A Belated Happy Chuseok!
September 13, 2011 9 Comments
This is a little late as yesterday was Chuseok, but better late than never. Chuseok is like Thanksgiving here in Korea but it’s a really big deal of a holiday here. People travel to be with family and it far outweighs Christmas in terms of importance. A for time off work, one gets Chuseok off plus the days before and after. This has resulted in a four-day weekend for me. Can’t sneeze at that.
As is the custom, we get a small monetary bonus at work as well something that is considered kind of a cool thing here: Spam. People love it here and it is a completely appropriate gift. This gift box of Spam and oil pictured below probably ran about $30 and everyone at the office got one. I’ve never actually eaten Spam in my life so if I ever crack one of these cans open it will count as a new cultural experience.
The Spam in its own gift bag
The lovely gift box
The Spam motherlode and special oils
Happy Chuseok!
Oh. Em. Gee. That is probably the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.
Fascinating!
Happy Chuseok!
My reply could literally be a duplicate of Neta’s above! Very interesting…I do recommend you trying it just for the experience!
Happy Chuseok!
Amazing how one culture can deify what is reviled by another.
I wonder if that spam exported from here? Nice packaging that’s for sure. Maybe you could re-gift or sell on the spam black market. Hope all is well. Ele
A friend of mine and I actually did read the entire wiki page about Spam the other night and I think it was introduced to the country by American GI’s during the Korean War. There is, in fact, a black market for Spam but only for the stuff that is US military issue. My regular old consumer stash can be found in any supermarket or 7/11 here.
I’m JEALOUS! That’s fantastic. My fav. way of eating it growing up – heat up a small frying pan with some of that canola oil (or u can use butter). Just needs very little oil. Cut 2 slices of SPAM about 1/4″ thick. Place in hot oil and let it sear nicely without burning. While you are waiting for the searing on the first side… beat an egg to make scrambled egg. Season as you like (i would go light on the salt though.. Spam is pretty salty already). By this time you can flip over the spam to sear the other side. Then go put 2 slices of white bread in the toaster. Check the searing. Once it is nicely seared, remove from the pan and place on a plate. Put scrambled egg in pan (you probably don’t need any more oil) and make it like an omelette (or scrambled if you prefer). By this time while the omelette is going your toast should be done. Take out of toaster, place on plate, at a light coating of mayo or Miracle Whip. Place SPAM on the toast. Omelette goes on top. Cover with the other slice of toast. Cut diagonally and then enjoy! (total cooking time will be like 5 mins).
I LOVE it, Tim! I promise I will try this recipe (after I purchase a toaster) and I will get back to you on my opinion!
yikes – is there a high incidence of hypertension in Korea??? Delicacies are just _so_personal
Lol, Robin, I’m not sure. But the only Korean who has ever complained to me of health problems did say her problem was hypertension–so you might be on to something there.