This shocking ground breaking news is the number one most viewed story on the Chosun Ilbo website:
Gyu-Kaku is a world-renowned Japanese roast-beef restaurant chain with some 900 branches throughout Japan. It has many overseas branches, including two in New York, eight in Los Angeles, two in Hawaii, two in Jakarta, two in Singapore, and four in Taiwan. Its interior is reminiscent of a traditional Japanese "Izakaya" or pub. Only the menu gives pause: 50 to 80 percent is Korean, be it galbi (roast beef ribs), bibimbap (boiled rice with assorted mixtures), kimchi, japchae (traditional Korean chop suey) namul (seasoned greens) or kupbap (rice served in soup) — though the names are changed to "karubi," "bibimba", "kimuchi", "chapu che", "namuru" and "kuppa."
With Korean foods offered in Japanese-style transliteration, most customers mistake them for Japanese, and so do the waiters. David Kirk (32), a customer who arrived to have lunch with three friends of his, said, "I didn’t know that kalbi and bibimbap are Korean foods. I thought they are Japanese because this is a Japanese restaurant."Â [...]
The number of restaurants selling "Korean" food is growing. But it is foreigners who make the money. [Chosun Ilbo]
Do these journalists have anything better to do than tell us that Japanese restaurants sell Korean food? There are countries that sell Japanese food that label kimbab as sushi. Will this be the next Korean media expose?Â
Imagine if the NY Times ran an expose about Lotteria selling primarily American food and not labeling itself as an American restaurant? Everyone would laugh at the report just like we should laugh at this. Does anyone think the Chosun Ilbo is going to do an expose about how many Japanese restaurants in America are actually run by Koreans? The vast majority of Japanese restaurants in my experience, especially those near a US military base, are actually Koreans running them and yes they have Korean food on their menu. This isn’t just a US phenomenon either, in a number of countries I have been to the Japanese restaurants are run by Koreans. I don’t think we will be seeing a Chosun Ilbo report on this any time soon. Â
At least the Chosun Ilbo made at least one good point in the article which should have been the focus of the article instead of blaming the dreaded foreigners for stealing Korean food:
Park Kun-ho (35), who moved to Singapore three months ago, said, "Crystal Jade serves Korean foods whose taste is no different from those served by other Korean restaurants operated by real Koreans. But it has a much better atmosphere. It doesn’t smell bad. And you don’t eat food just because of the taste, do you? If I were to introduce my foreign friends to Korean cuisine, I wouldn’t take them to restaurants operated by Koreans."
I have traveled to a number of countries and eaten at Korean restaurants there and the customers are almost always Korean. Also the atmosphere is usually not as good compared to Japanese restaurants in general and the Japanese restaurants are generally run by Koreans. I think this is because the Japanese restaurants make more money due to overall popularity of Japanese food compared to Korean restaurants that depend almost exclusively on Koreans.Â
Interested to hear what everyone else thinks about this.Â
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8:09 pm on February 4th, 2008 1
10:44 pm on February 4th, 2008 2
I gotta admit, the Gyukaku in my town has better service and atmosphere than the Korean-run place near my apartment. [And more affordable prices]
12:19 am on February 5th, 2008 3
I’m still trying to understand why you insist saying that you are not anti-korean when you keep posting thinks that angers the Koreans.
Look at this post for instance, you know how Korans are sensitive on matters related to thinks Japan does against Korea, such as stealing its culture and history, yet you delight on posting news on this matter siding always with the Japanese. You never lose the chance to insult the Korean society even if you have no reason to do so.
The problem is that you back your biased opinions on your personal feelings and take it as a general rule and principle against everything inside Korea. For you, even the tinniest fault or problem is a tragedy that must be proclaimed to the world.
I have been reading your blog for up to one year and you keep revolving on the same issues, on and on, like corruption in Korea, how Koreans hate foreigners, that Korea should give the money that sends to NK to the USA army, how English teacher are miserably treated here despite of abundant evidence of their misconduct, how retarded and unfair is the Koreans society, how we disturb Japan unfairly without apparent reason, and so on..
