Pork + Soju

Among our colleagues in Seoul there's a little tradition called Soju Club and it's equal parts pork, soju, and crowd participation.

The pork is called "samgyupsal" and it's cooked at the table on a tilted griddle. Your server brings slices of raw pork that resemble very thick slabs of bacon, and lays them on the griddle - occasionally stopping by to turn the meat as it cooks. Once it's nearly ready, scissors are used to cut the meat into smaller pieces and diners use their chopsticks to pick up the pieces and wrap them in lettuce or sesame leaves, adding sauces and veggies to taste.

The best thing on the griddle - bar none - is the kim chi at the opposite end of the pork. The Koreans are a wise people and chose to put the pork at the top of the griddle mountain, while leaving the kim chi and onions at the bottom. This arrangement lets the fat drip its delicious way down through the onions and to a final resting place cuddling the kim chi. And oh, that kim chi is incredible. Food scientists might have chemical formulas for the magic that happens on the griddle - others credit the river of pork fat - but whatever the reason, kim chi has never tasted so delicious.



Soju, another critical element of Soju Club, is a fermented grain drink that's more popular than water in Korea. It typically comes in green glass bottles and is advertised everywhere by gorgeous women looking energetic and bright. However, I can report from first hand experience that while soju is definitely lighter than other alcoholic beverages, it's distant cousin could still easily be nail polish remover. I'm not one to eschew cultural mainstays with a simple "blech" but I do have to admit that when the odd bottle of soju hit the floor on Friday night, I shed no tears for the loss of liquid.

Soju is consumed in shot glasses and at this point it's important to note that one does not fill one's own glass in Korea - ever. So if you want to maintain your friends, you have to remember to keep an eye on their glasses... And if you're thirsty, you'd better hope that they're keeping a dedicated eye on your glass as well. If want to get really fancy about it you can fill your neighbor's glass by pouring the bottle with your right hand, and touching your right elbow with your left hand. This traditional gesture will definitely score you some cultural extra credit.



Crowd participation is crucial as there are many toasts to be made, and a lot of green bottles keep showing up on the tables. The crowd's interest and ability in keeping up with itself can be a delicate balance. The good news is that if you're like me, and order "naengmyeon" - my favorite cold soup - you can easily dump half a shot of soju in your bowl every round and no one's the wiser. But seeing as naengmyeon's too good to waste - with it's chewy noodles, hard-boiled egg, cucumbers, sesame seeds, and ice - I unfortunately had to wait until I had finished the better part of the soup to start using it as a soju repository.

The most important crowd participation comes at the end of the evening... Because after a night defined by pork, soju and greased kim chi there is nothing the crowd wants more than an off-key but enthusiastic rendition of Material Girl. With an encore of Sweet Caroline to follow.

home is where the kimchi is

After flying over Canada, Russia, and the Pacific Ocean we finally heard the words that we'd waited over twelve hours to hear, "Welcome to Seoul." And then there was the small matter of setting our watches. "It's 6:00pm in Seoul. We've crossed the international dateline so it's now Wednesday." So while our hearts and minds (and watches) still said Tuesday, our plane had instead landed squarely in Wednesday.

So we did it; we flew into the future and are here to report that it ain't half bad. In fact from where we sit it's looking pretty good. Seoul is an incredible city - one of the ten largest in the world - and I think we're going to fit right in. I use the phrase "fit right in" rather loosely here, of course. Seeing as we neither resemble the folks who fill this city nor speak their language it might be a little difficult to fit right in. But we sure like the food.



Eating in Seoul is an absolutely fantastic experience although I couldn't tell you exactly what we've been eating. There's a lot of rice; that much is clear. There are also piles of pickled vegetables, sizzling meats, lettuce leaves, and octopus - and that was just our first lunch here. Being unable to read the menu either renders you more adventurous or starving and we've decided to embrace the adventure.

The food here can be spicy and sharp but also homey and comforting. It's ok to slurp at the table and I'm happy to report that you get to use a spoon for your rice. The metal chopsticks are for everything else and we're getting used to the fact that they tend to get a much more slippery grip on things than the wooden variety do. You get a fork and knife if you order any sort of deep-fried meat slab (talk to Stefano about that) and tumblers filled with water seem to come standard with every meal. Another standard is kimchi, the pickled and spicy cabbage that we've been hearing about since the day we knew we were coming to Seoul. The good news is we like it.



Eating street food appears to be as popular as eating inside and by the few items we've already sampled I can see why. Street food is plentiful, cheap, and incredibly good. We've had thick pancakes filled with a layer of molten brown sugar and also cubed pieces of nougat dusted with rice flour. On the savory side we've seen sizzling sticks of meat and steaming pots of stewed bugs. There are sweet potato fries and snails and blood sausages. And all cheap, cheap, cheap.

Seoul and Milan are surprisingly similar and might as well be long-lost cousins with their shared interests in coffee and fashion. Seoul's streets point to a real obsession with coffee - you can't walk ten feet without running into an American chain (Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks) or an Italian-themed café. And while I'm sorry to break the hearts of my dear Italian amici I must admit that some of these coffee places can make a mean cappuccino.



And fashion... these people definitely know how to dress. No one's walking around in sweatpants and the only fashion "dont's" seem to result from an overabundance of fashion "do." For example, older men here like to take a nice suit with a pattern, and wear it with a nice shirt that also happens to be patterned. Unfortunately the shirt's pattern is wildly different from the suit's pattern and while either would be nice on its own you put the two together and bam! you're unintentionally stopping traffic.

Another unique fashion whim of the Korean male is the wearing of a purse. At first it looks as if the guy might be dutifully carrying the purse of a lady friend but no, said lady friend has her own purse under control. These guys are wearing their own purses and while I have no clue what they're putting in them, they manage to rock the look. Italian males, take note.



The city is also ringed by mountains and hills and there are several in the middle of town. It's great to look up from big city Seoul streets and see green peaks rising in the near distance. We've heard that you can take the Seoul subway straight to hiking trails and be on the mountain in less than an hour. (That's assuming you can figure out the subway system.)

It won't be easy living in a country where we can't speak the language let alone read the alphabet, but we're here to stay. Happily, we already know how to say hello and thank you and with only five days in country, we're feeling pretty good about our progress. The real question is how many days will it take Stefano to buy a purse?