tag is applied to fried chicken, soju (wtf?!), or the Korean staple “bowl of nutrition-free white rice next to soup and kimchi containing 75% of your daily sodium requirement”. Oh, but it’s not McDonald’s, so it’s healthier than American food, right? Korea, please stop bullshitting us about your food!
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