My co-workers Julia and Lars had been raving about some restaurants that are gogi (meat) buffets. I thought, “Oh cool, get some meat and veg out of steam strays under heat lamps. Okay. I’ll try it.” One night, we went for it. When we got there, I realized, “Oh yeah, this is Korea. Everything’s raw [...]

One mark of Korean cuisine is the thrill of grilling food at your table. There is something primal about a group of people getting around a fire and grilling meat. There’s also the added danger. My old girlfriend introduced me to the ultimate concept, Jogae Gui 조개구이 on a trip to the beach in April [...]

I found cheddar!!! Seriously, the cheese section at Korean supermarkets is as large as the kimchi section in American ones. They mostly have just processed cheese and mozzarella. Recently, a few swiss and brie varieties have popped up. But now, I have finally found cheddar cheese at the E-Mart here in Anyang. Of course, it’s [...]

I grew up in the South. Part of Southern soul food culture is chitterlings, more commonly known as chitlins. I honestly had never tried this delicacy before coming to Korea. Then again, I hadn’t even heard of fried green tomatoes until the movie came out. In the summer of 2004, Brant and I were sitting [...]

Children get all excited about this day, Pepero Day. Okay, the Korean spelling is 빼빼로, making its literal Romanization “Bbebbero.” How about Bpebpero? Actually, if you say it using that spelling, more Koreans will understand you. Bpebpero comes from the Korean root meaning “skinny.” These are skinny cookie sticks dipped in chocolate. Bpebpero Day occurs [...]