Apple (Fruit) Is a New Status Symbol
A single 🍎 costs 14 USD
안녕, it’s Ari, your talkative Korean friend and weekend reminder. 🎉 I’m trying to bring back my podcast, the narrated and more talkative version of my newsletter. As I’m recovering much better from my hand pain, I feel ready to go back to the old days of torturing your ears with my terrible English. 🙂 It’ll be back in two weeks with a new Korean lesson if everything goes right. So stay tuned!
Today’s newsletter is about a viral rice dish, skyrocketing food prices in my country, and a fruity vocabulary lesson. Let’s start!
Olive Sausage Sotbap
This Instagram-worthy dish recently went viral in my country. It’s called Olive Sausage Sotbap. (“Sot” means “pot.”) If you like rice and sausage, you’ll love it. Here’s the rough recipe that I found on X:
1. Heat olive oil in a pot over low heat, sauté finely chopped onions and Spam until the onions are translucent. Add soaked rice and mix.
2. Pour an equal amount of chicken broth as rice, bring to a boil over medium heat for 10 minutes.
3. Add sausage and olives, simmer over low heat for an additional 10 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat, let it rest for 5 minutes, and drizzle extra virgin olive oil before serving.
If you like cheese, you can also add grated Parmesan cheese at the end. Watch the cooking video (whose recipe is slightly different from the above.) Bon appétit! 😋
Apple (Fruit) Is a New Status Symbol
Consumer prices are soaring to the extent that Koreans are shelling out more than 10,000 KRW or 7 USD (sometimes even 20,000 KRW 👆) for a single apple, surpassing the minimum hourly wage of 9,860 KRW. The surge extends to other fruits and vegetables; for instance, a watermelon hit 30,000 KRW or 25 USD in the summer, a zucchini costs 4,000 KRW or 3 USD, a pack of three cucumbers is priced at 7,000 KRW or 5 USD, and 5 kgs of Korean oranges amount to 48,000 KRW or 38 USD, as of February. (Prices can vary by regions and markets.) This inflationary trend has propelled South Korea to the top of the global apple price rankings (1kg) as of February 6th, with Sri Lanka and the United States following closely behind. 👇
The interim leader of the South Korean ruling party recently invited criticism by stating that Starbucks is not meant for working-class people. It’s not clear why he said it; people just assume that being super-rich and having never been part of the working class, he knows nothing about the life of ordinary people. Perhaps he would have escaped controversy if he had substituted Starbucks with apples, as the cost of an apple is more than double that of an Americano at Starbucks (4,500 KRW or 3.1 USD). The fact that the working class, predominantly earning the minimum wage, struggles to afford an apple even after an hour’s work suggests that the fruit certainly and unfortunately became a status symbol in the country.
P.S. What 44,000 KRW can buy in grocery shopping
Two X users, each living in Germany and South Korea, shared what 44,000 KRW (33 USD) can buy in the two countries, and their posts went viral. In the left picture, there are various fruits and vegetables, while on the right, there are none of them, except for 300 g of ground pork, 300 g of ground beef, a bottle of Heinz ketchup and allulose, and a bag of 500 g bread crumbs. What’s even more depressing for Koreans is that the left pic actually costed 1,000 KRW (0.7 USD) less than the right pic. 🫠 (The left pic costed 43,000 KRW.)
Mini Korean Lesson: Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola has introduced a K-pop-inspired edition of its zero-sugar drink called Coca-Cola K-Wave, flavored with "a burst of fruity-flavored K-Pop magic." The beverage features some Korean words written on it, as seen in the above picture. Let’s explore them!
코카 콜라 /koka-kola/
This represents the Korean pronunciation of the drink maker.
상큼한 /sang-keum-han/
It translates to “fruity.” This term can be used not only for taste but also to describe a person who appears fresh, lively, and bright. If someone calls you “상큼한,” it’s a compliment.
최애 /choe-ae/
This is slang for “favorite.” Among K-pop fans, it means “bias” or “favorite idol member.”
맛 /mat/
It means “taste” or “flavor.”
Thanks for reading! If you liked my newsletter, ☕️ buy me a coffee ☕️ to support my work. It’ll help me keep writing! I will be back the week after next. 안녕!
읽으면서 너무 놀랐어요... 저는 유럽에 살면서 다행이에요. 과일 너무 좋아서 과일 살 수 있어서 좋아요. 한국에서 사는 것은 힘든 것 같아요.
Dear Ari, just to let you know, that lost all of my last send while checking a Korean place name.
Understand may not be easy to fix up, but worth a warning.
Thankfully most of the email is still in my head.
Been reading a lot of your previous emails and stories.
Like your recipes a lot and some v adjustable to here.
But, listening a lot to your socio/polititical/ecomomic comment.
And while you live next door to the biggest apple producers in the world, wonder why your orchard products cost so high, and given you produce quite some yourself.
Maybe you should buy from Aussie, from places like Batlow, Stanthorpe and Tasmania, whc grow such great apples.
Your country battled at the cost of millions of lives in ferocious battle to maintain what looks like an Oligarchy and a struggling middle and lower paid class.
And to have the Starbucks comment made. Would like to meet him so I could pour a cup of coffee into his pants.
Know from family history that although a small force, Australian soldiers involved in some amazing battles in Korean War, esp in defense of Seoul, like the Battle of Kapyong , in battle with Canadians, US and NZ troops in the 1950's.
And millions of Koreans died in defense of where you now live, both as active soldiers but also civilian support eg like carrying things to the battlefield but had no armed support. The latter story is sort of forgotten
Could go on bit don' want to effect your site, too much.
So last is another question; do you know much about Australian music? And would you like to know a bit more? Could be trade as I would like to know more about Korean music and culture.
Cristoffa.