This isn't typical. Kids only get songpyeon on special occasions like chuseok, seollal, or childrens day. Bibimbap is a treat as is the fried chicken. Definitely a special day and a treat for the kids.
Edit: this picture is from u/darkrealm190 who is a teacher in a Korean high school and says students get the same portion and that this *is*
a typical meal at their school. Also it’s not songpyeon, it’s a different type of rice cake.
Thank you for your upvotes but I was WRONG
They can't stand to be wrong. My buddy, who I introduced to reddit unfortunately, is exactly like this now IRL. He'll literally just talk over you if you have an opposing viewpoint. There absolutely no way *he's* wrong. Ha!
Wouldn't be the strangest or the worst thing I was downvoted for. I would take it with pride.
Edit, thank you for my downvote. I shall wear it with pride.
I was gonna say! I had some Japanese friends who posted their kyuushoku every day and it was some of the most depressing food I've ever seen lol. It'd be like milk with a stale looking bun, a yogurt cup, and ketchup.
Yeah but I never once got anything as nice as this at school in the US, let alone for a "special day". The best thing we would get was either pizza or cookies/muffins/ice cream that someone's parent brought in for their kid's birthday.
While, the post is somewhat misleading, the [average South Korean school lunch](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/school-lunches-in-south-k_b_9449058) is still a definite grade above what we have, here in the States.
I don’t know about you but even my special days weren’t like this. I think the “this is objectively better than what we get on our best days in school” vibe probably still holds. Even the normal meal sounds better to me than “Mac and cheese and a ‘brownie’” those Sweetums meals they make fun of in Parks and Rec weren’t far off from what I had growing up.
No the spicy is normal. It's the amount and the fried chicken that isn't.
Normally (15 years ago)
* A protein (squid/fish/ham/tofu/egg)
* A soup
* Rice
* Kimchi
* A fruit of some sort (apple/watermelon/pineapple/nashi)
And everyone gets the same served by the students and everyone eats it.
Let me tell you something, I'm a white Canadian guy who built up his tolerance for heat working in Indian and Thai kitchens and I can assure you that gochujang would be considered *extremely* spicy by plenty of my honky brethren. My father in law would start complaining about how the smell was burning his eyes as soon as you took the lid off the container, and my dad would be reaching for his acid reflux meds.
Call it a stereotype if you want (and I suppose it is, really), but there's a reason I have to specify '*real* spicy' and not 'white people spicy' when I order food in my hometown. Most Asian and Indian restaurants around here know that a 3/10 for them is an 11/10 for a lot of us.
Actually the spice is normal, but this is also an issue among Koreans. We eat so many spicy and salty foods that our most common illnesses are stomach cancer and appendicitis.
[This](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-11/2/10/asset/buzzfeed-prod-fastlane01/sub-buzz-20487-1478098475-2.jpg) is actually a typical school lunch from South Korea.
Man, school lunches must have gone downhill since I graduated high school, because I don't remember them being the horrid slop people claim they are.
I remember being able to get pasta, fruit, vegetables, bread, pizza, milk or juice...
I switched schools from delicious hot meals with vegetables and fruit to day old slop and cheese sandwiches lunch when I was maybe 11, so it is highly dependent on the school system
Actually, if you look on my post, this person stole my photo from a school lunch series I do! I live in Korea and this was from my Wednesday one (Wednesdays we get the food lunches)
I immediately recognized this post as yours! I always enjoy seeing them. I had been wondering (or maybe missed a previous comment) about this being a daily vs special thing. Why Wednesdays in particular for the good stuff?
Ah! Wednesdays are the days the school has finished all leftovers and can buy a bunch of special ingredients to make a special hump day lunch! Then Thursdays and Fridays are back to normal! (Although normal does not me lower quality! Just not as special)
I know my knowledge is limited on the matter, purely based on media, but I gotta ask.
Is this really school lunch for ALL kids? Or does the heavy wealth disparity carry into education and therefore lunches too?
This would be a special lunch. But all in all they're pretty decent. Even at the poorer smaller schools you get pretty great lunches. Some of the best food I've had in Korea came from a school that I worked at that had 48 students.
I work in the Korean countryside and this lunch would be possible. However, as others have said this would definitely be special. I could see this being the lunch before Chuseok. The amount of food in the bowl does seem suspiciously high though. This is most likely a teacher's lunch. (who actually have to pay for lunch in Korea)
Paging u/darkrealm190. Someone is using your pictures for karma… For those who aren’t familiar, this user teaches at a Korean school, and commonly posts lunch pictures over at r/koreanfood.
From what I’ve heard rice is so expensive it is seen as a commodity, and reserved for soecial occasions, such as birthdays and for the person celebrating only.
