I was exhausted. Adam was keeping me awake laughing. And somehow we ended up cataloguing every single thing he ate that day — and I am sharing it with the internet because apparently that is what we do now.

August 31, 2009
Breakfast
Egg with Onion and Green Pepper
1/2 Bagel
Oatmeal with cereal, milk, raisins and almonds
Snack
Protein Shake with Peanut Butter
Lunch
Tuna Fish
BBQ sauce
Bread
Cheese
Cucumbers
(all in sandwich form)
iced coffee
Dinner (at work)
pork fried pattie
Rice
Kimchi
Squash slices
bean sprout soup
green kimchi
Midnight Snack
cucumber kimchi
tofu
cooked in soy sauce
thousand island dressing ontop
PBJ on crackers
Chai tea

I know it may not seem to odd, but his mixtures are quite gross, in my opinion

anyway, now that I type it, I don’t think you will all be that grossed out, I think I was just really tired that everything sounded disgusting.

Have a great Tuesday!

Q: What does a typical day of eating look like while living in South Korea? A: A beautiful and chaotic blend of Western habits and Korean staples. Breakfast might be eggs and oatmeal. Lunch could be a tuna sandwich with iced coffee. But dinner — eaten at work in our case — is pure Korea: pork patties, rice, kimchi, bean sprout soup and squash slices. The midnight snack situation is where things get truly creative and we will leave Adam’s choices for the post above to speak for themselves.

Q: What is kimchi and why do Koreans eat it with every meal? A: Kimchi is fermented cabbage — spicy, tangy and deeply savory — and it appears at virtually every Korean meal regardless of time of day. It is considered essential to Korean cuisine not just for flavor but for its remarkable health benefits as a probiotic fermented food. Living in Korea means eating kimchi daily and eventually craving it when it is not there.

Q: Is it easy to maintain your home country food habits while living in Korea? A: Mostly yes — Korean grocery stores stock enough Western staples to keep you sane and cities like Busan and Gwangju have international food options. But the longer you live here the more your eating habits naturally shift toward Korean food which is honestly one of the greatest things that happens to expats in Korea.

Q: What Korean foods do expats end up loving most? A: Kimchi almost universally — despite initial skepticism. Tuna in all its Korean variations which are considerably more exciting than anything back home. Tofu cooked in soy sauce. Gimbap from the corner lady. Bean sprout soup. The list grows longer the longer you stay and before you know it midnight kimchi raids feel completely normal.

Q: What is it like eating at a Korean workplace? A: One of the genuine perks of teaching in Korea is the school lunch situation. Hot cooked meals including rice, kimchi, soup and rotating protein dishes are served daily and they are genuinely delicious. It is one of the things expat teachers miss most when they eventually leave Korea.