Monday, February 13, 2012

Guide to Korean Groceries- Normal vs. Fake


Outside Emart
I've been in Korea for a few weeks now. I've visited two different markets- Emart and Lotte. Emart is about a 15-20 minute walk away from the apartment while Lotte is only 5 minutes away. 
I am used to Sobeys and the Atlantic Superstore, where I get lost if they rearrange the aisles suddenly, so navigating through markets where all the products and signs are in illegible characters is quite scary for me. 
It's especially frustrating to be foreign here because if you cannot find an item and ask for help, they don't understand you. You then spend the next 10 minutes playing a not-so-fun game of charades trying to explain what you need and not understanding a word that they say back to you. I've personally just given up on asking for help, it's much easier to go into huntress mode and hunt down the items for yourself.




 Okay so here is a walk-through of how to do groceries in Korea. After walking in and usually being greeted by a worker or two bowing politely and saying  안녕하세요 "annyeong haseyo" your next goal is to find a cart or basket. (Bowing is part of Korean culture. It's a sign of respect and is as normal to them as smiling or shaking hands is to Western society. Although Koreans are forgiving of foreigners breaking to bowing rules of etiquette, it's probably a good idea to smile and bow back. I always do.)
Back home, if you forget to grab a cart on your way into a store it's not a huge deal, you can always grab one that someone left behind in a aisle. In Korea, people always put things back in their place. There are no carts or baskets hiding in the aisles for you to take advantage of. 



In the picture below you will see what I have started calling the 'cart station'. The big blue box is a UV clean sterilizer system. They sterilize all the carts before the next person uses it. I think this is a great idea! A wonderful way to stop the spreading of seasonal colds and bugs that hit a community. You will also notice below little chains locking the carts together and beside the little chain is a slot to insert a coin. It's pretty self-explanatory, you insert a 100 won coin (about 9 cents Canadian) and it releases the cart. Your coin stays in the cart until you return it to the cart station and put the chain back into it's slot, then it gives you your coin back. This is an inventive way of keeping all of the carts sanitized. It makes sure they get put away and none are left in the middle of the parking lot.

Cart Station


If you happen to forget to bring a coin I have found that most times a Korean salesperson standing by the carts usually has a pocket full of them and is willing to lend one to you. Another option is using a basket. Baskets are green and can be found neatly stacked near the carts. 

I am a fan of the carts in this country this is why: 


LOOK NO HANDS!!! 
Markets have several floors. Instead of using elevators or stairs they use conveyor belts. It's much easier to maneuver a cart on a conveyor belt than an elevator or -God forbid- the stairs. My favorite part about these carts is that they magically (probably magnetically) attach themselves to the conveyor belt so you don't have to hold onto them (also so that rude people don't try to push their way past you and run you over). 
Speaking of rude people, if you plan on standing on an escalator or conveyor belt it's best to stand on the right hand side. The left side is generally used for people in a hurry that want to walk ahead. If you accidentally stand on the wrong side, you WILL get pushed out of the way. In Canada we are used to people saying "Excuse me" or "Pardon me" but in Korea they do not excuse themselves or apologize for anything. Their culture has a huge 'shame' factor and a Korean wouldn't be comfortable with apologizing especially for something as small as asking someone to move out of the way. 


I usually head right to the international section of the market. I am so happy that they have Heinz ketchup in South Korea, you have no idea. As you can see in the picture below, Americans and Mexicans mostly eat beans, pickles, peanut butter, ketchup, maple syrup and steak sauce. (That was sarcasm in case you missed that.) Surprisingly most items are priced the same as they would be back home. The only expensive item I've bought so far is Maple Syrup at that was around $20 Canadian. 


The products vary from week to week so it's hard to get a normal, easy grocery. One of the things that remain constantly available are eggs. 

Fun yellow chicken statue on egg display


The selection of fresh fruit and vegetables is considerably less than in the stores in Canada. Most of the things you will find won't even be that fresh and will spoil fast so I started freezing most of the food I buy.


 I have no idea why these apples and oranges and lemons are so expensive 89, 800 won is roughly $90 Canadian. Maybe they are made out of gold? Maybe it is because they are individually wrapped and look clean? Who knows? If you keep looking though, it's fairly easy to find a bag of apples for under 10,000 won ($10 CAD). The cheap apples may be a little bruised and dirty but come on.. I'm from a country that you can grow your own damn apples in your backyard if you feel like it, I'm not paying $90 for fancy fruit.