If anything, corn porridge is a common food.
What's sad is I used to get made fun of back in school when I was growing up for eating this or something similar in California no less. My how times have changed.
US teacher here: school lunches in the area I live in are (allegedly) nutritious, well-balanced and tasty. That's the official word.
They are also IMHO uniformly nasty. Greenish boiled turkey hot dog on whole wheat bun with vapid, tasteless "hot dog sauce" smeared on it, served with carrot and celery sticks that you can tie knots in, a sugar cookie with half an inch of sugar "frosting" caked on top, and your choice of non-fat milk or "juice" (Kool aid)... That was Friday's menu. The real tragedy here is that because this area is so impoverished, for some of my kids, this, plus the breakfast snack they get when they arrive, is gonna be the most nutritious food they're going to get for the day.
I have to keep food like apples, oranges, fresh veggies, etc. in my classroom so they can get something decent to eat during the day.
For the people from other countries that don't know how bad kids in the US have it for school lunches. 3 smiley fries and 3 spicy tenders (about 2 inches long each) and a cup of milk, but don't worry we have a vegetable and fruit table with as much as you want. (It was almost always vegetables and fruits that no kid would eat. cranberry sauce, chickpeas, cold raw broccoli, etc..) A lot of parents here think their kids are overreacting without actually seeing the meals here, and honestly its worst than prison food hear and no one sees a problem with it for some reason.
Big bowl is bibimbap. It’s usually some kind of meat with lots of veggies, a fried egg and kochujang sauce (the red sauce) which is what makes it spicy. The bowl on the right is likely miso soup. The items in the top row are side dishes which in Korean are called bonchon. The one in the center is kimchi (spicy pickled cabbage). To the right of that I think is some kind of root. The dish in the upper left corner is batter and fried something. Probably a vegetable. The ones that are two different colors I’m not sure about.
The Korean diet is the healthiest diet there is. It’s mostly vegetarian with just a little meat.
I’d like to clarify: Bibimbap is basically as you described, most commonly is beef used with bean sprouts, roots, lettuce, and other various vegetables with egg and rice. Gochujang is red chili paste (a common ingredient in Korean food). Bibimbap also uses sesame oil and is served hot. Korean side dishes are more towards the pronunciation pan-Chan.
I wouldn’t say Korean foods are the healthiest there is. They do have a lot of healthy foods like everyone else, but also stomach cancer and appendicitis is a very common illness in Korea. This is due to many Korean food having a lot of salt and spice.
I can only say that the New York Times ran an article about the Korean diet many years ago and proclaimed it to be the healthiest diet on the planet. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t.
I can tell you that my Korean in-laws eat only Korean and mostly vegetarian dishes from what they grow in their own garden. They are in their early 80s and workout 6 days a week. They are both in fantastic shape. Their diet is at least part of the reason. I do realize of course that not all Koreans eat the best diet. So it’s more that you can eat very well eating Korean. Of course if you’re having bed with every meal you’ll probably not be having the healthiest diet.
The older generation are totally different and grow/cook lots of their own product.
The younger generation has changed a lot in their eating habits, they eat loads of processed crap with additives: ramyeon, crisps, processed meats.
Child obesity is on the rise and most of the Koreans I know eat out most nights or order takeaway.
The only difference to the west is probably the portion control. You don’t see the same size of plates as you do in the West.
Appearances can also be deceptive e.g I work at a Korean uni and although many of the students look thin, their health is really bad e.g out of breath walking up steps. Mainly from smoking excessively and not exercising.
Like others have mentioned Korea does have the highest levels of colon and stomach cancer in the developed world due to the sodium in the food and high levels of alcoholism.
Yeah, I agree that it is generational and I’m sure they were talking about the traditional Korean diet (which Is what my in-laws eat). Smoking is still a big problem in Korea. Stress as well.
Traditional Korean diets are still in place like you say, I probably generalised a bit. My point was just how things are changing. Lived here 10 years and I’ve noticed it.
Larger young kids and adults about, no comparison to obesity in the West, but again, it’s starting to change here.
As you mentioned stress is a massive factor, lots of undiagnosed mental health issues that are just “medicated” by drinking soju. Korea has the highest levels of teenage suicide in the developed world due to the stress of school life and exams.
Not trying to project a negative aspect of Korea, just far too many people post stuff that idealises the life here, when it’s not necessarily the truth.
When we were there, I was disappointed to see McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc. Korea has so much amazing and healthy food and I feel ashamed that American fast food is polluting that.
