6 Things About Korean Food Culture (w/ Video)

In my 5 day trip to Korea, I learned new things about this country that I wouldn't have learned if I didn't have a local travelling with me. My favorite part is hearing the local's perspective on the city of Seoul and their way of life, other than reading about it from a tour book. This is a piece not about great food in Korea (I don't need to explain that any further, it's good!) but about the interesting things I noticed about food culture in Korea. Here are six (not five!) fun things about food in Korea.

1. Koreans share everything during a meal...your spoon, my spoon, our soup.

Dim Sum near D.C.

In this post I share 3 dim sum places near and in D.C. I have always enjoyed dim sum, those delicacies that come in small steamers, or petite plates of fried crispy goodness or stir fried freshness; crunchy, soft, hot, cold, seafood, veggies, ducks, pork, beef--oh, the variety! Since everything is so small and dainty, you order many of the dishes and share with your friends so everyone gets a bit of everything. Sip hot tea, and eat so many snacks that it makes a proper entree, lovely.

Cheap Eats in Madrid

Free tapas at El Tigre, a lot of chocolate and churros and San Gines, and the tourist packed San Miguel Market that is not cheap.
I didn't really go to any sit down proper restaurant kind of place when I visited Madrid because I had a tight budget. But I am going to share two yummy places that are inexpensive and will leave you pretty satisfied, too.

Recreating Flavors of Spain: Arroz a Banda (is not Paella)

On my last night in Spain, I wanted to take some food goods back with me to the U.S. Specifically, I wanted some easy prep type paella mix. Searching in the aisles of Corte de Ingles fancy department store style supermarket, one of the very few supermarkets that are open on Sunday, I found some paella goods. However, they were juices. Yes, big cartons of liquids, seafood and spice infused stocks in large juice like cartons. Many choices and brands were offered, all kinds of paella from the golden color kind to the black ones infused with squid ink. Carrying that much liquid would add too much weight to my luggage, but I could not find the powder kind I had wished for. Then I saw this: Arroz A Banda, it looks like paella, and it comes in a convenient pouch of powder! That was the only kind I could find in the super market, so I took two to take back with me to the U.S.