ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal

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Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Mmm? Korean Space Food
2008-04-11 05:03:00
(image from The Korea Times) I can’t believe I have met someone who is up in space right now (literally… I know too many who are up there figuratively). So this is the food that Yi So-yeon has brought with her and has likely already made for herself and the Soyuz crew.  Starting clockwise from the left: ...
More About: Food , Space , Korean

VONS Chicken and Beer
2008-04-08 05:29:00
A little shout out to the town of Gyeongju, the cradle of the Silla kingdom.  While I was visiting the future in-laws for the first time, they wanted to introduce me to this chicken place, VONS.  They swore by it. VONS makes both fried and smoked chicken.  They ordered the smoked that night.  It was ni-i-i-ce.  ...
More About: Beer , Chicken

Gochu Poppers
2008-04-08 03:31:00
[NOTE: I wrote this for the April 2nd edition of Expat Living in The Korea Herald] PDF of the article Out of all the adapted recipes I?ve written about in this column, this has to be the tastiest by far. I was surprised that it turned out so well. It?s so simple yet so addictive. A staple American ...

Go Green? Tomatoes
2008-04-08 03:25:00
[NOTE: I wrote this article for the March 26th edition of Expat Living in The Korea Herald] PDF of the article Expect to get funny looks. We are heading into the early throes of tomato season. We are so early that many tomatoes at the market will be green. I have been given quizzical comments by grocers ...
More About: Green , Tomatoes

Authentically Unauthentic Irish Stew
2008-04-08 03:22:00
[NOTE: I wrote this article for the March 13th St. Patrick’s edition of Expat Living in The Korea Herald] PDF of the article Here?s a little disclaimer before we start. None that follows is traditional. It is far from authentic. It is nothing like your Irish grandmother?s food. Yet it tastes good, and that?s all that matters, ...

Feed Your Face
2008-04-01 07:24:00
The main site may be in April Fools mode, but this post is no joke. Kim at Socius in Daejeon reports that The Face Shop is planning to launch a line of kimchi-based cosmetics that take advantage of the lactic acid and antioxidants in the “super food.” On top of that, the Chosun Ilbo says ...
More About: Feed

GOOD Magazine: Make Way for Bibimbap
2008-04-01 03:09:00
Sushi is so ’80s.  GOOD Magazine lists its top ten replacements for sushi as the next big food trends.  Bibimbap ranks as #6.
More About: Make , Good

Korean Celebrity Restaurants
2008-03-28 03:20:00
Cathy Rose A. Garcia and Han Sang-hee at The Korea Times have written an article detailing some major celebrity-owned restaurants in Korea, such as the super hyper health conscious Gorilla in the Kitchen from Bae Young Joon (still trying to be Korea’s freaky Michael Jackson), frequent Itaewon denizen Hong Suk-chun’s three restaurants in said neighborhood ...
More About: Celebrity , Restaurants , Out There , Korean

The Seoul Podcast is?Podcasting
2008-03-28 02:48:00
It took a few months of setting up.  We are proud to announce that the new Seoul Podcast is up and running with its inaugural episode “Reverse Culture Shock” with special guest panelist Karl from the original Seoul Survivors. Enjoy. -- ZKFJ
More About: Podcasting

Eat the Cookies, Not the Steak
2008-03-27 03:50:00
Joe at The Joshing Gnome was highly disappointed (understatement) about his experience at the Seven Springs steakhouse. -- ZKFJ
More About: Restaurant , Cookies , Steak

Iron Chef for the Nintendo
2008-03-11 01:51:00
Oh, this will be not be pretty… -- ZKFJ
More About: Nintendo , Chef , Iron

Eating on the Green Line?Supplement to SEOUL Magazine article
2008-03-10 03:38:00
My latest column hit SEOUL Magazine this month.  For a couple of months now, I have been given two pages instead of one and have been asked to include more specific places to go.  It’s a bit daunting because I work until 8:30 during the week, Seoul is thirty minutes away by subway, and the ...
More About: Article , Green , Supplement , Line

Slashfood Does Samgyetang
2008-03-10 02:14:00
Joe DiStefano of Slashfood talks about the restorative powers of the ginseng whole chicken soup, Samgyetang ???. -- ZKFJ
More About: Out There

AskMen?s Top Ten Spiciest Foods
2008-03-06 23:46:00
AskMen.com has posted an article on what it thinks are the ten spiciest foods in the world. Don’t worry.  Korea’s on there. -- ZKFJ
More About: Foods

The Looming Food Crisis
2008-03-05 03:20:00
A Choson Ilbo article is again pointing out that South Korea is unprepared for the worldwide grain shortage, especially when compared to Japan.  Japan has gone out and obtained swaths of cropland bigger than Japan itself to help it withstand any grain shortage.  Korea has very little in stores, way less than the FAO recommends.  ...
More About: News , Food , Crisis

How to Pump Up Slumping Fast Food Sales??
2008-03-01 02:05:00
Make it taste better! At least that’s one of the reasons that The Asia Pacific Post gave for the turnaround in fast food’s profits in South Korea this year after five years of decline. Oh, and breakfast. Basically, it says that chains like Lotteria and McDonald’s are finally having good business again.  They tried to get the well-being ...
More About: Food , Fast Food , Sales , Fast , Junk

Grits in Korea
2008-02-27 03:17:00
This is a blog supplement to my article appearing in The Korea Herald this week. Wow, it’s taken me two and a half years to get around to sharing one of the finds that was one of the reasons for starting the Food Journal. During the short stint where I tolerated–lived–in Seoul, I lived down the street ...