Well ….. let me tell you this, it does not matter if Korea is really a shit and if we are a bunch of retarded people, what matters it that you are in Korea and as long as you are here you should try to show some respect to the people what lives here, just like any people living in your country must do while living there. I’m not talking about complicated sense of fairness, justice, international policy or conflict between west and east culture, but just talking about simple gesture of respect and politeness observed in any culture in the world, whether west or east.
It’s like that dumb English teacher in Korea that was fired from is job from a Korean University, because he kept annoying Koreans with his ‘truth†about Dokdo. Again, it does not mater if he is right or not, the thing is that he was in Korea and should have shown some respect to the people that showed him respect calling him “teacher†and friend. I think he should have waited until get out of Korea to start making public is thoughts on Dokdo.
Think this way: It’s like me being invited to your home and I start to insult you because of the things you did in Iraq, or how you almost annihilated the Indians in your country centuries ago, or the way you enslaved black people. It does not matter if I’m right or not, because as long as I’m in your house as a guest I must be respectful with you, even if it is only for the sake of my name or my culture.
Sorry for keep insisting on the things about respect, I know this is not a familiar concept for you …….
12:32 am on February 5th, 2008 4
“Think this way: It’s like me being invited to your home and I start to insult you because of the things you did in Iraq, or how you almost annihilated the Indians in your country centuries ago, or the way you enslaved black people. It does not matter if I’m right or not, because as long as I’m in your house as a guest I must be respectful with you, even if it is only for the sake of my name or my culture.
Sorry for keep insisting on the things about respect, I know this is not a familiar concept for you …….”
Korean logic at its finest. LOL (notice how he demands respect and gives none)
Dr Ewe do you tell Koreans in the USA like Robert Kim not to criticize the USA? Most of the Koreans I know in the USA pretty much hate the USA.
12:42 am on February 5th, 2008 5
“I have traveled to a number of countries and eaten at Korean restaurants there and the customers are almost always Korean.”
I have noticed the same thing. Korean restaurants have dirty food. Rude staff. Its overpriced and never worth it. Dark and dank. Rat turds. Smokey. Loud drunk Koreans.
That is why I now stay out of Korean restaurants (and Japanese restaurants that are full of Koreans pretending to be Japanese)
Gotta love how Ewe slips this in his comments.
“you know how Korans are sensitive on matters related to thinks Japan does against Korea, such as stealing its culture and history”
Japanese stealing Korean culture and history? Like what? Japanese stole Kendo? Geisha, Samurai? The kimono? Lol… keep it up Ewe.
1:31 am on February 5th, 2008 6
Wow, you’ve made some friends over here, ahaha.
Everybody knows cultures borrow from one another all the time. With some cultural institutions it’s even silly to use “borrow,” because items have become entrenched across cultural boundaries. But anyway, the article is ridiculous because it’s reporting on a practice that occurs all over the world, and certainly in Korea . . . but spinning it as some kind of Japanese cultural imperialism once again threatening the peaceful Korean dinosaur (I mean “culture.”)
You get a sense of the article’s tone right away, when the first paragraph mentions “waiters and waitresses of various ethnic backgrounds” working in these restaurants. There are even *gasp* African-Americans. If I saw a white guy working in a Lotteria in Korea, I’d eat my own hat.
3:35 am on February 5th, 2008 7
‘Most of the Koreans I know in the USA pretty much hate the USA’
Just like majority of Americans I know in Korea pretty much hate the Korea.
Koreans don’t claim Japanese food that they sell as Korean.
Having said that.. I actually don’t mind Japanese spreading Korean food.
4:59 am on February 5th, 2008 8
If I were a “guest”, then somebody would be paying my rent, fixing me food, and driving me around the city.
When my my state-funded free rent, maid, and chauffeur show up, then I’ll respectfully shut my mouth as Korea’s “guest.”
Until then, do kindly my offer to you of a nice, steaming cup of STFU.
Enjoy!
7:21 am on February 5th, 2008 9
Dr. Yu
Plenty of “foreigners” in America already denounce the war in Iraq and attack American policies. Few of them spin conspiracy theories that you won’t find in this blog.