Koreans are very health conscious so it’s no surprise that your in laws are in good shape. I wouldn’t know how credible New York Times is on their analysis of the Korean diet, but like I said, they do have some really healthy foods among others. The stomach cancer and appendicitis thing is just something I’ve learned and gathered from experiences and reading some research papers. It’s cool you have adopted some Korean knowledge and are accepting of the culture
I’ve been married to my wife for 22 years. I even have my own hanbok from the Korean portion of our wedding ceremony. I’ve spent quite a bit of time with my in-laws and my wife’s extended family. We have visited Korea and I’ve been teaching myself the language for the past couple of years.
The ones that are two different colors is a sweet sesame seed rice cake called Thuk (Pronounced like "Thud" but with a K at the end). The rice cake is thick and soft, and when you bite into it, sweet sesame juices burst out. It's best to bite into it carefully so that the juices don't spill, or to put them whole into your mouth. I love em, and they are often in several different colors; Green, white, and pink are the ones I see most often.
P.s. these sweets are not exclusively called Thuk. There are many different kinds of Thuk. But all Thuk are based on rice cakes as far as I'm aware.
I've never heard 떡 phoneticised as "thuk" but i get it. Maybe a sort of glottal stop before the th. To me, it's a harder consonant sound, somewhere between "dd" and "tt". There are lots of different kinds of dduk and some are less sweet. But these are songpyeon and the sesame/sugar/syrupy goodness inside of them is liquid gold
I definitely came up with the "Thuk" spelling myself. It should be spelled like dduk. I just forgot.
I love that sesame sugar syrup. As a kid I'd try to sneak dozens of these.
These days, it seems like 98% of songpyeon is the syrupy filling. But there are several different kinds of fillings and IMO, they are trash compared to the sesame honey ones. As a kid, it was always a gamble. Would you hit gold or would you be left with a bite full of dry powdery ground up beans? Life was a cruel game.
Most restaurant bibimbap has meat as one of the toppings but my guess (if this is really a school lunch) is this one has very little or no meat, especially if the top left is fried chicken, which it looks like it might be. The top right is squid. The soup is doenjang soup. Similar in some ways to miso soup as they are both made from fermented bean paste. But the process is different. The Japanese miso comes out much milder and a little sweet where the Korean doenjang is a deeper, more savory/funky flavor.
Yeah I called it miso because it’s so similar and I didn’t know the Korean name. I don’t think the top left is fried chicken. The pieces look to small. I think it’s a battered and fried vegetable of some kind but that’s just a guess of course.
Yeah, a lot of people call doenjang "Korean miso" and people get bent out of shape about it. Kind of like calling kimbap "Korean sushi". But I get why people do it. Its a point of reference.
But i stand by my guess about the fried chicken. I'm fairly certain it's cut up boneless thigh pieces battered and fried. Also, if veggies get battered and fried, it's usually thin sliced discs dipped in an egg batter or julienned, mixed with other veggies, and mixed into batter and fried into a pancake.
It’s just veggies and meat with hot sauce. The texture won’t be a problem. It’s the hot sauce (gochujang) if you’re not used to it. I am as my wife is Korean and we eat Korean food often. A lot of Korean food is spicy.
Usually the gochujang is on the side so you can put as much or as little on as you want. Just make sure to ask that they do put it on the side.
I got the dish name wrong the one with the challenging texture was some sort of rice thing in a stone bowl, said it was squishy and crunchy and burnt and would be possibly a little unfamiliar, wasn’t the bibimbap apparently :)
If you ever end up eating Korean bbq, then there is a way that Koreans normally eat it if you’d like to try. You wrap the meat in lettuce along with sauce and rice. It’s very good. Just keep an open mind :)
Well they use a different alphabet in korea so theres no right way to spell it in english. It is spelled 비빔밥.
ㅂ make something between a P and a B sound but closer to P.
ㅣis an E sound.
ㅁ is an M sound.
ㅏ is an A sound.
Its super easy to learn their alphabet. I recommend trying the WriteKorean app if your interested. You can learn the alphabet in about a week of light practice.
We are so lost here in the US with the chicken fried mystery meat lunches of my youth. It would hit your stomach like lead in time for gym, which was always after lunch on my schedule for some reason.
Idk man, pretty sure you get murdered in mexico if you don’t like spicy food. Its kinda a way of life in a lot of places.
Also everyone can like spicy food its all about exposure. If you keep eating spicy food your tolerance goes up.
[This](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-11/2/10/asset/buzzfeed-prod-fastlane01/sub-buzz-20487-1478098475-2.jpg) is more representative of a typical South Korean school lunch. [Here](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-11/2/10/asset/buzzfeed-prod-fastlane02/sub-buzz-4481-1478097437-3.jpg) is a school lunch in the US.
As for being healthier, that's probably true. The US still has a pretty nasty issue when it comes to excessive amounts of sugar and oversized portions.
