Seoul Food

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, author of 'Lord of the Rings' (1892-1973)

We recently visited Seoul and San Francisco. For this trip, we focused mainly on meeting people, taking "free and easy" strolls and "makan" ("eating" in malay). Actually, we note a huge contrast in the eating culture in these two cities!

Whilst the food in San Francisco was good, both my wife and I enjoyed our "eating experience" in Seoul much better. Also, in Seoul, our meals cost less than S$30 for two (often, much lower than that if we eat street food, which I really enjoyed). But in San Francisco, we spent nearly US$150 for a meal for two in a posh local restaurant, which specializes in California seafood cuisine. Whist tips are discouraged in Seoul (yet we get very good service), tips of 15-20% are expected in the US.

“For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink..." Matthew 25:35.

Collecting Souvenirs (from our travel):

photo: Minneapolis, US (2005)

In the past, we collected silver tea spoon from each city we visited. We even had a special cabinet built when we moved to our current house to display the spoons. But we have since stopped buying spoons on our travel as we have ran out of display place.

Nowadays, we will just go to the local bookshop to buy a cookbook (in english) on the local dishes. For this trip, we managed to buy an interesting book on Practical Korean Cooking. It costs us only S$25 for a hard bound copy. I just checked that Amazon is selling it at close to US$ 50!

Below is a slide show of the delightful feast one can get in Korea.

Remember:
"It is the food which you furnish to your mind that determines the whole character of your life" - Emmet Fox