Intercultural Life

Category: Food (Page 13 of 22)

Korean food and recipes

Feeding

FEEDING

This is an interesting cultural difference if you are from a western country where you probably haven’t had someone feed you since you were a child. I’ve had control of how much food I put in my mouth at once for most of my life, especially because a lot of the time I’ve eaten with a knife and fork and can cut things quite small. I often have trouble fitting things like gimbap or samgyupsal wrapped up in lettuce in my mouth. So when someone else does it to me, I often find it really difficult.

However, as my husband keeps pointing out to me, it’s seen as a loving gesture. People don’t do it to people they don’t like. When we were out at a galbi restaurant recently he got me to do it to his parents, insisting that is really nice for them. For me, I just felt like I was invading their personal space, so that is something I will have to get used to. Sometimes it is difficult because even though it’s a nice gesture, you don’t actually want to eat the thing they are putting in your mouth, and other times it’s just the shock when you aren’t expecting it… or maybe it’s just the way my husband does the surprise ram food into my mouth? If you are married to a Korean, do you find this difficult as well?

I have started getting used to it, but I do have those almost choking moments! And in that moment I feel like I’d rather die than spit out any food in front of people…

Korean Seafood

Cooking seafood

My husband has worked in Australian workplaces so knows about the laws about racism and discrimination. He knows his rights at work and when to make a complaint about something. He is not working in Australia any more but is applying those things to other areas of life now! So apparently I’m racist against octopuses because I won’t eat them but I eat prawns…

Cucumber

Cucumber

Oi, which is often used as a way to get someone’s attention in British/Australian/New Zeland English, sounds a lot like the word cucumber in Korean!

White Chocolate Balls

White Cocolate Balls

Big thank you to everyone who gave us the present and lovely card at the Korean Cultural Office last Friday!

After that my husband went out drinking while I went home. I was with Sophie and Han (our friends we are staying with at the moment) while my husband didn’t think he’d be coming home until after 4am. So while he was partying, we ate his favourite chocolates as revenge. Still not sorry!

He also realised that if he buys 10 kit kats and eats them all he is just punishing himself as he wants to lose weight.

Eating Cereal

Eating Cereal

He is doing it again right now and still didn’t want a spoon. We are staying with friends but in their ‘granny flat’/studio so we don’t have a proper kitchen. I was offering to just go into the main house and get him a spoon but he doesn’t think it’s necessary.

Eating Sushi

Eating Sushi

Sushi places are almost always run by Koreans here. But when you enter, the employees always greet you in Japanese and then go right back to talking in Korean to each other.

My husband prefers me to order in these situations because even though he knows they are Korean and they probably know he is Korean, he feels he has to speak in English to them and it makes him feel awkward. It’s really different to Korean restaurants where they are expecting him to just speak in Korean.

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