Hot dogs. What I wouldn't give for a good smoked, normal, hot dog. Here they are called 'Franks' or 'sausages'. As you can see in the picture, they are never made from 100% pork or beef. They are always a chicken/pork mixture. Package reads Classic pork franks then underneath the fine print reads made with chicken and pork. I've found that buying Bullseye BBQ sauce from the international aisle and adding it to the hot dogs gives it a smokier taste that can be more enjoyable. 
Cereal. Here's the part where I tell you that in Korea, they like to make fake versions of our beloved western food that taste horrible and are nothing like the versions that we love so dearly. 
Nesquik has been mutated to tater-shapes and Froot Loops have become Froot Ring. See how close the boxes are to the Canadian version of the product? They taste nothing similar. 







Cheetos. Yup, they ruined them too. How can you screw up processed powder cheese? I don't know but Korea figured it out. The smell from this non-eaten bag of chips stunk up the whole apartment. The yellow (not even orange) sticks didn't even taste like cheese, they tasted sweetened. 


Korea is a very alcohol-friendly place. You can get alcohol at corner stores, grocery stores, or any restaurant on the street. Alcohol is extremely cheap, even the imported stuff. Alcohol is something they managed to not ruin. Corona (Korean version) tastes just as good as I remember. They also have my favorite Australian white wine here from Yellow Tail.


































Evil spatula says "Mouha you burnt your food"


Yes, they do sell Smirnoff Ice here in Korea. They also have Smirnoff Black Ice, not sure what it is yet, I will have to try it and let you know. 
The most popular alcohol to drink in Korea is Soju, which I have yet to try.
(www.wikipedia.org)    
(hangul: 소주; hanja: 燒酒), a clear, slightly sweet distilled spirit, is by far the most popular Korean liquor. It is made from grain or sweet potatoes and is generally inexpensive. It typically has an alcohol content of 40 proof (20% alc. by volume). There is a version with top notch ingredients distilled using traditional methods that hails from the city of Andong that is 90 to 100 proof. This version has a government protection/regulation seal, as Andong has historically been known as a fine soju center among other things. While all soju in Korea are priced almost identically (inexpensively as previously mentioned), Andong soju commands more than 20 times that price. It is the cognac to commercial soju's vin du pays. In the late 20th century soju flavored with lemon or green tea became available. The Japanese version is called Shōchū.




Like many of the Superstore's from Atlantic Canada, Korean Emarts and Lotte marts have sections devoted to cutlery and dishes, clothing, beauty products, electronics, even a pet section. Shortly after arriving in Korea, we went kitchenware shopping to get a wok, some utensils, spatulas etc. There was an obscene amount of kitchenware devoted to Hello Kitty. I took a picture of this spatula because it made me happy. 






Sign right outside Emart



The picture to the right is a little blurry, I apologize, but it was supposed to be to show you what types of stores/restaurants that can be found inside an Emart. You can't read it but there is a Popey's Chicken, McDonalds and Starbucks on the sign. 


This Starbucks is located right outside the main entrance of Emart. I have yet to try the coffee. I am a little scared that it will be horrible and ruin Starbucks for me. I'm way too in love with Starbucks coffee to risk loosing it. Even if I were to go inside, could the Korean working really understand my order? Venti Triple Caramel Mochiado with extra drizzle? Especially when I had trouble finding a Korean worker who understood 'nail polish remover' with the help of my ever so clever charade skills. Hmm that's a thought I might just video tape my next charade session and post it here so you can see just how ridiculous one looks trying to communicate in a foreign land.

Right outside Emart


 Gracie Premium Chocolate Macadamia.. My favorite chocolate in Korea as of yet. Tastes like a homemade chocolate truffle with a crunchy interior. I have no idea where to buy it because it was a gift from one of Hyper's students but I want more!

Another one of my new Korean chocolate favorites is Pepero. It's so popular it even has it's own holiday, Pepero Day. It's similar to Valentine's day and held on November 11th (since 11/11 resembles four sticks). Couples give their crush or loved ones a box of Pepero. There are many different flavors but I've only tried two: Peanut and Almond.  The picture on the left is a box of the peanut Pepero sticks. It's very similar to the Japanese Pockey sticks and Japanese Pockey Day, but Pockey Day isn't as popular as Pepero Day.


If you are a fan of Banana-flavored products and happen to come to South Korea at some point. You may be temped to try their banana products. I have heard the banana milk is exquisite (this I will have to try out as well). The picture to the left... do not be tempted to buy it.  It can be found in the Emarts and Lottes around town and you are supposed to add a little tablet to milk for an instant banana treat. It's gross trust me.. just pain wrong.
Baking products. Oh the joy.. Not. I love cooking. It's one of my hobbies. Being unemployed here I have a lot of extra time to put into cooking which would be awesome if not for two factors. 1- I do not have a stove. 2- Korea lacks the basic baking products. I'm still on the hunt but I've had trouble finding things such as corn starch, baking soda, powdered sugar, and semi-sweet chocolate. The picture to the right is of 'baking chocolate'. They are mini-chips but not the semi-sweet like I was searching for, more like a sweet milk chocolate taste to them. They are still very tasty and I have used a whole bag already. I must mention I was extremely delighted to find powdered Cinnamon though! 