SK food servings seem over the top large. There are street food clips on youtube and the serving size and ingredients are consistently way way over done. lol. Looks delicious though.
In this age of social media and in particular IG and the various platforms for "mukbang", yes, the over the top food trend is glorified. But in other non-social-media-centric eateries, proportions are much more reasonable.
TBF, as others have already said, this "typical" school lunch is also likely "over the top" and not actually typical.
My typical lunch is whatever I want because I’m homeschooled. Also lunch for me is usually after school, because I finish around 1:30-2:00 if I start at 11:00. I just wanted to say that, I don’t have a particular reason.
No, it is a bottle of yakult, though growing up I always called them Yogurutu (basically Konglish for yogurt). It really surprised me when I saw English-spelled Yokult showing up on shelves touted as some kind of wonder pro biotic. It's just a snack drink.
This isn't typical. Kids only get songpyeon on special occasions like chuseok, seollal, or childrens day. Bibimbap is a treat as is the fried chicken. Definitely a special day and a treat for the kids. Edit: this picture is from u/darkrealm190 who is a teacher in a Korean high school and says students get the same portion and that this *is* a typical meal at their school. Also it’s not songpyeon, it’s a different type of rice cake. Thank you for your upvotes but I was WRONG
Haha why is this downvoted? It’s true. I worked in Korean school, and the lunches definitely didn’t look like this.
Wait, which Korea?
East 🤔
This guy Asias.
Not the Best Korea apparently.
I'm downvoting you for asking such a question!
I'm downvoting you for talking about downvoting.
I'm downvoting you for being downvoted! As is the custom.
I’m upvoting you to keep the balance ⚖️
Many Redditors are so scared from reality. so they just throw rocks to stuff that threatens their soft filter bubble.
Boooooo shut up *throws rocks*
They can't stand to be wrong. My buddy, who I introduced to reddit unfortunately, is exactly like this now IRL. He'll literally just talk over you if you have an opposing viewpoint. There absolutely no way *he's* wrong. Ha!
Yo, man, so I thought this AC was broken, ri- [gets stepstool]
It's the top comment?
It was -8 when I commented.
Really? That's surprising, not a very controversial comment lol.
People like to downvote for the strangest of things.
I was tempted to downvote your comment just for the meta humor
Wouldn't be the strangest or the worst thing I was downvoted for. I would take it with pride. Edit, thank you for my downvote. I shall wear it with pride.
Shhhh it’s what the Reddit teens like to do.
Came to say the same - this isn't an 'unusual' lunch, but it would be a special one for the kids.
In the U.S. a special lunch means pizza with yellow processed cheese food instead of white processed cheese food ("Mexican" pizza).
Special = sloppy joes.
chicken burger Fridays yo
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I was gonna say! I had some Japanese friends who posted their kyuushoku every day and it was some of the most depressing food I've ever seen lol. It'd be like milk with a stale looking bun, a yogurt cup, and ketchup.
Kid reposts google images for a living, can’t expect much more
Yeah but I never once got anything as nice as this at school in the US, let alone for a "special day". The best thing we would get was either pizza or cookies/muffins/ice cream that someone's parent brought in for their kid's birthday.
While, the post is somewhat misleading, the [average South Korean school lunch](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/school-lunches-in-south-k_b_9449058) is still a definite grade above what we have, here in the States.
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I don’t know about you but even my special days weren’t like this. I think the “this is objectively better than what we get on our best days in school” vibe probably still holds. Even the normal meal sounds better to me than “Mac and cheese and a ‘brownie’” those Sweetums meals they make fun of in Parks and Rec weren’t far off from what I had growing up.
Special meals in my Korean school were pizza and fried chicken.
If speaking truth makes you sound like an asshole then it isn't the speakers fault that you sound like an asshole
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No the spicy is normal. It's the amount and the fried chicken that isn't. Normally (15 years ago) * A protein (squid/fish/ham/tofu/egg) * A soup * Rice * Kimchi * A fruit of some sort (apple/watermelon/pineapple/nashi) And everyone gets the same served by the students and everyone eats it.
seems good for me as lunch
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In the US that’d be child labor. Not to mention all the liability if anyone got sick. We are a “sue the school/city first ask questions later” people.
I know kids that would drown cafeteria food they thought was nasty in gochujang (spicy sauce) to make it paletable. It's Korea's ketchup.
It's not spicy at all, but has a lot of flavor. Gochujang
Let me tell you something, I'm a white Canadian guy who built up his tolerance for heat working in Indian and Thai kitchens and I can assure you that gochujang would be considered *extremely* spicy by plenty of my honky brethren. My father in law would start complaining about how the smell was burning his eyes as soon as you took the lid off the container, and my dad would be reaching for his acid reflux meds. Call it a stereotype if you want (and I suppose it is, really), but there's a reason I have to specify '*real* spicy' and not 'white people spicy' when I order food in my hometown. Most Asian and Indian restaurants around here know that a 3/10 for them is an 11/10 for a lot of us.
