5 Korean culture shocks on the table 🍲
Hello there!
As someone who grew up in a culture totally different from the Korean one there had to be a lot of things that surprised me when moving here.
Some things took a while to get used to while some things just feels wrong to me and I have still not gotten used to them and I wonder if I ever will.
So this time I wrote a list of 5 little culture shocks or surprises I got that are related to food.
1. Fruity Tomato
I already know that the tomato actually is a fruit but still, I would never eat it as one.
Tomato isn't the typical fruity fruit that I would add to a dessert.
But here in Korea they seem to think different.
A normal thing to do after a meal at home would be to cut some fruit and eat for dessert. Apples, pear, grapes, tangerines etc etc.. And yes, sometimes they give you tomatoes. 👍
I've gotten cherry tomatoes as topping on both bingsu and cake here! :O
Mmm... Whipped cream with juicy tomatoes... XD No thank you, it just feels wrong.
2. Corny Corn
I'm not a corn fan really. I love popcorn and eating a corn-cob now and then with some butter and salt. Yum yum yummy!
But as an ice-cream flavour? Or as bingsu-topping? Hmm... Not so sure 😂
How about a Corn Latte? Anyone tried that?
I saw at Tom n Tom's cafe that they have corn latte and I'm kind of curious so I think I have to try it one day. ^^
I did try the corn flavored ice cream and, well, it tasted like.. corn. 🌽 But I didn't find it disgusting really. Just very odd.
3. Savory got sweet
This one is an extension of both of the previous points; things that really shouldn't be sweet (IMO) are very sweet!
An example is garlic bread. Biting into that yummy-looking garlic bread and realizing that someone dropped the sugar dredger in it is pure sadness 😔. Same with that cheesy corn dog that was dipped in granulated sugar. 😑😑 Chips and snacks are also often sweet.
Is this a normal thing in other places than Korea? 😂
To me, sugary stuff doesn't belong among the savory and vice versa (though there are exceptions..)
4. Stay away from the cold water!
When I was little and wanted to eat ice my mom told me "be careful and don't eat to much! Your tummy will hurt!"
I never paid much attention to it because my tummy didn't hurt and I didn't feel sick or get indigestion from it.
If I drink plain water I would always drink crisp and cold simply because it's obviously more yummy than lukewarm or plain hot water.
However, over here in Korea I often hear about how bad it is for you to drink and eat cold things. And I ignored it first thinking it sounded over-dramatic.
But then I actually started feeling a bit 'bleh' when drinking cold water or eating those cold noodles and I have been wondering since why that is? Is their cold water much colder than the one I drink back at home? Or is it the combination with the food here that makes my body suddenly say no to cold drinks?
5. Spicy food & bland snacks
Well, this isn't really a "shock" but something that surprised me at first, but nowadays it kind of makes sense to me.
The Korean food has a lot of flavour and heat which isn't what I would say about the Swedish food, which is more about natural mild flavours (though quite salty).
Korean food is spicy, salty and sour so I kind of thought that most edible things here would have strong flavours.
Of course not ALL food is spicy - there are some quite bland dishes as well - like kalguksu, seolleongtang, samgyetang, miyukguk etc etc - but a lot of it is packed with flavors and spiciness!
Now, the snacks is a different story. Yes, there are some spicy and salty snacks but I have noticed that very often people here seem to opt for something bland and mild or sweet to snack on. Unsalted seeds and nuts, puffed rice, rice cakes and so on. Much of the traditional snacks are pure and bland.
This is something I didn't like at first. Bland food could even ruin my mood at times. XD
Growing up eating the salty snacks and candy in Sweden, I had the idea that that was what snacks should be like.
My conclusion is probably obvious; there need to be a balance.
After eating food filled of spice one's taste buds might be a bit tired and are welcoming those bland snacks giving them a break to recover for the next meal, while mild food kind of gives room for more edgy snacks.
Did any of these things seem odd to you?
What do you prefer?
Write me a comment and let me know! ^^
Ta-tah ~!