Foreigners in Korea are not obligated to stay silent on Korean issues because they’re “guests” IF anything, they should be encouraged to speak out. I read Korean blogs like this all the time, and many of the authors either live there now or have lived there. Their experience is real. Consider that many who offer opinions on Iraq (favorable or not) haven’t stepped a foot inside Iraq, much less the mideast.
Japan imported guns from Portugal, abolished the samurais, and continued to modernize their country by accepting the outside world while Koreans were stuck in the dark ages. IT’s not hard to understand why we were plump prize for the taking for imperialist interests. From my own experience I know that Koreans suffer from serious misconceptions about America or foreigners that blogs like this must continue to debunk.
8:21 am on February 5th, 2008 10
First of all commenters like Dr. Yu and Tom mean well and I actually like their comments because they show a Korean expat point of view. This blog wouldn’t be very interesting if everyone agreed on everything said.
With that said there is nothing anti-Korean with what I wrote. My posting was anti-stupidity in the Korean media. My wife found this Chosun Ilbo article hilarious because when she first went to America she could not believe how many of the Japanese restaurants are run by Koreans. Plus just about every Japanese restaurant has Korean food of some kind in it.
I e-mailed my brother-in-law in Korea this article and he found it funny too how stupid it was. Like my wife he has travelled extensively in the US. What is the point of writing this article other than to bash foreigners for “stealing” Korean food?
Like I said before what if a major US newspaper ran article bashing Lotteria for not labeling all their food as American, not having Americans working there, and not being American owned. The Korean media would go crazy over this.
I much prefer Korean food over Japanese food but the fact of the matter is that Japanese food is more well known globally and is why so many Koreans establish Japanese restaurants instead of Korean. If Korea wants to change this fact they need to market their country, culture, and food more like what the Japanese and other
On to about other things Dr. Yu brought up:
“The problem is that you back your biased opinions on your personal feelings and take it as a general rule and principle against everything inside Korea. For you, even the tinniest fault or problem is a tragedy that must be proclaimed to the world”
It is funny because this same line of reasoning is what goes on with the Korean media. The Korean media has biased stereotypes they want to promote about foreigners, USFK, and especially the Japanese. For the Korean media the “tinniest fault or problem (of a foreigner) is a tragedy that must be proclaimed” to the rest of Korea. The fact a GI was driving a car and the mirror “brushed” an ajumma was enough to make Korean news headlines.
If the Korean media can’t find a fault they can just easily manufacture one like what this article did. This article like many things in Korea says more about the state of the Korean media then Korean people.
Finally using Dr. Yu’s logic that all of us foreigners should just shut up about Korea while in Korea, than that logic would mean that us Americans should be deporting a whole lot of people in America for bashing the US, preferably starting with the United Nations.
8:41 am on February 5th, 2008 11
In defense of Dr. Yu, I think this is the kind of thing that he was talking about:
“I have noticed the same thing. Korean restaurants have dirty food. Rude staff. Its overpriced and never worth it. Dark and dank. Rat turds. Smokey. Loud drunk Koreans. That is why I now stay out of Korean restaurants (and Japanese restaurants that are full of Koreans pretending to be Japanes”
As a Korean, how can you not help but feel offended by this? The constant theme of no good Koreans dirty drunks, eating shit, eating rat turds, I have heard and read the same things all the time from expats, so don’t tell me it’s just one bad apple. So it’s only natural that sometimes Koreans do get overly defensive. Because it’s difficult for Koreans to tell when it’s a legitimate criticism from a well meaning person (a precious minority), versus when it is just more rat droppings from drunk expats on drugs ranting on the internet using the excuse of culture shock (the majority).
PS: I’ve been to many of those Sushi houses run by Koreans. Never got sick or had any problems with drunk koreans in smoke filled rooms eating rat shit. I also have been to real Japanese run Japanese sushi houses and can’t honestly tell the difference.
