Collectivism through Korean food culture
November 23, 2008 2:12 AM Subscribe
Culture Clash Filter: Help me find information on Collectivism and Individualism reflected through Korean and North American food and restaurant culture.
I'm wishing to write an article about South Korea, and I would love some help brainstorming. Some examples I'm looking for are:
-Tipping culture common in the West but not the East.
-Soju culture
-Budae jjigae
-Koreans sharing one bowl of soup with many people
-Eating together or separately as a cultural norm
-Pepero Day
-Sharing side dishes
-Business done around meals
While I'm focusing on Korea, information of other cultures would also be appreciated.
Thanks for your help.
I'm wishing to write an article about South Korea, and I would love some help brainstorming. Some examples I'm looking for are:
-Tipping culture common in the West but not the East.
-Soju culture
-Budae jjigae
-Koreans sharing one bowl of soup with many people
-Eating together or separately as a cultural norm
-Pepero Day
-Sharing side dishes
-Business done around meals
While I'm focusing on Korea, information of other cultures would also be appreciated.
Thanks for your help.
I went out for hwe in New York with eleven friends last week. We ordered for the table, not for individual people. Is that the kind of thing you are looking for?
posted by billtron at 7:18 AM on November 23, 2008
posted by billtron at 7:18 AM on November 23, 2008
I'm not sure ordering for the table vs. ordering 'individually' is a very good example: I've been to Italian-American restaurants like Maggiano's which let you order 'family style'. I know a local barbecue place that does this as well.
I'm also not sure that tipping culture is West/East. My understanding is that in Europe, for example, tipping is not as common as in America.
posted by Comrade_robot at 8:21 AM on November 23, 2008
I'm also not sure that tipping culture is West/East. My understanding is that in Europe, for example, tipping is not as common as in America.
posted by Comrade_robot at 8:21 AM on November 23, 2008
Korean barbecue, where the diners grill the meat on tabletop grills - since there is only one grill, everyone has to agree on what meats to order, and I assume people take turns cooking for others too.
posted by hellopanda at 8:40 AM on November 23, 2008
posted by hellopanda at 8:40 AM on November 23, 2008
A couple observations:
While Westerners may eat communally in certain contexts (e.g. appetizer dish, or among close friends/ family) and Asians may occasionally eat individually (e.g. going out for noodles/fastfood), the norm is for Westerners to eat individually and Asians to eat communally. This is reflected in the way the food is prepared - Western dishes are generally self-contained, e.g. one big plate of steak, mashed potatoes, and fries, whereas Asian dishes are meant to be eaten as part of a greater meal - a big plate of meat, several vegetable side dishes, a big pot of soup, etc.
From my perspective, ordering for the table vs. ordering individually is more than just a "collectivism vs. individualism" thing. The more people eating together means you can order more dishes and spread the cost out more. So at a dinner with lots of people, you'd get to try lots of different things, and pay about the same as if you went out to eat with just one other person. If you don't like a particular dish the table ordered, you can always just eat the one or two dishes you do like. Whereas if you are eating individually, if you don't like the dish you ordered, you're pretty much screwed.
When Westerners eat "family style", some people have a tendency to first secure a large amount of food, then just eat from their own dish for the rest of the meal. Asians usually tend to eat directly from the main plates throughout the meal. There's also the issue of "timing" your eating, so you don't eat things up faster than everyone else, or lag so much that everyone is done before you.
I actually think Korean food culture is more individualist than, say, Chinese food culture. It seems pretty common in Korean restaurants to order an individual bowl of pork bone soup whereas your friend might order an individual bowl of kimchi stew, for example. In general I find Korean dishes more well-suited to be eaten alone. You could eat a plate of jae yook bokeum with rice and call it a meal, while it'd be pretty weird to go into a restaurant in China and only eat a plate of mapo doufu.
posted by pravit at 12:07 PM on November 23, 2008
While Westerners may eat communally in certain contexts (e.g. appetizer dish, or among close friends/ family) and Asians may occasionally eat individually (e.g. going out for noodles/fastfood), the norm is for Westerners to eat individually and Asians to eat communally. This is reflected in the way the food is prepared - Western dishes are generally self-contained, e.g. one big plate of steak, mashed potatoes, and fries, whereas Asian dishes are meant to be eaten as part of a greater meal - a big plate of meat, several vegetable side dishes, a big pot of soup, etc.
From my perspective, ordering for the table vs. ordering individually is more than just a "collectivism vs. individualism" thing. The more people eating together means you can order more dishes and spread the cost out more. So at a dinner with lots of people, you'd get to try lots of different things, and pay about the same as if you went out to eat with just one other person. If you don't like a particular dish the table ordered, you can always just eat the one or two dishes you do like. Whereas if you are eating individually, if you don't like the dish you ordered, you're pretty much screwed.
When Westerners eat "family style", some people have a tendency to first secure a large amount of food, then just eat from their own dish for the rest of the meal. Asians usually tend to eat directly from the main plates throughout the meal. There's also the issue of "timing" your eating, so you don't eat things up faster than everyone else, or lag so much that everyone is done before you.
I actually think Korean food culture is more individualist than, say, Chinese food culture. It seems pretty common in Korean restaurants to order an individual bowl of pork bone soup whereas your friend might order an individual bowl of kimchi stew, for example. In general I find Korean dishes more well-suited to be eaten alone. You could eat a plate of jae yook bokeum with rice and call it a meal, while it'd be pretty weird to go into a restaurant in China and only eat a plate of mapo doufu.
posted by pravit at 12:07 PM on November 23, 2008
Drinking culture in Korea -- the arcane and complicated system of pouring for one another at business and social dinner/soju sessions would be a good example, when contrasted with western styles, but that's probably what you mean by 'soju culture'.
