한국 음식이 알려준 스웨덴 여자의 첫 경험(Eng)
Tinika's food experience in Korea
1년 반 정도 한국에서 사는 동안 나는 한국음식에 푹 빠졌다. 스웨덴에 돌아온 후로도 한식이 아주 많이 그립다. 매운 찌개를 나눠 먹으면서 친구들과 친해진 것은 아직도 생생히 기억난다. 스웨덴에서 많은 음식은 담백한 데다가, 나눠 먹는 음식은... 타코 밖에 없는 것 같다. 나는 이 글로 한식의 첫인상과 특징에 대해 개인적으로 간단하게 써보았다! - 티니카
매운 음식을 자주 먹지 않은 스웨덴 여자가
한식을 처음 먹어 봤을때 어떻게 생각했을까?
How was Korean spicy food for Tinika who was not used to Spicy food?
Just like many Swedish people, spicy food is not a regular element in my diet. Swedish food is rather bland, and as a result even the slightest pinch of pepper would burn my tongue. When I went to Korea for the first time as an exchange student I experienced spicy food for the first time. During the orientation dinner for international students we got to try bibimbap. They told us to add as much red chili paste we wanted, but they warned us that it could be a little bit spicy. Knowing my low tolerance for spicy food, I added the smallest amount of chili paste, so little it did not even give the rice a hint of colour. Needless to say; it didn’t taste much at all. But I was so afraid that I was going to make it too spicy and not be able to eat it. Whenever I came across food that was too spicy for me, I would get annoyed that the spices made it hard for me to enjoy the food. It took me quite some time to start enjoying the spicy food of Korea.
다시 돌아간 한국 무의도에서 먹은 비빔밥When I lived in Korea from 2015 to the early months of 2017 I went from being someone who added a tiny drop of chili paste to my bibimbap, to being a person who really enjoys a spicy soft tofu stew. I realised two things; by eating spicy foods often, you can increase your tolerance. It is never too late! The second thing I realised is that the spices really add an important element to the food. The spices don’t just burn my tongue, they taste good. These days, I find myself craving a boiling hot, spicy Korean stew. Unfortunately, just as the tolerance for spicy food can increase, it decreases as soon as you stop eating spicy food regularly. I am afraid I would need another year in Korea to get back to the level I was at before I left.
바닥에 앉는 것은 요가보다 힘들었다
It was harder to sit on the floor than doing yoga
In Sweden when we go to restaurants, we order one dish each, and everyone eats their own food. Sometimes you might ask your friend to have a bite of their food, just to taste it. As a rule, though, the food on your plate is the food you will eat.
The first night in Korea, I went to have dinner together with a group of other exchange students I had met the same day. I don’t think anyone in the group had ever had Korean food before, and honestly I don’t know why we got there (I was very jet-lagged and exhausted that day) but we ended up in a small Korean 삼겹살 place. Since the menu was written all in Korean, we ordered by pointing at pictures of meat and beer, hoping for the best. The table was low and we took our shoes off and sat on the floor. I have never been a very flexible person, and sitting on the floor may have seemed alright to me at first, but I soon came to realise that it requires some degree of flexibility in the legs and strength of the core........ Feel free to laugh, but I truly struggled throughout that dinner as my legs fell asleep and my back slouched.
식사 관습은 나라마다 다른데 외국인으로서 한식을 나눠먹는 것은 어떨까?
How was it to share food with friends for Tinika who always had her own meal?
(티니카가 좋아하는 나눠먹는 한국음식들)
When the meat arrived we had to take a look around at the other people in the restaurant to see how they actually cooked and ate the 삼겹살. Looking back at it now, it seems kind of ridiculous to think that we would need to observe people in order to eat. Of course, we could have simply just cooked the meat and ate it. The problem was not as much if we could eat it, but rather how. We had ordered meat and received ten other little plates of side dishes as well. We were shocked at the sight of all the food in front of us, and quite overwhelmed. Were we supposed to cook all of it? Should we have the side dishes before or perhaps after the meat? We had no idea that these side dishes, or 반찬, are a basic part of the meal you pay for at a Korean restaurant. I think mostly we were way too concerned with appearances; desperately trying to look like we knew what we were doing even though we had no idea. In the end, the kind woman working in the restaurant saw us struggle and showed us how we could wrap the meat, sauce and various side dishes into some lettuce and eat it with our hands. Once we got the hang of it, we could start enjoying the meal which was very delicious. We all shared the food in front of us, and despite us being from different countries where sharing food is not the norm, we never considered it a strange thing. Under the circumstances of being complete strangers having dinner together for the first time, sharing food may even have brought us a little bit closer as we ate.
I know some people who are new to the idea of sharing food may think that sharing a soup or stew with other people is a bit inconvenient, they worry that they will be left hungry when all the food is gone. I really only have one advice to them - Try it! Personally I think that whenever my friends and I ordered food to share I ate more than I would have if I had ordered an individual serving... Others may think it is unhygienic to share food, but sharing food still means using individual bowls and being free to take more from the communal pot in the middle of the table, often using a ladle or food pincers. There is nothing unsanitary about that. Just use common sense when eating and you will be fine.
한국에서는 요리를 안해도 살 수 있다는 사실 너무 놀랐다.
어디든지 배달이 되는 것이 한국에서 처음이었다!
I have cooked literally once during 1.5 years...
Korean food delivery is amazing!
티니카가 기억하는 좋은 배달 음식의 추억If there is something I love about Korea it is the easy access to food. If you are ever hungry there is food at convenience stores, an all night kimbab place around the corner, or why not use an app to order food delivery. Where I am from there are restaurants and fast food chains. They are not always open and they definitely do not do home deliveries. One of the reasons is quite simple; it’s too far. Delivering food to households outside of the town center would take too long, and it would most likely make the food too expensive to order in the first place. In Korea, however, it is a different story. Where my hometown only has a couple of restaurants, a similarly big area in Seoul would has hundreds of restaurants and thousands more people (if you compare the populations of Sweden and Korea you will see what I mean). It is very easy to find a restaurant to order delivery from that is not located too far away. What really surprised me was that it is just as convenient to order to public places outside the home like, say, the river side or even a soccer field at school. When my swedish friends came to visit me in Korea, I made sure to order delivery at least once because I knew that it would blow their minds.
As a result of the easy access to cheap, delicious food I spent a year and a half in Korea only cooking a meal once. No, I am not exaggerating. I only cooked food one time...!!! It is not that I am a bad cook, nor because I hate cooking. Simply put, it wasn’t quite worth the struggle. Instead of spending money on shopping for groceries, spending time cooking and cleaning up after a meal I would have alone in my room, I instead went out with my best friends and had delicious Korean food that I could never have prepared myself. Sometimes having to leave the house for a meal was a pain, especially when I was sick or tired. Sometimes my friends had other plans so I didn’t have anyone to eat with. Those days I regretted not having any food in my apartment. But again, thanks to the fantastic food delivery system in Korea I never had to starve. Towards the end of my stay in Korea, I found myself missing a homecooked meal, and after coming back to Sweden I rarely go out to restaurants. Cooking food is the only financially sustainable way to live here, unless you are filthy rich :)
