Now, that's a haughty blog post entry. Trying to get back in academic mode -- that would sound like a sexy paper title to present at a conference, since people would come just to hear what the hell this is about.
Well, starting with ExpatJane, people are talking about the politics of bad service, especially around getting a burger, which is getting increasingly easier to get here. There are better options, Koreans have figured out how to make a good one themselves (Kraze Burger is good -- just relatively expensive), and I think people are going to take less and expect more. I remember being here in 1994 and paying the equivalent of $20 for "hamburger steak" accompanied by a dollop of corn from a can and an equal helping of macaroni salad -- but try to pawn that off on the Korean populace now -- ain't gonna happen.
Things change fast in Seoul, and food culture, like every other aspect of the culture, has been no exception. FatManSeoul has done a great writeup of some of this stuff, and brought up some of the fascinating issues that have come up when different food cultures and expectations collide. One excerpt, which reminded me of many of the anecdotes from the late 80's and the quirkiness of life in Korea that have been largely worked out in the much more cosmopolitan Seoul of today, was particularly interesting:
Bak’s article recalls the time when McDonald’s was new to Korea. Ah, back in the day when there wasn’t an 오곡 (ogok: five grain) shake to be had! Nowadays Mickey D’s is a shining example of successful integration into the Korean fast food scene, but in the beginnings were troubled times. Cash was flowing out, but not back in and it was all because of those pesky kids! And college students. And office workers. And pretty much every patron who came in the door.
You see, long ago Korean people weren’t yet trained in the ways of the fast food warrior, and they thought you could just come into McDonald’s and sit for hours chatting with your friends as you linger over fries. Because to Koreans, the 500원 ice cream cone wasn’t just money for ice cream, but a ticket to a place to sit and hang out. Which they did. But McDonald’s revenues depend on fast turnover, and every customer taking up space is costing the corporate headquarters moola. Something had to be done! For a more detailed and utterly fascinating discussion of this transition, FatMan strongly recommends Watson’s book.
Back in the day, McDonald’s had to hire young women to act as greeters - but the job description didn’t end there. According to Bak, a major part of the womens’ role was to subtly (or overtly) pressure customers to get the hell out of Dodge by standing behind them, pointedly asking them if everything was ok, and even seating customers at tables that were already occupied. Koreans eventually learned different eating behaviors for fast food restaurants, but at the time it was a major battle with the future profitability of the company at stake! The idea of eat-and-run in any place that wasn’t serving off the streets is a relatively new one.
Even now, Koreans conceptualize their bill as not just a payment for food, but also for time. Service is way down on that list.
Good stuff -- I remember other such interesting conversations from discussions over the entrance of Starbucks into Korea when editing a paper for the Korea Journal a while back called "From Strange Bitter Concoction to Romantic Necessity: The Social History of Coffee Drinking in South Korea." It's very, very interesting stuff, and you can download the compete PDF below, as well as from the link above.
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The short version? Here's the abstract:
This paper explores the notions of Korean, American, and global identities as shared among Koreans by examining coffee drinking practices and the meanings associated with them. This research shows that coffee drinking is a useful window through which to view the diverse dimensions of contemporary Korean society, and produces and represents various identities of Koreans in the global world. As this research into the case of the Starbuck espresso chain demonstrates, the expansion of multinational business as part of the process of globalization and global business` interaction with indigenous cultures clearly show us how "universalization of particularism" and "particularization of universalism," respectively, operate in the border-crossing of food cultures. Furthermore, the Korean consumption of Starbucks coffee is not only a simple or passive adoption of American consumption products but an active process of selecting and creating their own modes of consumption, and participating in constructing a "global modernity." But the "globality" that is put together and constructed in an American way, as is the case with Starbucks, is already quite familiar and powerful for many Koreans.
More fascinating stuff can be downloaded from my workplace at the Korea Journal site, where you can search their database and out pops a complete journal article, with a database indexed all the way back to 1961. You don't get many free resources like that. Bookmark and remember it! We'd be happy to know people were using the database more.
Paper titles of interest from the same issue:
"Reinventing Korean Food: National Taste and Globalization"
"Colonial Modernity and the Social History of Chemical Seasoning in Korea"
"Rice and Koreans: Three Identities and Meanings"
Way to get things going, fellow K-bloggers. From ExpatJane to me to ZenKimchi and FatManSeoul, hopefully this conversation about food and culture can continue to reveal more fascinating things worth thinking about when it comes to the politics of what we eat and where.