Another gift from Hyper's students was Taster's Choice Supremo instant coffee. It comes with sugar and whitener inside each individual packet. Thanks to a friend's advice from Canada, I have perfected my morning coffee routine. 

1- Put 3/4 milk, 1/4 water in coffee cup and microwave for 1 minute.
2- Add packet and stir
3- Sprinkle cinnamon and stir

4- Enjoy almost-cinnamon latte


Frozen Chicken Nuggets
 Frozen chicken nuggets can apparently be successfully cooked in a wok with corn oil. Ever been to Costco? Love the demo ladies that cook you food and explain the wonders of the product and how to cook it? Another reason why I wish I understood Korean; they have demo ladies here as well but I don't understand what I'm eating or how to cook it or how expensive it is. One lady knew enough English to say "Chicken Nugget? Good! Good! Try!" So we tried it and she motioned where they were located. We bought them because they were tasty and on sale, 3 bags taped together for the price of one. Not quite the same as Canadian nuggets, but pretty tasty nonetheless. 

 This is the milk we buy. They come in very small cartons so we usually end up buying 3 per week. Hyper likes it because it tastes like Baxter's skim milk. I like it because it's cute and pink. Come on, what's not to love about waking up in the morning and grabbing a super cute pink carton to help make your coffee? Yes, I'm such a girl.. shush 



Stick butter and margarine I have yet to see any signs of. I don't think butter is a very big thing in Asia. They tend to do most of the cooking with oils. However you can find good ole' American I can't believe it's not butter though. Gotta love fake butter!


Yes, that's a toy dispenser and
yes, it's full of Pokemon toys.


 In the Lotte by my apartment, there is a food court. It's located right by the main entrance right before you leave the building. Inside is a Japanese restaurant, a Korean restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, a burger place and a KFC. I've only ever tried the KFC and an ice cream from the burger place. At KFC there are two types of chicken; original and crispy hot. Not knowing they injected hot sauce into the crispy chicken I ordered it. It's different but still pretty tasty. I stick with the original now or the chicken tenders. 









Right outside the food court there is a huge fake food display to show you dishes from each restaurant (except the burger place and KFC). What you do is tell the person behind the counter what number plate you want and pay for it, then she goes into the food court and gets it for you to go. It's a handy system for take-out food. All the food looks strange to me so I haven't worked up the courage to actually order any yet. 

 As promised, here is a (blurry) picture of the cash registers. No difference in the way the lines work than in Canada. One way to save money at these stores is they have a points card and once in awhile they will point to the screen to show you you have enough points to get a discount. I'm not exactly sure how it's calculated or how it works but Hyper has one so we use it. If you picked up an item and the UPC code is malfunctioning they just put it aside and you don't get to buy it. They don't go out of their way to help you at all. Example: We picked up some potatoes at Lotte the other night and bagged them. When we went through the checkout, the lady said something in Korean, made an 'X' symbol with her arms and put them aside. The store was closing so we didn't get a chance to figure out what we did wrong and try to purchase different ones. Another thing that's different you have to ask for a bag (I do believe it costs extra) and they never ever bag it for you. It's a self bagging/boxing system. 


Packed up my box.. like a boss

This is the boxing station! My favorite part of grocery shopping in Korea. So basically, you bring your food over to the counter, choose a size-appropriate box and box it up like a Christmas package. If you look to the picture on the right, the yellow circle items are the tape rollers (empty because it was near closing time). They have scissors (red) attached by chains to the counter to keep them from being stolen or misplaced. These scissors are very dull and are my personal nemesis. Once you have fought with the tape and the scissors, you have the option to tie a rope around it for easier carrying. Most Korean's I see use the rope option but I have yet to figure it out.. One day though.. -.- It shall be mine.










Taxi
The picture to the right is of the taxi ride home from Emart. As you will see after Saturday, the custom here is to pack your groceries in a box not a bag so carrying huge boxes full of food for 20 minutes isn't such an easy task so we take a taxi home from Emart. In Japan and most other eastern countries, they drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. In Korea, it is the same as Canada, driver's seat is on the left and you drive on the right side of the road. I'm not sure if it's the same in all taxis but in this one there was a little video screen with a Korean television program playing with an older lady using one of those old belt machines in her closet to lose weight. I was very amused. 
Exercise machine from the taxi ride TV


The taxis here are very cheap the ride from Emart back to the apartment only costs 2900 won (just under $3 CAD) so it's worth the $3 to get a ride back then awkwardly carrying boxes for 20 minutes across town. 




Thus ends the marvelous adventure that is Korean groceries! 




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