What else I love about being in South Korea? Weather, culture, scenery.. It’s all about Food!!
Being a Muslim traveling in Non-Muslim country, food will be a big problem!! But in South Korea, I found myself having less distress on this matter. As I can’t enjoy meat in South Korea and refuse to be bound to only Pakistanis restaurant in Itaewon for that.. I’m enjoying seafood the most here!!! And I’m glad the way Korean cooking and taste fit my taste bud just nice …
Basic things you will find at Korean Restaurant.
1.Main Dish – Stew @ grill/fried , rice
2.Banchan (side dishes) – Kimchi (a must), others (vegetable, anchovies, peanut, etc), it’s very
rare to find meat based banchan
3.Mineral water @ sometimes tea
After ordering, you will find on your table ready utensils (chopstick and spoon), tissue, mineral water and cup. It’s a job of the maknae (youngest) of the group to set the table to his/her seniors. Place a tissue each, and a set of chopstick and spoon, pour the mineral water and shortly the banchans will be serving. So, you can dig in your banchan first while waiting for the main course (my style). Following the etiquette, you should taste your soup/stew first before eating.
General Table Manners- At first, taste soup or kimchi juice, and then try rice or other dishes. Use spoon for rice and
liquid foods, such as stews or soups; use chopsticks for other foods.
- Do not make noises with spoon or chopsticks hitting the rice bowl or other food containers.
- Do not hold the rice bowl or soup bowl in your hand during the meal.
- Do not use your hands to pick the foods.
- Use an individual plate for foods served for a crowd, and also for sauces such as soy & vinegar
sauce or sweet & sour hot pepper soybean paste.
- After a meal, put the spoon and chopsticks on the spot where they were placed first and put
used napkins on the table after folding it little bit if they are big.
Table Rules- Hot and watery foods are placed on the right side and cold and dry foods are placed on the left
side.
- The rice bowl is on the left, and soup bowl is on the right, with other bowls placed in the
middle.
- The spoon is on the right side and chop sticks are behind the spoon and placed a little towards
the outside of the table. Place kimchi dishes in the back row, stew dishes on the right, sauces in
the middle of the front row, meat dishes on the right side, and vegetables on the left side.
How to use chopsticks and spoon- Do not hold the spoon and chopsticks together in one hand
- Do not suck the chopsticks and do not hold spoon and chopsticks at the same time. When using
chopsticks, place the spoon on the table.
- The spoon and chopsticks should not rest on any bowl or dish during the meal. Use spoon for
rice and watery foods and chopsticks for other side dishes.
But, hey!!! You are foreigner, so you don't really need to follow all this. They will understand. But who says learning something new is not fun?? So, have fun!!!
Uncook DdeokRamyeon at Ehwa University
