Eumshik 1: Apateu

Korean food!

There's so much to say on this topic, it's hard to know where to begin. For this post, I think I'll limit myself to the food in our apartment.

We still haven't figured out the best way to shop for food. In our neighborhood, there are lots of syupeomaket (슈퍼마켓). But don't let the name fool you. These aren't what we'd call supermarkets in English; they are more like tiny neighborhood grocers carrying packaged foodstuffs, toiletries, and cleaning supplies, all piled on crammed shelves separated by narrow aisles. Some have a small produce section. As you might expect, the groceries at these places are pretty expensive, and the selection is limited. There's also a little fruit specialty shop, and one day there was a guy selling fresh vegetables from the back of his truck.

[Linguistic side-note: why syupeomaket instead of supeomaket? Where'd the "y" come from? Erma speculates that this borrowing is based on British English pronunciation, in which the "u" in words like "tune" and "super" is preceded by a "y" sound.]

In Shinchon there is a large, upscale department store, Hyundai. Like most department stores here, there is a full-scale food court and supermarket on the underground floor. The selection is much better here: you can get a wide variety of meats and produce, and a lot of packaged goods, included imports. But here, too, the prices are very high. This supermarket (and presumably others like it) also have some peculiarities from the American point of view. Different stations in the market belong to different vendors. These stations are manned by employees of the product makers rather than employees of Hyundai. As a result, the same product may be available in multiple locations at different prices, and the employees are working hard to get you to buy from them. While you're considering getting kimchi at one place, the lady at the kimchi counter next door is trying to entice you over there instead. Want garlic? Better check the prices at the three different produce stands where garlic is being sold.

Another interesting feature of food products sold here is that an unusually high number of products are sold with a smaller product attached to it as a promotion. I recently bought some soft tofu, and there was a free half-size packet of hard tofu taped to it. Sometimes this practice is taken to what seems like ridiculous extremes. Last time we went there, the quart cartons of Seoul brand milk had cup cartons of the same exact milk taped to them. (Yeah, okay, they were metrically measured packages, but I don't remember how many centiliters they were. They looked like quarts and cups.) And, craziest of all, the little jars of Bonne Maman jam had tiny 40ml jars of Bonne Maman jam taped to them. Perfect for your dollhouse!

Anyway, all of this food is really expensive, while simple meals eaten out are incredibly cheap. You can have a large, tasty, healthy meal for less than $4 at a restaurant. So it makes eating in a rather expensive alternative. Still, it makes us crazy to eat out all the time, so we do cook sometimes.

Another option for shopping are the supermarkets inside the giant discount chains like Homever and E-Mart. They work the same way as the Hyundai market -- multiple vendors -- and the prices are supposed to be better. But it still seems kind of pricey to us.

Anyway, if you're curious, here's what's in our house right now in the way of food. We'll start with the pantry:


1. Seattle Chocolates brand chocolates, brought from Seattle to be used for gifts.
2. Pickled garlic cloves, a delicious Korean side dish.
3. Digestives, the delicious cracker-cookie found throughout Asia. A remnant of British colonialism, no doubt, but no less delicious for it.
4. Instant ramen. Always good to have around for emergencies.
5. Two kinds of Chinese tea, one brought from Seattle. We've been drinking a lot of tea.
6. Packet of crackers given to us by Erma's father. He intended for us to eat them immediately as a snack, but we've saved them, brought them to Seoul, and kept them around for an emergency.
7. Seasoned fried seaweed squares, sometimes called laver in English, called gim 김 in Korean. Another delicious side dish, especially wrapped around some rice.
8. Some pretzels saved from our flight. Yep, you guessed it: emergency.
9. Bag of sugar. We tried to avoid buying this for a while, since we'll never use it up in 3 months. But we caved. We'll need it to prepare myeolchi (see below).
10. Sesame oil.
11. Trader Joe's trail mix. Brought from Seattle, now half eaten.
12. Black pepper.
13. Jar of Korean strawberry jam.
14. Sesame seeds in a little grinder. Ground-up sesame is a necessity in Korean cooking.
15. A tiny tube of sugar stolen from a local coffee shop. (Well, not really stolen. I mean, if you order a coffee, you're allowed to take a tube of sugar, right?) It was when we realized that we couldn't satisfy our sugar needs for three months on stolen cafe packets that we bought the bag of sugar (see #9).
16. Salt.

That was exciting, wasn't it? Let's do more.

In the narrow drawer next to the washing machine is some vegetable oil for cooking:


There's also some soy sauce on the counter, not pictured.

Then there's the fridge:


1. Milk. We bought this to make pancakes from a mix. The recipe only called for 280cc, so we have some left over.
2. Imported Japanese syrup (not genuine maple), again for pancakes. It was expensive, but not as expensive as the genuine imported Canadian maple syrup.
3. Bean sprouts (콩나물). Another Korean staple, used mostly in soups.
4. Tofu. I've been making simple stir fries.
5. Hot pepper paste (고추장). Another staple.
6. Bean paste (된장). A bit like miso -- used to make soup stock.
7. Some Gyeongju-style red-bean cookies, a gift from Erma's mother.
8. Butter. We don't have a butter dish.
9. Kimchi. This is cabbage kimchi, the prototypical kind most familiar to Americans.
10. Kimchi. Another type (총각김치), this one made from small daikon radishes.
11. Garlic. We've been unable to find whole unpeeled garlic anywhere. Koreans seem to buy their garlic pre-peeled in little bags.
12. Mandarin oranges. We've been taking these to school to eat as a snack halfway through our four hours of classes.
13. Yogurt. Also for school snacks.
14. Apples and asian pears. Erma's skill at peeling these (Koreans don't eat the skins) is improving steadily.
15. An onion and half of a very large scallion.
16. Barely visible, an egg.
17. Myeolchi (멸치), tiny little anchovy-like fish. These can be used in soups or seasoned and eaten as a side dish.
18. Hot pepper powder.
19. A larger variety of myeolchi.
20. Sliced whole-grain bread. We got this loaf at one of the many little bakeries that are popular here. They are very similar to the bakeries you find in Japan and Taiwan, with all sorts of odd pastries for sale.
21. Strawberry jam. For breakfasts we toast the bread in a dry frying pan, and eat it with butter and jam. And usually some fruit.
22. More butter.
23. Little yogurt drinks, called yogeureut in Korean. Very refreshing.
24. Orange juice, Minute Maid brand.
25. Bottle of water. Erma refills it and takes it to school.

And, finally, the freezer, two bags of frozen dumplings. (See the end of the Opiseutel entry for a list of some of the different names by which these are called.)


If that's not enough detail for you, send email or post a comment, and I'll fill in the gaps!

More about Korean food, eating out, etc. in future posts.