(ORDO NEWS) — Why do Koreans eat live octopuses and eat from toilet bowls?
In Asian countries, the cult of food and meetings over food is traditionally very developed. Korea is no exception. A European will be shocked by how the Japanese, Koreans or Thais greet.
There is, of course, an official greeting. But friends and family do not use it. They will ask: “Well, how did you eat? How long ago? What exactly?” And this will be the main manifestation of respect and care.
Kimchi
Koreans are proud of their traditional cuisine and consider it very useful. Kimchi, fermented cabbage, deserves special attention. It improves digestion, blood circulation, reduces the risk of cancer.
Approximately 15 kilograms of salt is taken for 80 heads of cabbage. Cabbage is placed in a container, sprinkled with layers of salt, then poured with water and left to marinate for 12 to 24 hours.
Another daikon and 10 pieces of onions,” said Korean Hyoyeon Hwong.
After all the ingredients are added, the marinade should be boiled for two hours. While the marinade is cooking, collect, wash and cut the mustard stalk. Sugar is also added to kimchi, but in this family, apples and pears are put instead. Shredded dried shrimp.
Closer to the night, the cabbage is washed in clean water three times. In the morning, they prepare the dressing: add paprika, pickled shrimp, garlic, daikon, ginger, pour marinade. All ingredients must be mixed.
When the filling is ready, each layer of cabbage is smeared with it. It is necessary to ensure that each leaf turns red. Ready cabbage is placed in containers, covered with a film, then closed with a lid.
Oddly enough, Hyoyeon says that it is very expensive to cook such cabbage. For a volume of 80 heads, it takes about $ 300 for various ingredients, and if you also buy cabbage, then all 400-500. But the cult of food here is expressed not only in this.
Live meals
In South Korea, those who are especially desperate can try live octopuses. True, in order to try such an exotic, a living being must first be defeated.
The most important thing in such eating is thorough chewing so that the marine life does not have a chance to survive. Of course, eating seafood in a living state is not the most common dish in the Korean diet.
Seeing this, many are not even surprised that Koreans eat dogs, but today the people of South Korea are very shy about this.
National cuisine with its flavor is being replaced by the so-called food blogging. This is when people cook, set the table and then eat, taking pictures and videos of it all and posting it on the Internet.
“Korean dishes are not only healthy, but also very beautifully presented. Korean dishes are very bright, have rich colors.
They are very pleasant to look at, which is why foot blogging professions have recently appeared in South Korea.
For example, foot photographer, foot stylists, bloggers and so on,” said RUDN University student from South Korea Ho Nam Pak.
Cafe for inner harmony
But this is a completely new trend. A cafe in the suburbs of Seoul offers a spiritual concept to help ease the mind and body.
South Korean cafe opens its doors to those who are ready for personal and spiritual healing. In the cafe, Koreans, tired of the endless bustle and city noise, can retire for contemplation and calm the mind.
“This cafe seems different from others. As for ordinary cafes, you go there because when you return home, you are stressed because of the children, the pandemic and other things.
However, when you come here, you forget about everything” , – said a visitor to the cafe Ji Oj-Jeon.
Clients can sit alone in a room with a mirror or with a friend just to look out into the forest. But such cafes have already been dubbed a salvation for suicides, of which there are many in the Land of Morning Calm. But such a restaurant in Korea is rather an exception and is popular with the older population.
Slurping bloggers
And that’s what young people are passionate about. Swallowing bloggers. And the louder they champ, the more people will subscribe to them.
This movement has a name – flour-bang. Literally translated from Korean as “eat and broadcast.” And it was the Koreans who were the first to broadcast this miracle to the whole world.
They eat in front of the camera alone. And even whole families. And some do it live. Just think. These videos are watched by about 15 million people.
And almost two million pee on the champing blogger. And if there is no money for a crab? Colored ice will do. It is also eaten in front of the camera.
Attitude towards the administration of natural needs
Koreans also have a rather simple attitude towards the administration of natural needs. They do not consider it anything shameful, this topic can be discussed even at the table.
In Korea, there are even plenty of cafes where you will be served coffee from a cup in the form of a toilet bowl.
In fact, in Korea, the attitude to the administration of natural needs is almost sacred. It is believed that derivatives of the human stomach bring good luck to people.
Step into excrement – fortunately. And instead of “how are you”, your acquaintances and friends may ask at the meeting: “Are you all right with the chair?”.
The cafe itself, by the way, also makes sense. To get there, you must first jump through the “mouth” into the “esophagus” and then along the thumb. There is even a Toilet Museum in Korea. And, perhaps, he is the only one in the world.
The park has sculptures that symbolize the development of toilets in Korea from ancient times to the present day.
Public toilets, even now, may not have partitions. Well, as you already understood, this is because Koreans are not shy about such an intimate process. And besides, this nation is for collectivism. This is due to the fact that they live in a small area.
Relations between men and women
Korea is also considered the most patriarchal among the countries of East Asia. Marriage is an obligatory and important event in the life of every Korean.
However, marriages of convenience, and not love, are positively treated and even welcomed here. The approach is pragmatic: material well-being is of paramount importance when creating a couple.
“Human society, regardless of what political regimes it is in, still strives for love. People will suffer and love.
People will, for example, get married somewhere, not for love.
But it seems to us that everything is tougher for them , because they have it more streamlined.”
Koreans never get to know each other on the street, they rarely get to know each other on social networks. But the most popular type of dating is a blind date.
This is when you go to a meeting with a person who is recommended to you by parents, friends or even bosses at work. Another option for a date for young and advanced is called a “meeting” from English to meet a meeting.
“This is when a Korean recommends his friend, brother or acquaintance to you and organizes a date for you. The second method is called a rally.
This is when someone older or young people themselves organize dates, which come to three guys and three girls, four guys and four girls.”
If everything goes well, then the courtship period lasts up to two years. But acquaintance does not always end in marriage. Interestingly, the refusal of the bride or groom is not considered offensive and is taken calmly.
By the way, in Korea there is a very low percentage of divorces, they are condemned in society, although they are officially allowed.
At the same time, Koreans are distrustful of unmarried men and unmarried women. If you do not have a partner, then you are not all right, they say.
But more and more Koreans are in no hurry to get married and have children, because first you need to make a career, and this is very difficult.
Favorite drink of Koreans
Shocking facts have recently come to light. Prosperous Korea is the most drinking country in the world. This was found out by the experts of the research bureau Euromonitor.
The favorite drink of Koreans and Korean women is soju, it is quite strong – from 25 to 18 degrees. Made from rice grains.
And this alcohol in South Korea is available to everyone, but in the end it turns out to be “golden”. The social costs associated with the high level of alcoholism in the country, according to the national Ministry of Health, annually cost the state more than 20 billion dollars.
Among the reasons for alcohol addiction in the country, the main one is considered to be a high social level, because here the working week lasts 55 hours, and the vacation is only six days.
According to research, Koreans sleep not eight hours, but only six. Koreans are like cogs in the system, and the competition is so high that it becomes more difficult to meet the standards of beauty and performance every year.
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