Korean BBQ and The Interactive Sociology of Dining

Pork belly meat marinaded in a pot of wine, homemade Korean spicy sauce, onions and salt.

Do I have your attention?  Did I make you salivate? I hope so. If you are reading this blog (is anybody reading this blog?) you are familiar with my adoration of pig, and of meat in general.

Okinawan Pig is so famous he's gotta wear shades!

Not that I have anything against the noble vegetable, in fact, meat itself is always made better by some veg, herbs, spice, even fruit. Actually I can pretty much say that there is not much you can’t add to meat to make it even sexier. Look at Mexican mole sauce that has chocolate…CHOCOLATE, I tell you! I have, in my college days added jalapenos and peanut butter to chicken and made some strange satay-type tapas. Honestly I think chewing gum would be the only thing that you can add to cuts of some animal and be a little grossed out. Food wise. Let’s not get wise cracking about kitty litter, etc. ok?

I digress. My point is, when Jason rang me and asked what I was in the mood for, for dinner. All I could say was MEAT.

So, tonight I ventured to a lovely, dark wooden structure, whose outer layer was covered in old clay Kimchi and marinating pots.  From across the street we were lured in by the smokey, carnivorous air that emanated. Yes! The lustrous, thick smell of “Korean Barbeque.” Karubino-Tsubo sits nestled into the side street of the Chatan Jusco area, which is kinda my hang out hood. There are so many great restaurants within walking distance that I have always been amazed how many have truly been able to distinguish themselves as special, different, and unique. In addition to the quality, I was beginning to think I had pretty much discovered all the little pockets of culinary happiness that could exist in this tiny little section of the island I call “downtown.”

I was informed about Karubino-Tsubo by my friend Chiharu-san, whom I trust impeccably as I usually spend my late Friday afternoons chatting with her, learning Japanese, teaching her English, while watching her bake all sorts of kinds of cakes and pies. She has a very strangely obvious opinion in what is fine and what is rubbish. So with her recommendation ringing in our ears, we were off to Tsubo.

Now Jason has actually been to Korea several times. Lucky bastard. No I mean it. It may not be on my top list of destinations, but I am always ready and willing to travel anywhere and experience anything. Jason has actually had the opportunity to try Kagogi, which is steamed dog meat, which I never, in my life would think of actually eating…given the chance. (Oh come on we all know I would try a bite) Actually, I will eat just about anything once. I am not Andrew Zimmern by any stretch but I fancy myself a good dining companion to any great adventurer and I was up for whatever they would serve us at Tsubo.

How do you like my Yangnyeom Samgyeopsa?

I can’t say my mouth was disappointed, but it was not as exotic as I thought, given Jason’s tales from the darkside of Korean cuisine, although there was some SERIOUS kimchi. Kimchi, for those who don’t know, is a cabbage mixed with many various veg, like onion, radish and garlic and traditionally is buried in the ground to ferment over various amounts of time. Let me tell you, it stinks like yummy.

The whole process started with a young boy coming to our table, setting up the grill, and bringing us pots of yangnyeom somgyeopsal which is essentially wine-marinaded, thick, pork, bacon-type strips and plates of beautiful vegetables like Okinawan pumpkin, green peppers, onions, garlic and hot Korean peppers.

MSG, Red Pepper Sauce, and Savory Dipping Sauce

We had (Oh yes) condiments including a pepper sauce and, yes, MSG. Honest to Bacchus. MS-mofo-G! The whole thing is quite communal, really. Everything is brought out and then you and whoever you are with cook it together. You use lettuce leaves to grab your food and eat it out of your hand. Truly a different experience than anything I have done thus far, and totally fascinating!

The fun, and yet drawback of this style of dining was that once the boy-waiter had a good idea we weren’t going to light the place on fire, he left us to our own devices. Luckily I can cook, I know when things are, well…cooked. And it WAS fun and awesome and interesting and engaging, but, I couldn’t help thinking that this is the kind of meal you take a person to, with whom you would not like any real conversation or connection. Jason and I spent more time fussing with the food than actually enjoying it, or each other, which is part of what makes dining such a sacred experience to me.

Yes it is blurry but a lot of that is steam and smoke!

The worst part about my experience was the morning after. I had gone way overboard on the MSG and had a few glasses of Soju (crude, milky, sweet Korean style sake) to boot and the combo of the two plus all the salt from the meat made me wake up feeling as if I spent my night chewing on a hobos beard whilst someone replaced all my blood with saltwater. And the garlic…well, it certain cleans you out.

Now all this may sound a bit too much to endure for some food, but trust me it is worth a try at least once. It’s like being dropped into some sort of Interactive Sociology of Dining 101. I always, when traveling, focus on the eating and entertainment habits of the country showing me their hospitality. Karubino-Tsubo was essentially a lesson in another culture’s fundamental way of living. The etiquette, the manner of cooking, of eating, and the imagination you can put behind it thinking of people who live a very different life than you, who do things differently, but who have the same core need to be nourished and social. Perhaps I am on to something here. Interactive Sociology of Dining. Put on their apron and cook in it for awhile, grab that fork, or chopstick or lettuce leaf and eat like someone else for a bit, and maybe slowly we can chip away at ethnocentrism.

Utopian, I know, but it certainly works for me!