Also, and this is mostly from my experience of business meals, but the location (center, lengthwise for the eldest/most important) of seating and the order are significant.
There's a rich vein in this topic to mine in terms of the relationship of the collectivist leanings of Korean culture (as expressed in terms of food and restaurant customs) and the linkage back to the importance of the family unit, and the homey ways (and the less savory, no pun intended, like the utter lack of male servers in food establishments) these are echoed and mirrored in the marketplace. The interesting contrast is, of course, to the accelerating disintegration of the traditional extended family unit here.
The 'Mom's Homemade Style Diner' food phenomenon, which was once so prevalent but has to a great extent disappeared in North America, is still alive and well in Korea.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:11 PM on November 23, 2008
Also, and this is mostly from my experience of business meals, but the location (center, lengthwise for the eldest/most important) of seating and the order are significant.
There's a rich vein in this topic to mine in terms of the relationship of the collectivist leanings of Korean culture (as expressed in terms of food and restaurant customs) and the linkage back to the importance of the family unit, and the homey ways (and the less savory, no pun intended, like the utter lack of male servers in food establishments) these are echoed and mirrored in the marketplace. The interesting contrast is, of course, to the accelerating disintegration of the traditional extended family unit here.
The 'Mom's Homemade Style Diner' food phenomenon, which was once so prevalent but has to a great extent disappeared in North America, is still alive and well in Korea.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:11 PM on November 23, 2008
To add to pravit and stavros and others:
Most of the food dishes that are eaten or prepared communally are those that are eaten when you hang out or go drinking or go talking -- that is, food as an explicit social event. Of course, this is not always the case, but it's a general trend. I'm thinking, specifically, the restaurants around the alleyways of myungdong or daehakro or shinchon or gangnam station or hongdae, etc, in which the food is usually accompanied with drinks, and people go out to eat in droves, for the express purpose of hanging out.
I'm also thinking of food such as grilled meat, sashimi/hwe, yes, but communal pans of fried rice (bokkumbab) or dakkalbi, or giant pans of ttukbokki, or specialty restaurants who will do enormous egg rolls (gyelanmari), etc.
Oh, and drinks are almost always always communal as well -- in my experience, hardly anyone ever orders a solo cocktail, really, unless the bar/venue is themed such, or it's a more intimate setting. There are pitchers of beer, bottles of soju, pressurized canisers of fruit soju, etc, etc, etc. Dessert, too: the Red Mango/Iceberry/shared-icecream-bowl phenomenon might be interesting to look at, as it's something that has transferred over to the US (On the West and East coasts, at least), albeit in a individualized, personal-serving-size form.
Of course, there are always exceptions. But it's my observation that the exceptions usually take place in restaurants that either a) aren't Korean, and thus follow the rule of the food's 'native' culture, or b) those restaurants that are less communal also tend less to be a group social destination, or c) the food involved is more of a hassle to serve communally and eat separately. For example, bowls of soup/stew/jjigae -- if they're not the small ones you eat after cooking meat, and you're all getting a bowl, then what's the point in getting a large bowl of soup and dividing it into portions at the table? In fact, in many restaurants, they boil the jjigae/guk in the bowl itself, which would make communal cooking more of a pain for the restaurant. Or: noodles, like jjajangmyun, in which it's just as easy to make two separate bowls than to have one large bowl -- what's the point? Et cetera.
posted by suedehead at 9:21 PM on November 23, 2008
Most of the food dishes that are eaten or prepared communally are those that are eaten when you hang out or go drinking or go talking -- that is, food as an explicit social event. Of course, this is not always the case, but it's a general trend. I'm thinking, specifically, the restaurants around the alleyways of myungdong or daehakro or shinchon or gangnam station or hongdae, etc, in which the food is usually accompanied with drinks, and people go out to eat in droves, for the express purpose of hanging out.
I'm also thinking of food such as grilled meat, sashimi/hwe, yes, but communal pans of fried rice (bokkumbab) or dakkalbi, or giant pans of ttukbokki, or specialty restaurants who will do enormous egg rolls (gyelanmari), etc.
Oh, and drinks are almost always always communal as well -- in my experience, hardly anyone ever orders a solo cocktail, really, unless the bar/venue is themed such, or it's a more intimate setting. There are pitchers of beer, bottles of soju, pressurized canisers of fruit soju, etc, etc, etc. Dessert, too: the Red Mango/Iceberry/shared-icecream-bowl phenomenon might be interesting to look at, as it's something that has transferred over to the US (On the West and East coasts, at least), albeit in a individualized, personal-serving-size form.
Of course, there are always exceptions. But it's my observation that the exceptions usually take place in restaurants that either a) aren't Korean, and thus follow the rule of the food's 'native' culture, or b) those restaurants that are less communal also tend less to be a group social destination, or c) the food involved is more of a hassle to serve communally and eat separately. For example, bowls of soup/stew/jjigae -- if they're not the small ones you eat after cooking meat, and you're all getting a bowl, then what's the point in getting a large bowl of soup and dividing it into portions at the table? In fact, in many restaurants, they boil the jjigae/guk in the bowl itself, which would make communal cooking more of a pain for the restaurant. Or: noodles, like jjajangmyun, in which it's just as easy to make two separate bowls than to have one large bowl -- what's the point? Et cetera.
posted by suedehead at 9:21 PM on November 23, 2008
There's a enthusiasm for picnicking in Korea which I haven't seen in any Western country. Koreans never, IMO, look as content as when a bunch of them are sitting around outdoors on a mat sharing food.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 12:48 AM on November 25, 2008
posted by Busy Old Fool at 12:48 AM on November 25, 2008
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