Food Stress

I am in total foodie overload right now, I don’t know what to do other than to blog it out. Sunday I went to the Seoul Vegan Potluck. I nearly had to be rolled out of last month’s potluck. October’s was brunch themed so I brought banana bread with a tofu-based frosting. For any tofu frosting skeptics, I’ll have you know my frosted banana bread disappeared, despite an incredible mass of (delicious) food at this event. (The frosting is drained tofu, agave, vanilla, cornstarch, and lemon juice blended.) Potluck highlights included curried veggie stuffing with walnuts and cranberries, Moroccan harira soup, tofu scrambles, a vegan sandwich from The Baker’s Table, and fresh Texas salsa…

…however, one dish took the cake. I may have tasted the best thing I have ever had in my entire existence. It was a pumpkin pie that also happened to be vegan and gluten-free. It had an oat-based crust made of almonds, maple syrup, and coconut oil among other wholesome yummy things.  The filling was lusciously creamy and perfectly spiced. Of course the creator of this flawless specimen of food turns out to be a up and coming professional baker. I made sure to ascertain where this Korean-Australian angel sells these slices of heaven and how to get in contact with her. She also prepared equally amazing veggie-nut based dips with awesome crackers to compliment. I’m trying to control myself but she made need to consider a restraining order on me between my over-enthusiasm of her baking and the speed in which I contacted and complimented her after the potluck.

A little Facebook networking and internet wandering post vegan potluck, and I’m over my head in foodie stress. One blog leads to another and soon my list of drool-worthy restaurants and cutesy, freshly-roasted cafes that I must go to in Seoul is longer than I can manage. The recipe inspiration I’ve absorbed is also more than my brain can hold. Some of the blogs belong to people who I have met at events like the vegan potluck, but it seems I’ve found quite a few more Seoulmates somewhere out in this city. The good new is that I don’t feel any pressure to keep my own food or restaurant blog because the bases are well-covered. It’s taken me two months, but I have a good sense of all the restaurants and cafes I can’t miss out on, at least from the expat perspective.

At the same time, I’ve enjoyed randomly eating in little Korean kitchens run my older ladies and grabbing all the standard Korean foods like kimbap, kimchi jiggae, bibimbap, cold noodles, and of course, mysterious dishes. Even unhealthy street food meals here are appealing to me and easily justified through the need to experience everything. (But for the love of God, no more white rice, please!) There is simply not a meal to be wasted in this country! I’m going nuts, somebody, please help me calm down!

Some of my coworkers claim eating out at Korean restaurants is cheaper than cooking for one. I still don’t believe this since I feel well-trained in sale shopping and recognizing good prices. I also find a lot of satisfaction in shopping for and preparing my food, controlling exactly how it gets cooked and how much gets served. And routine activities like grocery shopping are thrilling here. I enjoy cooking and, despite the daunting list of restaurant experiences I need to have, it’s an important part of my day. Recently at my new favorite open-air market I made a nice haul of clementines, quail eggs, pumpkin seeds, a green pumpkin, and ½ kg of kimchi for about $9. Come visit me in Korea and I can promise you a satisfying quail egg and cheese bagel. Miss you, Bodo’s, but can you do that?

A note on yogurt. Yogurt seems quite popular among the Koreans, but their yogurt intake is mainly carried out through drinking form. It’s delicious, but about the exact opposite of Greek yogurt, which is thick and tart. Korean yogurt is extremely sweet. Spending an evening wandering around my local upscale market I selected what I thought might be the least sweetened. It was actually labeled Denmark-style yogurt, which is kind of close to Greece, right? It wasn’t quite as tart at Greek yogurt, but by far the closest thing I have found. And a little internet research later confirmed that this brand is the most similar to Greek available in Korea. I have to say I was a bit proud of my personal detective work since it did take 20 minutes of scouring through the extensive yogurt section and slowly translating Korean labels. A few days later a Korean friend told me I could buy a yogurt maker on the Korean Amazon for $30. You pour in the milk and a scoop of yogurt and eight hours later you have a tub of unsweetened yogurt to embellish with nuts and berries and granola as you please. I know that making yogurt without a yogurt maker is not hard…but I don’t have a thermometer…or a heating pad or…I will keep making excuses until I can justify this yogurt maker here. I think I may buy it, but as you can see if you’re still reading this saga on yogurt, I have a lot of food stress and many delicious things to eat here! I question whether I have the time or stomach capacity to even eat yogurt throughout my Korean adventure.

Koreans and I are similar in one very important way. We like to taste everything. Often a Korean meal consists of a few different dishes, whether various dishes are ordered to share with company or if the meal comes with a variety of banchan side dishes. I totally love this. Koreans and I are also very dissimilar in one certain way, a way that has proved detrimental to my digestive comfort. Koreans stop when they are full and often leave their leftover food uneaten. To-go boxes aren’t really a thing and watching delicious food go to waste doesn’t bother them! I, on the other hand, am a (proud) member of the “clean plate club” and don’t consider a meal finished until all the food in front on me is gone. Maybe there is a reason Korea has one of the lowest obesity rates in the world. Unlike me, when they see dinner they don’t eat it like it may be their last. In a responsible fashion, I am tasting (most) everything as I acclimate to Korean culture, but am also staying true to my American roots and working hard to leave no crumb uneaten. Stomach ache by stomach ache, I am slowing learning the Korean way…

There is not a calorie to waste here! With so much foodie pressure I only wish my stomach was bigger! Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to get back to Bethany’s homemade calamari and my toaster oven attempt at apple crisp. Foodie out.