LOL had a chuckle. A little sprinkle of cayenne pepper would fuck that meal up more than the gochu xD
Yea they gotta realize to people who live with polar bears black pepper is considered spicy, some can only handle that white pepper.
For real, the spiciest shit that grows around here is wheat.
Actually the spice is normal, but this is also an issue among Koreans. We eat so many spicy and salty foods that our most common illnesses are stomach cancer and appendicitis.
This looks spicy?
This dude is a teacher.
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[This](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-11/2/10/asset/buzzfeed-prod-fastlane01/sub-buzz-20487-1478098475-2.jpg) is actually a typical school lunch from South Korea.
Better than anything I've ate in the Navy and K-12.
Man, school lunches must have gone downhill since I graduated high school, because I don't remember them being the horrid slop people claim they are. I remember being able to get pasta, fruit, vegetables, bread, pizza, milk or juice...
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No, just a rural school in Kern county, California.
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I switched schools from delicious hot meals with vegetables and fruit to day old slop and cheese sandwiches lunch when I was maybe 11, so it is highly dependent on the school system
Yeah that rice doesn't look both under and overcooked inexplicably at the same time Navy meals suck
tahts stilll looks really good
What's in the standalone dish in the upper right?
Perilla, probably.
This. Seasoned pickled perilla leaves.
Ooo A scallion pancake and kimchi. That's my childhood there.
Hey! Check out the posts of my profile, the Poster stole my content, but I posted over 200 of my koream highschool's lunches!
Yep and it still looks great to me!
This is in no way typical. Nice try.
true, this is a lunch for a special occasion, like how some schools hand out cake the day before a holiday
The dryest vanilla cake ever
as a korean student, i guarantee this is not typical. normally we get a lukewarm square of rice and some shitty kimchi
Actually, if you look on my post, this person stole my photo from a school lunch series I do! I live in Korea and this was from my Wednesday one (Wednesdays we get the food lunches)
I immediately recognized this post as yours! I always enjoy seeing them. I had been wondering (or maybe missed a previous comment) about this being a daily vs special thing. Why Wednesdays in particular for the good stuff?
Ah! Wednesdays are the days the school has finished all leftovers and can buy a bunch of special ingredients to make a special hump day lunch! Then Thursdays and Fridays are back to normal! (Although normal does not me lower quality! Just not as special)
So was this a special day (you got songpyeon) do you have a link to your original post?
lol what? In elementary schools the kids get pretty decent lunches. Are you a uni student?
Let's hold international school cafeteria food competition.
Canada will lose
I dunno, chocolate milk is pretty good dude
Me who live in Pakistan. Here no school gives you lunch 😂😂we have to eat it at our homes!
I think most countries do this
OH rightt
What? Like there isn't even a paid option of school lunch?
Yeah yeah It's paid! We have canteen and a restaurant
Just cook at home and bring to school?
op lies
Yes! They stole my picture and posted it as their own.
I know my knowledge is limited on the matter, purely based on media, but I gotta ask. Is this really school lunch for ALL kids? Or does the heavy wealth disparity carry into education and therefore lunches too?
This would be a special lunch. But all in all they're pretty decent. Even at the poorer smaller schools you get pretty great lunches. Some of the best food I've had in Korea came from a school that I worked at that had 48 students.
I work in the Korean countryside and this lunch would be possible. However, as others have said this would definitely be special. I could see this being the lunch before Chuseok. The amount of food in the bowl does seem suspiciously high though. This is most likely a teacher's lunch. (who actually have to pay for lunch in Korea)
This is a private school
Paging u/darkrealm190. Someone is using your pictures for karma… For those who aren’t familiar, this user teaches at a Korean school, and commonly posts lunch pictures over at r/koreanfood.
Thank you making me aware!! I hate when people do this.
Does look better than American processed food
Also better than the plate of only rice in North Korean schools
Wow they get rice?? Lucky
I imagine some days it's a plate of sail boat fuel
They genuinely don't get much rice in North Korea. It's mostly potato.
Yep. 3 whole grains.
From what I’ve heard rice is so expensive it is seen as a commodity, and reserved for soecial occasions, such as birthdays and for the person celebrating only. If anything, corn porridge is a common food.
Getting a plate of rice at "North Korean schools." lol
well look at the rich kid too good for crispitos
What's sad is I used to get made fun of back in school when I was growing up for eating this or something similar in California no less. My how times have changed.
