Clarissa: “Now if only I could easily order the 12 dishes that best represent Korea”

You know, I should get into the habit of double reading articles before posting them and going off on rants. I wonder if those dishes best represent Korea. I think Boribap 보리밥 represents the Korean character more than Bibimbap. It’s rustic. It has more flavor. And to pander to the “well-being” crowd, it’s healthier.

As for kimbap, I thought it would be a very easy food to acquire a taste for. It was one of the first Korean foods I had while working a contract in Jacksonville, FL in 2002. Our boss, who had been a missionary in Korea, brought it to an office party, and we called it “beef sushi.” Most everyone loved it.

I didn’t mention in my rant that the health issue was brought up again. It’s an obsession with the promoters. I agree that much of the food is healthy, especially when compared to American fast food. And when you get down to it, I have found it very hard to convince Koreans one-on-one that we don’t eat hamburgers and pizza every day–that our traditional foods are indeed healthy. Yet the health attraction of Korean food goes only so far. Sushi was marketed as being healthy, but that’s not the primary reason people go out for sushi. They like the flavor, the colors, the novelty of eating raw fish. Healthiness is an extra bonus but not the #1 reason to eat something. And marketing Korean food primarily on its health benefits is risky. As soon as any data comes out connecting any Korean food to Korea’s extremely high stomach cancer rate–the house of cards collapses.

Tasshin: “Like the commenter above I think we have to consider the source here, and given that we’re talking about a Korean newspaper sending out surveys to Korean restaurants abroad, I think it’s safe to say the list is diluted.”

I agree. FYI, the Institute of Traditional Korean Food conducted the survey, and the government has given them a dumptruck load full of money to pull these stunts. I think what bothers me is that other people and I have been pushing these groups to do market research to find out what westerners like (oh, and W42, westerners with Korean blood are only considered foreigners if they commit crimes, we have discovered in the media), but it looks like they again are trying to dictate to westerners what their tastes are and what they should like, along with that arrogant presumption that all Americans are obese and eat McDonald’s three times a day.

“Bibimbap is my favorite Korean food in terms of taste, price and access. Don’t like hobak tteok at all. Too greasy.”

Where are you getting hobak ddeok? I only see it at ddeok houses and the occasional street food stand. It looks like the fruit cake of Korea, considering almost no one seems to buy a chunk off that giant loaf. I’ve had it a few times, and it’s okay. Like with most ddeok, I don’t like food that I have to chew more than a stick of gum. Now, Chapsal Ddeok is another story–erotically soft and inviting and great with coffee.

I agree, Cory. Glorious stuff. Makes good burritos too.

Not raining at all. Inside Korea itself, the perception is that everyone–not some–eat pizza and hamburgers and that Americans have no traditional foods or no healthy foods, and that’s why they don’t eat them. The “well-being” of food is a strong marketing tool in Korea. Yet give average Americans the choice between a healthy food and a food that tastes good, they’ll choose the latter. That’s why there is an obesity epidemic. Korean food is both healthy and tasty. Marketing the health benefits at the expense of taste has never worked well in America. It’s, in fact, backfired. Look at the successful marketing of Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s. The ’70s and ’80s health food craze left people with negative perceptions of health food, with wheat germ, granola, pitiful salads and god awful tofu concoctions. It’s going to be a long time before marketing a food on its health benefits alone will capture Americans beyond a minority of health fanatics. I think pushing Korean food for its taste, excitement and the warm feelings it can give would be more successful than banking everything on a campaign that will only appeal to the west coast granola crowd. The added benefit is that people will find that healthy food does not have to be bland and dry. It can satiate. And then support the taste campaign with the health campaign.

Right now, the power ajosshis are approaching the American market like they do the Korean market based on faulty stereotypes–that healthy food doesn’t already exist in America. Americans don’t eat healthy food because the stuff marketed as so tastes bad. They won’t fall for the same spiel twice.

Believe me, I’m trying to . I think that’s one of the reasons for my ouster from one of the magazines.

Bust my balls. It keeps me on my toes. Especially if it helps with quitting smoking.