Korean “Rock Soup”

So do you all remember that one story we were told as children…about ‘rock soup?’ Well…if not…I’m not going to tell you…

Anyway…I don’t know what part of paragliding I like better…the paragliding or the eating!!! HA!!! JK!!! But you all know me and my insatiable appetite!!! As my good friend Jay says every time I announce I am getting hungry…he says, ”Uh-oh! Gotta feed the tapeworm!”


Well…one day after a great day of flying…we all go out to dinner…it is a time for pilots to get together and talk about their flights, to compare notes and to get drunk and have fun!

When you go to a traditional Korean restaurant, you MUST take your shoes off at the door. The floors are immactutely clean and the place is lined with tables that are only several inches off the ground.


That cylindrical ‘thing,’ made of bamboo, on the wall is an ‘air conditioner!’ Let me explain…back in the day in old school Korea, you would sleep with that thing with your arms and legs wrapped around it…which would allow air to circulate around your body and keeping you cool…preventing direct contact of sweaty skin on sweaty skin. Pretty clever, eh?

Eating in Korea is extremely cheap! I’m talking traditional Korean cuisine. And ‘soju,’ which is Korean rice wine is EXTREMELY CHEAP!!! Which is not always a good thing as that is all they drink here and they drink massive amounts of soju like it is going out of style!!! Coupled with the fact that most Asians are known for their lack of tolerance for alcohol…not such a good combination.

One thing I quite enjoy about drinking in Korea is the process of drinking…tiny little shot glasses are handed out to each drinker and several bottles are laid out on the table and one individual will pour soju for the others…holding the bottle with two hands, while the recipient also holds his glass very gently with two hands as well…never one…using both hands is proper etiquette…showing respect for one another. After all the drinks have been poured…he will hand the bottle to someone else who will then pour for him. You don’t pour your own drink. It’s nothing special…but I find it quite lovely…the whole process.


The dish we ordered that evening is called “bu dae jigae.” It is a stew with EVERYTHING! It contains many Korean ingredients, such as mussels and shrimp (seafood is wonderful and in abundance as it is a peninsula) mushrooms, cabbage and other leafy greens, and ingredients indigenous to Korean cuisine, PLUS baked beans and spam!!! HUH?!?!?!?!

One of the pilots explained to me that back during the Korean war, there were naturally a lot of Koreans that did not have enough to eat and would hang around American bases stationed in Korea. They would rummage through their garbage looking for food and would collect anything that was edible, which would include leftover scraps of meat, such as spam and baked beans! They would then take their findings and make a stew out of it.

And that was what we had that evening…an absolutely amazingly tasty, more refined and heartier version of what many poor and starving people were eating back in the day during the Korean war.


Another wonderful day of flying...and eating!!!