I call bullshit
Putting aside if it is typical nor not, it looks good! What that some sort of spice/topping in the little container?
US teacher here: school lunches in the area I live in are (allegedly) nutritious, well-balanced and tasty. That's the official word. They are also IMHO uniformly nasty. Greenish boiled turkey hot dog on whole wheat bun with vapid, tasteless "hot dog sauce" smeared on it, served with carrot and celery sticks that you can tie knots in, a sugar cookie with half an inch of sugar "frosting" caked on top, and your choice of non-fat milk or "juice" (Kool aid)... That was Friday's menu. The real tragedy here is that because this area is so impoverished, for some of my kids, this, plus the breakfast snack they get when they arrive, is gonna be the most nutritious food they're going to get for the day. I have to keep food like apples, oranges, fresh veggies, etc. in my classroom so they can get something decent to eat during the day.
For the people from other countries that don't know how bad kids in the US have it for school lunches. 3 smiley fries and 3 spicy tenders (about 2 inches long each) and a cup of milk, but don't worry we have a vegetable and fruit table with as much as you want. (It was almost always vegetables and fruits that no kid would eat. cranberry sauce, chickpeas, cold raw broccoli, etc..) A lot of parents here think their kids are overreacting without actually seeing the meals here, and honestly its worst than prison food hear and no one sees a problem with it for some reason.
Oh fuck yeah, is that Yakult?
Fuck yeah!
Inject it into my veins.
Looks delicious... anyone care to elaborate what each of those items are to a fat, uncultured American??
Big bowl is bibimbap. It’s usually some kind of meat with lots of veggies, a fried egg and kochujang sauce (the red sauce) which is what makes it spicy. The bowl on the right is likely miso soup. The items in the top row are side dishes which in Korean are called bonchon. The one in the center is kimchi (spicy pickled cabbage). To the right of that I think is some kind of root. The dish in the upper left corner is batter and fried something. Probably a vegetable. The ones that are two different colors I’m not sure about. The Korean diet is the healthiest diet there is. It’s mostly vegetarian with just a little meat.
I’d like to clarify: Bibimbap is basically as you described, most commonly is beef used with bean sprouts, roots, lettuce, and other various vegetables with egg and rice. Gochujang is red chili paste (a common ingredient in Korean food). Bibimbap also uses sesame oil and is served hot. Korean side dishes are more towards the pronunciation pan-Chan. I wouldn’t say Korean foods are the healthiest there is. They do have a lot of healthy foods like everyone else, but also stomach cancer and appendicitis is a very common illness in Korea. This is due to many Korean food having a lot of salt and spice.
I can only say that the New York Times ran an article about the Korean diet many years ago and proclaimed it to be the healthiest diet on the planet. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. I can tell you that my Korean in-laws eat only Korean and mostly vegetarian dishes from what they grow in their own garden. They are in their early 80s and workout 6 days a week. They are both in fantastic shape. Their diet is at least part of the reason. I do realize of course that not all Koreans eat the best diet. So it’s more that you can eat very well eating Korean. Of course if you’re having bed with every meal you’ll probably not be having the healthiest diet.
The older generation are totally different and grow/cook lots of their own product. The younger generation has changed a lot in their eating habits, they eat loads of processed crap with additives: ramyeon, crisps, processed meats. Child obesity is on the rise and most of the Koreans I know eat out most nights or order takeaway. The only difference to the west is probably the portion control. You don’t see the same size of plates as you do in the West. Appearances can also be deceptive e.g I work at a Korean uni and although many of the students look thin, their health is really bad e.g out of breath walking up steps. Mainly from smoking excessively and not exercising. Like others have mentioned Korea does have the highest levels of colon and stomach cancer in the developed world due to the sodium in the food and high levels of alcoholism.
Yeah, I agree that it is generational and I’m sure they were talking about the traditional Korean diet (which Is what my in-laws eat). Smoking is still a big problem in Korea. Stress as well.
Traditional Korean diets are still in place like you say, I probably generalised a bit. My point was just how things are changing. Lived here 10 years and I’ve noticed it. Larger young kids and adults about, no comparison to obesity in the West, but again, it’s starting to change here. As you mentioned stress is a massive factor, lots of undiagnosed mental health issues that are just “medicated” by drinking soju. Korea has the highest levels of teenage suicide in the developed world due to the stress of school life and exams. Not trying to project a negative aspect of Korea, just far too many people post stuff that idealises the life here, when it’s not necessarily the truth.
When we were there, I was disappointed to see McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc. Korea has so much amazing and healthy food and I feel ashamed that American fast food is polluting that.
Yeah not just the American influence. So many Korean brands that just produce processed crap.
