Never Challenge a Korean to a Soju Drinking Competition

And thank me later for saving your life

안녕! It’s Ari, your talkative Korean friend and weekend reminder 🎉 Today’s newsletter is about a kimchi kimbap recipe, what Soju means for Koreans, and a philosophical two-choice question. Let’s start!

🎧 You can listen to me read and chat on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or others.

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Sour Kimchi Kimbap You’ll Be Obsessed With

Koreans make kimchi in the beginning of winter and we store it in a kimchi refrigerator for the whole year. After about a few months of storing, it becomes soft and sour. Though fresh and new kimchi is great, sour and ripe kimchi tastes great too and it’s used for many Korean food. Sour kimchi kimbap is one of them. If you have kimchi that has been in your refrigerator for a few days actually most store-bought kimchi are already sour, canned tuna, mayonnaise, gim, sesame oil, and pickle, you’re all set! If you found kimchi too spicy to eat, you’ll love this food. Watch the above cooking video and try for yourself!

PLEASE EAT WITH INSTANT RAMYEON, I BEG YOU 🍜

Never Challenge a Korean to a Soju Drinking Competition

As I was researching for my newsletter, I found an interesting article titled, “10 Interesting Differences Between South Korea and the West” written by Theo Woodhead. One of the differences was about Soju, a Korean alcohol drink. He said,

One thing I found particularly remarkable is the sheer quantity of Soju drunk by South Koreans. You can’t really get a grasp of it until you come here, but it is common to see elders drinking Soju in the morning at a restaurant, on top of a mountain after hiking, and almost every weekend with work colleagues.

As a Korean myself, I can confirm that this is so true ㅋㅋㅋ Even though the latest trend between young Koreans is going to pubs less and drinking more non-alcohol, Soju is still deeply engraved in Koreans’ daily life. I would say it’s more than alcohol. It’s more like second water? for us. People often say we have Soju in our blood.

Besides from drinking it with breakfast, usually for curing hangover you read it right, it’s called 해장술, or after hiking or with work colleagues, Koreans drink this alcohol at an unexpected place: an ancestor’s grave. It’s an old tradition to prepare one or two bottles of Soju and/or some food whenever going to a grave. It’s like a gift drink/meal we give to our missed ones though they, of course, can’t eat so we eat and drink after the ritual. This is why there are DUI checkpoints near graveyards in the country around Chuseok holiday since it’s the time many Koreans visit graves.

img credit: 전자신문

Since it’s cheap, around 1.5 USD a bottle at a convenience store ☝, it’s loved by working class. People who do physical work like construction or farming, mostly men, often enjoy Soju with lunch or dinner. They let go of their stress and get energy to work tomorrow from Soju. For some Koreans, the drink reminds them of their father who was always drunk but worked hard for their family.

In Korea, drinking alcohol outdoors is allowed. So you’ll see many young Koreans drinking Soju with a cup noodle Please try this combination! or beer with chicken at Han river parks in Seoul. It’s pretty common that friends gather at a park and buy alcohol at a near convenience store and order delivery food. Though drinking near water can be dangerous and some say we should ban having alcohol near Han river, the parks are always full of people drinking and having fun, especially during summer.

Soju is a Koreans’ life. So just like Theo said in his blog post,

NEVER challenge a Korean to a Soju drinking competition, even the smaller girls will own you.

Learn Korean With Ari

Starting from today, Mic Drop will be changed as Learn Korean With Ari. I’ll give you a mini Korean lesson about vocabulary, grammar, or expressions. It’ll not be limited to K-Drama lines and K-Pop lyrics anymore. And there will be an assignment or quiz!

img credit in pic

Today’s lesson is about a viral question meme/tongue twister. It’s a very philosophical and dirty two-choice question that even K-pop idols are seriously debating over.

토 맛 토마토 VS 토마토 맛 토 “A tomato that tastes like puke VS puke that tastes like tomato”

Why do people love torturing themselves in an imaginary situation? I’ll definitely choose the former, btw Anyway, 토 means “puke, vomit (noun),” 토마토 means “tomato,” and 맛 means “taste.” When you read “VS” in Korean, you can say 대 /dae/. So the meme would read as, 토 맛 토마토 대 토마토 맛 토.

Quiz (Level: 🍰)

Besides from 토 and 토마토, what are two Korean words that start with 토? Hint: cute animal & weekend. Submit your answer via voicemail or comments. (Kor or mix of Kor and Eng) You can start your answer saying 토로 시작하는 단어는 which means “Word(s) that start with 토 is/are…” Due by 4 pm Wednesday, September 7th ET. Correct answers will be announced & shared on the next podcast episode!

Last thing I want to share is a new Subway commercial featuring Kang Tae-oh, the star of Extraordinary Attorney Woo. The commercial was inspired by his famous line in the series, 섭섭한데요 (That’s disappointing¹) It reads as "sub-sub-han-de-yo" in Korean. Subway Korea must've thought it's a good line to make its commercial with since it has two "sub"s. 😂

Thanks for reading! If you liked my newsletter, share with your friends or leave a tip ☝ to support my work. It’ll be very much appreciated! See you next week. 안녕!

1. The full line is, "Your heart doesn't race if we're not touching? Even when you're with me? That's disappointing."