The Obligatory Space Kimchi Post
2008-02-25 15:53:00
I had mentioned a while back that researchers were working on space-friendly kimchi.  So when they finally came through with a product, I thought, well, okay–old news. But the unveiling of space kimchi is getting this story some more legs.  It was in The New York Times this past weekend.  Some part of me, though, feels ...
More About: News , Space , Post , Kimchi

Ne, Ne Chicken ????
2008-02-24 15:05:00
I was really craving fried chicken one night. Oh yeah, I had come across a post about BBQ and had written something about it. So, I came home and said I wanted some chicken. Fried. Eun Jeong wanted to try a new place that had opened and was advertising. The celebs ...
More About: Chicken

From ?Hallyu? to ?Illyu?
2008-02-23 03:20:00
Wow, The Korea Times beat me to it–at least in publication date.  I mention a little bit in my next SEOUL Magazine article about Japanese food culture starting to spread in Seoul.  Yes, I know, Japan is right next door, and it’s taken a long time–but there’s some fussy history there that kinda slowed things ...

The Golden Clogs Have Been Announced
2008-02-20 02:19:00
Anthony Bourdain’s and Michael Rhulman’s monstrous but strangely apropos concoction, the Golden Clog Awards, will have their premiere this year at the 2008 South Beach Food & Wine Festival.  Here are the nominees (from Eater.com) The 2008 Golden Clog Awards, Nominees and Honorees By their Greatness Shall We Know Them [Winners will be selected by Bourdain and Ruhlman alone, who may or may not consult with their advisory board of Next Iron Chef contender Michael Symon, journalists Russ Parsons in Los Angeles, Ed Levine and Jennifer Leuzzi in New York, and Dara Moskowitz.] THE FERGUS For greatest achievement in pork, and/or guts Nominees: Martin Picard of Montreal’s “Au Pied de Cochon”; David Chang of New York’s “Momofuku Noodle Bar and Momofuku Ssam and …”; Chris Cosentino of San Francisco’s “Incanto” THE ALTON For being on Food Network and yet, somehow managing to Not Suck Nominees: Duff Goldman for Ace of...

KH Article: Harnessing Love Through Spaghetti
2008-02-19 00:18:00
Here is my latest Korea Herald article, published on Valentine’s Day. Harnessing Love Through Spaghetti You still have a little time left. Don’t fret over some overwrapped, overpriced gift basket. In my world, the best expression of your love for someone is food. You can impress without being some master chef. Let me tell you a story: My ...
More About: Article

The KFDA Isn?t the Only One
2008-02-19 00:03:00
On the heels of the news that the Korean FDA is dragging its heels on recalling fish tainted with super-resistant bacteria, the US FDA is finally getting around to recalling and bringing charges against the slaughterhouse and employees depicted in a highly distributed video on the Internet. At least the US FDA is doing something about ...

Would We Be Safer if the Fish were American?
2008-02-18 15:51:00
Brendon Carr at Korea Law Blog brings up an on target point about the recent finding that one-third of fish randomly checked in Seoul supermarkets had “Golden Staph,” one of those superbugs that is resistant to conventional antibiotics.  The authorities said that they were “considering administrative measures including a possible recall.” (Pause.) Exhibit A: A miniscule bone ...
More About: Fish , American

The Deceptively Non-Kosher Pizza
2008-02-15 15:16:00
“New from Pizza Etang, the Jew Baiter Pizza!  Pork sausage, bacon, shrimp, squid, beef and cheese all heaped on leavened pizza dough and topped with a mayonnaise Star-of-David.” - Joe Mondello from The Joshing Gnome -- ZKFJ
More About: Kosher

DangMyeon Noodle Salad
2008-02-15 14:25:00
Australian blogger Anna at Morsels and Musings has come up with a recipe for Korean DangMyeon ?? (Sweet Potato Noodles) as a cold salad.  I gotta try this some time. -- ZKFJ
More About: Salad

Who Here Likes Sweet Potato Pizza?
2008-02-15 02:06:00
A Geek in Korea does.  When he first tried sweet potato pizza, he had the same reaction I did–and still do.  Now, I’ve been able to wrap my mind around toppings that Americans would think are strange.  In Germany, they served eggs, peas and unpitted olives on their pizzas.  I learned to live with that.  ...
More About: Pizza , Sweet , Potato

Roti Buns the New Trend in Korea?
2008-02-11 06:13:00
Annalog seems to think so.  She compares two roti bun shops that recently opened near each other. -- ZKFJ
More About: Korea , Roti , Trend , Treats

Celebrity-owned Restaurants
2008-02-10 01:37:00
Annalog has not had good experiences at Korean restaurants owned by celebrities. What is it with the bad quality of celebrity-owned restaurants? Last year, during my first season on EBS, our studio was located across the street from a celebrity-owned grill house in Singil. I think it was called EunHaeng Namu ?? ??.  I translate it ...
More About: Celebrity , Restaurants , Restaurant , Owned

The Wonderful World of Korean Food
2008-02-09 16:35:00
This video, produced by the Korea National Tourism Organization, won a silver medal at the New York Festivals event on Friday.  The narrator reminds me of the guy who dubs the chairman’s voice on Iron Chef. “If memory serves me right…” -- ZKFJ
More About: Video , Food , World , Korean , Wonderful