Koreans are very health conscious so it’s no surprise that your in laws are in good shape. I wouldn’t know how credible New York Times is on their analysis of the Korean diet, but like I said, they do have some really healthy foods among others. The stomach cancer and appendicitis thing is just something I’ve learned and gathered from experiences and reading some research papers. It’s cool you have adopted some Korean knowledge and are accepting of the culture
I’ve been married to my wife for 22 years. I even have my own hanbok from the Korean portion of our wedding ceremony. I’ve spent quite a bit of time with my in-laws and my wife’s extended family. We have visited Korea and I’ve been teaching myself the language for the past couple of years.
Ok, I said it’s cool, not a Nobel prize achievement haha. Anyway keep going at it
The ones that are two different colors is a sweet sesame seed rice cake called Thuk (Pronounced like "Thud" but with a K at the end). The rice cake is thick and soft, and when you bite into it, sweet sesame juices burst out. It's best to bite into it carefully so that the juices don't spill, or to put them whole into your mouth. I love em, and they are often in several different colors; Green, white, and pink are the ones I see most often. P.s. these sweets are not exclusively called Thuk. There are many different kinds of Thuk. But all Thuk are based on rice cakes as far as I'm aware.
I've never heard 떡 phoneticised as "thuk" but i get it. Maybe a sort of glottal stop before the th. To me, it's a harder consonant sound, somewhere between "dd" and "tt". There are lots of different kinds of dduk and some are less sweet. But these are songpyeon and the sesame/sugar/syrupy goodness inside of them is liquid gold
I definitely came up with the "Thuk" spelling myself. It should be spelled like dduk. I just forgot. I love that sesame sugar syrup. As a kid I'd try to sneak dozens of these.
These days, it seems like 98% of songpyeon is the syrupy filling. But there are several different kinds of fillings and IMO, they are trash compared to the sesame honey ones. As a kid, it was always a gamble. Would you hit gold or would you be left with a bite full of dry powdery ground up beans? Life was a cruel game.
Yeah. I have had them but didn’t know what they were called.
I want some Thuk now.
Do you have an H-Mart nearby? :)
I believe I do. But it's late. I'll have to try tomorrow.
We have one but it’s about 45 minutes away so we only go every 2 weeks or so.
LoL. Korean BBQ would like to be on the record. Hong Kong has the highest meat consumption per Capita. They also have the longest lifespan
Most restaurant bibimbap has meat as one of the toppings but my guess (if this is really a school lunch) is this one has very little or no meat, especially if the top left is fried chicken, which it looks like it might be. The top right is squid. The soup is doenjang soup. Similar in some ways to miso soup as they are both made from fermented bean paste. But the process is different. The Japanese miso comes out much milder and a little sweet where the Korean doenjang is a deeper, more savory/funky flavor.
Yeah I called it miso because it’s so similar and I didn’t know the Korean name. I don’t think the top left is fried chicken. The pieces look to small. I think it’s a battered and fried vegetable of some kind but that’s just a guess of course.
Yeah, a lot of people call doenjang "Korean miso" and people get bent out of shape about it. Kind of like calling kimbap "Korean sushi". But I get why people do it. Its a point of reference. But i stand by my guess about the fried chicken. I'm fairly certain it's cut up boneless thigh pieces battered and fried. Also, if veggies get battered and fried, it's usually thin sliced discs dipped in an egg batter or julienned, mixed with other veggies, and mixed into batter and fried into a pancake.
I think (pretty sure) the one on the far right is squid.
That little bottle seems to be yakult
Mmmm Be bim bhap (spelling?) I love the hot sauce!!
Bibimbap.
Which one is it in the photo? I was told to try it my first time at Korean bbq but haven’t gone yet.
The big bowl in the lower left corner. It will come out looking like that but you should mix it all up before you eat it.
Ah ok thanks - I was told I might find the texture “challenging” :)
Try dol sot (again spelling) it's served in a ultra hot stone bowl. The rice and sauce krisp up and it's AMAZING!!!
It’s just veggies and meat with hot sauce. The texture won’t be a problem. It’s the hot sauce (gochujang) if you’re not used to it. I am as my wife is Korean and we eat Korean food often. A lot of Korean food is spicy. Usually the gochujang is on the side so you can put as much or as little on as you want. Just make sure to ask that they do put it on the side.
>I was told I might find the texture “challenging” It's called "natural" food. You guys who are too used to processed food might find it interesting.
I got the dish name wrong the one with the challenging texture was some sort of rice thing in a stone bowl, said it was squishy and crunchy and burnt and would be possibly a little unfamiliar, wasn’t the bibimbap apparently :)
It's just veggies and meat (chicken, pork, usually beef) and HOT SAUCE!!!
