How to Make Korean Friends Easily
It’s a piece of cake 🍰
안녕, it’s Ari, your talkative Korean friend and weekend reminder. 🎉 Today’s newsletter is about a healthy pork recipe, a secret tip to make Korean friends easily, and a mini curse lesson.
🎧 You can listen to me read on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or others.
Makgeolli-boiled Pork
Makgeolli is a milky, off-white, and lightly sparkling rice wine that Koreans have been drinking for over 2,000 years. It’s also a great food ingredient, especially for pork. Makgeolli suyuk, or makgeolli-boiled pork, is trending in the country lately. It’s super simple to make; just grill the outer layers of samgyupsal or pork belly in a pan and pour makgeolli into the pan. Add 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce and cook over medium heat until the pork is fully cooked and the makgeolli is reduced. After that, slice the pork into bite-sized pieces before serving. That’s it! You can enjoy this dish with kimchi or salad. It makes a healthy and yummy dinner for your weekend. Watch the cooking video (whose recipe is a little different from the above recipe) and try it for yourself. Bon appétit! 😋
How to Make Korean Friends Easily
With South Korea's general election less than a month away, the election campaign is heating up. Candidates are busy visiting stores in their electoral districts, asking for votes. Recently, a candidate for a district in Incheon visited a samgyeopsal grill place. He greeted customers and the restaurant owner, going from table to table. Then, a group of customers asked him to join them for some samgyeopsal. He didn't refuse; he picked up grilled meat and side dishes and ate with them. When he visits a market, he is offered food by market sellers. A random pedestrian gave him bread while he walked on the street. He livestreams his campaign daily so you can watch the videos on his YouTube channel. This happens not only because he is the most popular politician in the country, but also because food sharing is so important in Korean culture.
I learned this the hard way, even as a Korean born and raised in the country. When I was in college, I lived in a dormitory where I shared a refrigerator with my roommates. One day, my mother sent me some food, so I shared it with my roommates on the day the food arrived. But after that, I ate the food by myself. After a while, one roommate accused me of not sharing food after the first day. So, after that, I tried to share food every chance I had.
On the internet, there are many posts complaining about "selfish" or “heartless” roommates or colleagues who don't share food. Since food sharing symbolizes caring, the opposite implies being heartless. If you don't share food, it could damage your reputation, or worse, you could even lose a friend or colleague.
I think I may have scared you too much. You don't have to strictly share food with your Korean friends or colleagues. They will totally understand the cultural difference. Just take it as a tip to make Korean friends. Sharing food is one of the easiest ways to earn Koreans’ hearts and make them your friends. No matter how small the food is, even just a piece of cake 🍰, it’s more than enough. You have some online Korean acquaintances, so you can't share food with them? Don't worry. Just send them a picture of your lunch from time to time. It will have a similar effect to physically sharing food. They’ll love it 😋
Watch the next leveo of food sharing: 12 high school students making bibimbap together and sharing it at a hagwon.
Mini Curse Lesson: To All the Idiots I Have Encountered
Sometimes, you just can’t avoid encountering someone who says nonsense and spouts BS. This especially often happens in the current era of social media. But I’m happy to tell you that there are two useful sentences you can use to counter them. They are as follows (Warning: they are curse-level rude, so be careful when using them.)
머리에 우동사리만 찼냐?
This sentence literally means, “Is your head filled with only udon noodles?” It accuses the counterpart of having udon noodles instead of a brain in their head. “머리” (meori) means “head.”
뇌는 장식으로 달고 다니냐?
It means, “Do you carry your brain as an accessory (not as a functioning organ)?” “뇌” (nwae) means “brain.”
They are very commonly used, so keep them in mind in case you need them.
👄 Repeat the sentences with me on this week’s podcast.
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 next week. 안녕!
I love how you introduced a cultural aspect with both relevant news and a personal experience, it makes it so interesting 😊 i couldn't stop laughing at the last sentence example, but I wouldn't dare use it even for fun - I'm too scared of being rude in Korean!
Good Evening Ari, just home from an after hours nice event at QAGOMA (sort of big arts space in Brisbane Qld, Aus).
Very cool, as is your message.
So much to say perhaps; our city Brisbane, in governance, is bigger than both the whole State of Tasmania and the Northern Territory of Australia. And we vote tomorrow.
Liked your food ideas, v much. So will try.
And will have to talk about wild pork, sometime.
Aware I have not completed my answer to you, but can't check back now.
And , not sure if Rugby Union sport (mine) a big thing in S Korea, but sort of is here, as is Football obviously, my son's fav sport.
And Liking your language sends, and some comments later, if that is OK?