8:50 am on February 5th, 2008 12
“I much prefer Korean food over Japanese food but the fact of the matter is that Japanese food is more well known globally and is why so many Koreans establish Japanese restaurants instead of Korean. If Korea wants to change this fact they need to market their country, culture, and food more like what the Japanese and other”
That’s funny, but if you read your link, that’s what the article is essentially saying. But then again you have all these thin skinned expats who take it over board and tack on their own warped interpretations.
9:34 am on February 5th, 2008 13
@Metro: Well said!
11:51 am on February 5th, 2008 14
GI.
So you think this is funny, than let me tell you something funny about american culture that happen to me 10 years ago.
I was in Cabo Verde, Africa, with a group of people from three different nationalities: Korea, Brazil and USA. Koreans were the major group and Americans the smallest (3 people).
One day a girl from Brazil had a brilliant idea: Let’s make a cultural party with people from each nationality bringing traditional foods from their country. So the Koreans brought Kimbab, Kimchi and so on. The Brazilians brought pies and black bean soup, but the americans were in trouble since they just had no idea what an American traditional food was like. The guys were from LA, NY and Kentucky, and spent three whole days brainstorming about American traditional food, and guess what: they ended up bringing hamburgers to the party. Just hamburgers.
Now, the funny thing about it is not that they ended up bringing hamburgers (since probably hamburger is one of the most popular food in the world), but the fact that by the first time in their life, they realized that sometimes America can inferior to other countries, like in this cultural event. It was embarrassing for all of us, Koreans and Brazilians, since we could see on the face of our American friends how embarrassed and disappointed they were about the hamburgers.
Most of you may think how stupid it is when Koreans get annoyed because of cultural disputes, but when such criticism comes from Americans, with such a “rich†and “amazing†cultural heritage, I can understand your ignorance on this matter. I could not dare to expect more …
Now, I can accept foreigners disliking Korean culture, that they don’t like Korean food, dance, costumes, songs, and so on, but when any type of provocation or abuse comes from Japan, that really piss me off.
12:51 pm on February 5th, 2008 15
“So the Koreans brought Kimbab”
Speaking of Koreans stealing Japanese culure.
“the mid-1960s a restaurant called Tokyo Kaikan opened one of the first sushi bars in Los Angeles. There, a chef named Ichiro Mashita, unable to find any fresh toro, started substituting creamy avocado for the fatty tuna belly, eventually coming up with the California roll, winning the eternal gratitude of my son Barrett and millions of other gaijin. Los Angeles was the beachhead for the sushi invasion, attracting many Japanese chefs eager to make their fortunes and to circumvent the grueling 10-year apprenticeship required in their homeland.”
http://events.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/books/review/McInerney-t.html
The california roll was invented by a Japanese in America. Two countries that Koreans hate with all their passion, yet copy everthing from. Koreans copied it and now lie to everyone who will listen that Kimbap is korean.
And now “kimpab” is Korean food. What a laugh.
1:13 pm on February 5th, 2008 16
This assumes that whatever Japanese is always superior and always the original. So typical. How do you know Ghimbap didn’t come first, and not sushi as you automatically assume? Koreans were eating Ghimbap way before 1960’s when California roll was discovered. Are you absolutely sure? Anyway it’s moot point because ghimbap and sushi are different things.
History of Ghimbap
http://gothamist.com/2006/01/10/street_eats_kim.php
1:21 pm on February 5th, 2008 17
And you think Japan invented Sushi too, right?
Wrong.
http://en.wa-shoi.com/?page=100299
1:38 pm on February 5th, 2008 18
This is all a simple case of name brand association, like Scotch tape, Aspirin, Coke, Xerox, etc….
I would go so far as to say most people in the States associate Asian restaurants that you actually go to and sit down in as being “Japanese,” and Asian restaurants that you order out from as “Chinese.”
Most of those yuppies in Manhattan can’t even identify the Korean menu items from the Japanese items. It only matters to us because through some way or another we all have a connection to Korea or Japan.
4:17 pm on February 5th, 2008 19
Good job Tom you found somebody (an uninformed dork) on the internet to agree with your nationalist perspective.