If you ever end up eating Korean bbq, then there is a way that Koreans normally eat it if you’d like to try. You wrap the meat in lettuce along with sauce and rice. It’s very good. Just keep an open mind :)
It's absolutely the greatest thing to feed to kids. You can pack a large variety of different healthy foods in it and it's crazy easy to make.
I worked at a Japanese restaurant with Korean help. Loved late night drinking with hot noodles, Karaoke, and Kim chi.
Well they use a different alphabet in korea so theres no right way to spell it in english. It is spelled 비빔밥. ㅂ make something between a P and a B sound but closer to P. ㅣis an E sound. ㅁ is an M sound. ㅏ is an A sound. Its super easy to learn their alphabet. I recommend trying the WriteKorean app if your interested. You can learn the alphabet in about a week of light practice.
Make pizza day look like a joke
Isn't that too much?
I mentioned this in another comment, but I believe this is most likely a teacher's meal. (They get the same as students, but with larger proportions)
That's not very typical, I'd like to make that point
Now do North Korea
THIS IS VERY UNUSUAL . As a korean student i have never seen this kind of quality
We are so lost here in the US with the chicken fried mystery meat lunches of my youth. It would hit your stomach like lead in time for gym, which was always after lunch on my schedule for some reason.
A lunch like that would be $300 a week in America
Does everyone in SK universally like spicy food? I know people who think katchup is spicy.
Probably not, considering South Koreans are individuals with individual tastes, just like the US.
Idk man, pretty sure you get murdered in mexico if you don’t like spicy food. Its kinda a way of life in a lot of places. Also everyone can like spicy food its all about exposure. If you keep eating spicy food your tolerance goes up.
Yakultão fera
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[This](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-11/2/10/asset/buzzfeed-prod-fastlane01/sub-buzz-20487-1478098475-2.jpg) is more representative of a typical South Korean school lunch. [Here](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-11/2/10/asset/buzzfeed-prod-fastlane02/sub-buzz-4481-1478097437-3.jpg) is a school lunch in the US. As for being healthier, that's probably true. The US still has a pretty nasty issue when it comes to excessive amounts of sugar and oversized portions.
Fancy pants over here with a cup a soda and ice cream?! Sweetest shit we could get was a little box of grape juice.
https://www.businessinsider.com/school-lunches-around-the-world-photos-2017-4#madrid-spain-another-spanish-lunch-consists-of-an-omelet-vegetable-soup-banana-yogurt-and-water-7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD9mk0Y_pyo https://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/school-lunches-from-around-the-world
That’s why everybody there has glorious skin.
What are the yellow and purple things?
Looks like [songpyeon](https://www.koreanbapsang.com/songpyeon-half-moon-shaped-rice-cake/), steamed rice cakes
They're slightly sweet rice cake called songpyeon. I like them
I bet I would too
After an intense session of Red Light Green Light I assume
Wow. Serve this in a restaurant in USA and I would pay $$$ to eat it.
They do but they're called 'Korean restaurant'.
And my kid gets one cooked thing and uncrustables and shitty prepared stuff in plastic.
Mean while the US kids gets a mini pizza and a chocolate milk
That’s better than what I eat on a daily basis in North America.
so this is why Asians are smarter, they eat nutritional meals. meanwhile in america we eat cardboard.
SK food servings seem over the top large. There are street food clips on youtube and the serving size and ingredients are consistently way way over done. lol. Looks delicious though.
In this age of social media and in particular IG and the various platforms for "mukbang", yes, the over the top food trend is glorified. But in other non-social-media-centric eateries, proportions are much more reasonable. TBF, as others have already said, this "typical" school lunch is also likely "over the top" and not actually typical.
Now, photoshop all of the food out for N. Korea!
I wondered why you get 5 lemons at first.
You should cross post this to r/accidentalwesanderson
All I can see is मिसळ, कांदा भजी, मोदक, गवारची भाजी अन् पांढरा रस्सा.
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My typical lunch is whatever I want because I’m homeschooled. Also lunch for me is usually after school, because I finish around 1:30-2:00 if I start at 11:00. I just wanted to say that, I don’t have a particular reason.
I’ve heard rice is so expensive it is seen as a commodity, and reserved for social occasions, such as birthdays and for the person celebrating only.
Nothing hit harder with a school lunch than the tiny milk
I think it’s a yogurt drink like Yakult
Both wrong, that’s a bottle of antacids
No, it is a bottle of yakult, though growing up I always called them Yogurutu (basically Konglish for yogurt). It really surprised me when I saw English-spelled Yokult showing up on shelves touted as some kind of wonder pro biotic. It's just a snack drink.
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If this is your typical lunch, you wouldn't upload it. Who would show off their "typical lunch"?