“Soul” Food in Korea

GRIP: Media in Seoul

Cover image: A picture of other Penn people and I enjoying a barbecue meal.

When coming to Seoul, I expected my favorite memories to be sightseeing at unfamiliar locations or shopping in bustling environments. What I never expected was to enjoy so much of Seoul’s food.

Grabbing meals after work with fellow interns or going to lunch with my coworkers carried a special meaning to me that I didn’t fully realize until halfway into this program.

After work, we would all wait for that one question: “what do you want to eat tonight?” And, Seoul gives you that luxury of feeding almost any craving in just a 20-minute subway ride. Just for dinner, we went on excursions all around Seoul: Hongdae, Namdaemun, Dongdaemun, Itaewon, Gangnam, Mapo-gu, Seongsu-dong. A tour of Seoul, basically for a meal.

Some nights consisted of tteokkbokki at a local pocha, for no other reason than it being so close. Other nights, it was barbecue at a sit-down restaurant. All of us squeezed around a table too small for our liking. While I feverishly grilled, others argued about what meat to order next. And occasionally, there were the 2 a.m. excursions to a convenience store or to some local restaurant that we definitely didn’t need.

Looking back, it was never really about the food. It was the conversations. I think it’s environments like these that make conversations feel effortless and less awkward. You are passing plates and utensils across the table, pouring water into someone else’s cups, making sure the person with the white t-shirt has an apron (apchima) for food spatters. Main dishes are typically shared as well. You are forced into the kind of conversation that lingers with you for a while.

Whether it’s samgyeopsal in Itaewon or gukbap from a tiny restaurant in the middle of nowhere, what I discovered was that food somehow tied everyone from all places together. I have learned more about my supervisor’s military years while eating tteokbokki than I would have ever got the chance to know otherwise. It gives interns like me another reason to stay out in the city for longer, talking for hours more after work. Your coworkers eventually become people you can text for another meal on weekends, which I found particularly meaningful.

Looking back on my experiences, I have felt that the city was literally feeding me social experiences. And I think years from now, I’ll remember conversations over gukbap, and grilling meat just so others can eat, more than anything else.