“But, as Gothamist found out recently, Korean sushi has an authenticity all its own. Some even say that Korean sushi, most often called kim bap, was a precursor of the Japanese variety. ”
He found out by talking to a Korean. Nice research “tom”. I really like the “some even say “, Let me guess who the “some” are. Kim, Park, Lee, Gwak.. hmmm.. a pattern.
.
Kimpab is the poor man’s California roll. It has no fish because Korean food is made with the cheapest ingredients. Kimpap is just an imitation of the delicious California roll or Japanese maki, except not as good. Interesting how Koreans don’t even know that their precious kimpab is really Japanese. They really need to thank Japan. If it wasn’t for Japan, Korea would just be a poor imitation of China. .
9:32 pm on February 5th, 2008 20
@Dr. Yu:
If all the American guys managed to bring was hamburgers, then they were inferior cooks. I would have brought a Yankee pot roast.
10:25 pm on February 5th, 2008 21
Sonagi,
Honestly, I dont think bringing hamburger made them inferior to Koreans or Brazilian, since everyone in the world knows that hamburger is a traditional american food.
10:42 am on February 6th, 2008 22
Cultural dispute between Japan and Korea is serious, and Brazilians knows very well how the Japanese are eager to “borrow†cultural assets from other countries and label them like theirs.
Japan once tried to register the fruit “Cupuacu†as their, but this fruit belongs to the Brazilian Amazon jungle, and is used to produce candies and chocolate. Brazilian government had to intervene to block the registration.
See below news on this matter
“Trademark “Cupuacu†cancelled in Japanâ€
The campaign against bio-piracy, initiated by the Brazilian NGO Amazonlink.org, obtained an important victory against the appropriation and monopolization of Amazonian resources. On March 1st, the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) in Tokyo decided to cancel the trademark Cupuaçu. Cupuaçu (pronounced “coo poo uh sue”) is the name of an Amazonian fruit and was registered as a trademark in Japan by the company Asahi Foods.
The JPO examiners agreed entirely with the arguments brought forward by Amazonlink, GTA, APA Flora and other partners. The lawyer of the campaign Adriana Vicentin (law office Trench, Rossi & Watanabe) informs that this decision cannot be invalidated by any other administrative measure. “But it is important to state that Asahi Foods can appeal in the period of thirty days via the ´Tokyo High Court´, counted from date of receiving the decision.”
“This is not simply about the cancellation of a trademark. The Cupuaçu case has become a landmark in the formation of Amazonian and Brazilian civil society s self-assertion and capacity to act.” says Michael Schmidlehner, president of Amazonlink. “Another important aspect is that this lawsuit and the campaign has given us the opportunity alert communities and broadcast information and clarifications about biopiracy in general.” stated Schmidlehner.
Last week, the Japanese Patent Office already rejected a patent request for the production of Cupuaçu chocolate (Cupulate), requested by Asahi Foods.
http://www.ipngos.org/NGO Briefings/The Case of Cupuacu.pdf -
http://www.amazonlink.org/biopiracy/cupuacu.htm
12:09 pm on February 6th, 2008 23
The US has a fine culinary tradition. You were just hanging out with ignorant people. You have those in Korea too, don’t you?
8:21 pm on February 6th, 2008 24
What if Mexicans ate ramyon? Would they think it came from Japan?
10:39 pm on February 6th, 2008 25
knickerbocker,
I regret to tell you that the only American food that I know is hamburger.
If you have better options than hamburger in your culinary, you should make it known by foreigners and Americans as well. Follow GI’s advise: market them.
1:31 am on February 7th, 2008 26
knickerbocker,
How did you know they were idiots? because actually they were.
We been to Cabo Verde in an evangelical mission and one day one of the American guys, the one from NY, just disappeared.
After three days he returned and said that he was kidnapped by local mafia but he managed to escape them. But after five hours talking
with him we found out that he just went to downtown to buy some
marijuana and decided to stay there for three days (guess what he was doing there, preaching the gospel? ? ?).
The leader of our evangelical mission was the guy from LA and he knew that from the beginning, but he hided the truth from us and made us pray for this guy for days. When truth was revealed to all of us the mission just sank, because nobody trusted his leadership anymore.
The one from Kentucky was a lovely girl. She was the only good memory from Americans I had from this mission. She was a very good friend for all of us Koreans.
By the way, I was the translator of English, Korean and Portuguese of the team. It was a nightmare working with the two guys above. I’m not fluent in English but I was the better option they had at that moment.
Oh !!! The American embassy in Cabo Verde was reported about this incident.
3:24 pm on February 7th, 2008 27
“Dr.Yu
Feb 6th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
knickerbocker,
I regret to tell you that the only American food that I know is hamburger”
Dr Ewe seems pretty clueless about other cultures Knickerbocker. I think he only knows about hamburgers through all the Popeye cartoons he watches.
.
Kimbap is just a stinky cheap and low quality California roll. And as I pointed out California rolls were invented by a Japanese person in America.
What exactly is Korean food anyway? Besides eating mangy dogs, I don’t know anything that is authentically Korean.
Bi bim ba? or Budae Chigae? that came from eating the GI’s garbage and after carefully picking out the discarded cigarette butts, mixing some chilies pepper to mask the rotten taste.
.
The best Korean food is just stolen from China and Japan. Koreans don’t even thank them after stealing their culture.
10:47 pm on February 7th, 2008 28
GoodFood,
Insulting Korea doesn’t change the facts about american culinary.
I would like to chalenge you. Could you stop insulting korea just for a while and explain me about the wonder and magik of american culinary?
Please teach me….
By the way, if you will start the “lesson” with pizza, you better know that this a italian food, ok?
11:04 pm on February 7th, 2008 29
Goodfood,
I have been thinking on what you said about garbage in korean culinary and I came to the following conclusion. Please correct me if I’m wrong:
“Korea took garbage and turned it into delicious and healthy foods. Americans took healthy and delicious foods and turned it into garbage.â€
Are you able to give me “healthy†and “delicious†comments about it, without insulting? This is a challenge.
Good Luck.
8:28 am on February 8th, 2008 30
Dr. Yu both Koreans and Japanese derive culture from other nations. In fact, Korea has an unquenchable thirst for Japanese products.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7a7xC3Vt-bg
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jAVeFCVevM8
They’re also partial to the popular cultures of infidel America. Wonder woman? Naw, it’s Wonder ‘ghong zu’, completely original. Fly wodner princess! fly!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=O8ESoAe3XN4
Hope the links work.
9:55 am on February 9th, 2008 31
Surabol,
Thank you for enlightening me. My life has change ….. I owe so much to Japan ….
1:44 pm on February 9th, 2008 32
“Korea took garbage and turned it into delicious and healthy foods. Americans took healthy and delicious foods and turned it into garbage.â€
That’s the funniest thing I have heard for a while… because the best humor is often true.
As most Korean restaurants were closed yesterday, I made my once-a-year mistake of eating at Burger King. How perfectly good lettuce, tomato, onion, beef and bread, can be mutated into something so nasty is beyond me. I had bu-dae-chee-gae for dinner. Much, much better.
In America’s defense, however, most Koreans have NO idea what a REAL hamburger is all about… as, judging by the amazing success of fast food, neither do most Americans.
First, it requires two high-quality beef patties sprinkled with Shillings garlic salt and crushed black pepper… which are pinched together to form a pocket containing cheese, mushrooms and bacon. Mmmm… bacon. Cooked on a crispy, blackened grill over a charcoal fire, of course.
Then it is just a race between heart disease and cancer…
…but what a fine race it is.
10:59 pm on February 17th, 2008 33
8:05 pm on April 5th, 2008 34
ICHIRO MASHITA CREATOR OF CA ROLL DIED OF AIDS AT FOLSOM PRISON ,HE WAS CONVICTED OF CHILD MOLESTATION W/HIS BOYFRIENF ICHIRO MASHITA
8:30 pm on April 5th, 2008 35
Hammerfood, I think you are talking about a Korean named Sung Koo Kim.
hxxp://wweek.com/editorial/3114/5992/
12:00 am on August 31st, 2008 36