Opium Jacuzzi Hack, Food and Budechige
Last few
days haven’t been the very best days. The week began as usual but started
shedding its true colors as the days went by. As they say, the stars haven’t really
lined up right. For no obvious reason, I feel that I am chained to an elephant
who just had a green chilly rubbed in his/her gigantic ass. I know I can be a huge ass and most people who
know me well enough will move their head profusely in agreement but I do feel
bad when I disappoint the people whom I adore. My apologies.
What
better way to change the mood than to write about a topic that has been a consistent,
constant activity that has been going on as far as life began, something that we
do almost everyday. We cease to do it and we end up among the stars
illuminating nothing but fake heavenly light. That’s right folks, it’s the
process of “eating”.
Chickens chillin' |
But before
we go on to discuss “eating”, we should clarify our very own definition of
food. It is greatly astonishing that the definition is, in fact, relative.
Websters
dictionary defines:“material
consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate, and fat used in the body of an
organism to sustain growth, repair, and vital processes and to furnish energy”
That’s a bit too much for me. I did do a small research on
how people perceive food and as aforementioned, they had a different take on
it. Some regarded food to be something you fill your belly with, some cursed it
to increase their belly to embarrassing sizes (that includes a certain nepali as
well), some defined it as a past time substance, some thought it to be a stress
buster, some explained it’s just needed for sustenance, some thought it to be a
good discussion topic, a small portion thought it was useful tool to piss
people off. I have absolutely no problem with all of the above and I do agree -to
some extent- to what my peers thought. Unfortunately that’s not something I have
in mind.
Food for me is something that sparks the senses, something that
transports me to a totally different place and time….something that brings back
sweet old memories. As I take a bite, my taste buds work diligently enough to
knock onto the front door of my brain and say, “hey man, I am looking for this
flavor that just got registered as Aw293. Would you mind looking back into
memory lane and check for this flavor out for me? And don’t forget to take our
boss for a ride. Much appreciated.” If you remember that pointy, nosy, irritating
food critic Anton Ego from the animation Ratatouille where he gets transported back to
his mom’s dinning table, that’s the exact thing I would want to define food to
be. here’s the clip.
Which leads us to….eating. Now eating is a simple process of
putting the food that’s in front of you inside your mouth and eventually into
your digestive tract. It comes as naturally as walking meaning that the brain
automatically switches the “autopilot” button when we do so. Of course, it
becomes a lot more difficult when the medium through which you put that food
in, somehow, abruptly changes. Oh dear.
Khangnam |
Using chopsticks for the very first time for my very first
meal in Korea was utterly, bitterly painful. A smoked Mackerel was served with
lemon and a bowl of sticky rice with a pair of chopsticks. Half an hour on the
clock and not a thing swallowed. I look down at the fish, the fish’s dead eyes
stares up in disgust as I struggle with the pair of stainless steel sticks.
Fortunately though, seeing my fruitless struggle, a newly met friend of mine
brought in a fork which eased the tension clearly visible to any naïve outside observer.
I have never quite been a good eater. The moment the foods on
the table, i eat the very same way my dog eats his meat. I often hear
complaints, mostly from da that the way I eat is just ridiculous. Last time he
was teasing me that if he made a ball made of paper and wrote “momo” on it, I would
adeptly steal it from his clutches and swallow it without even thinking.*yak* I
mean, who likes the flavor of blue ink?
I wasn’t like that before. Fast rewind about two decades
earlier and my aunt-Nu-was running around the house trying to spoon feed me
while gome dai was busy taking my weight and going around in circles too. It seemed
that the only way to feed me was to bring a whole damn circus and park it right
front of our house and let the show begin. While an elephant rides a bicycle on
a tight rope, I would open my mouth in delight and SHOVEE! The spoon gets to go
in. what a pain in the ass. No wonder I have no siblings, one was just.too.much.
*read the last three words reeallll slow*
The blog itself has been a place to randomly place my
thoughts about anything that would like to write on. It has, like all of us,
changed with time. It is nothing like the one I started with, goes way out of
topic almost all the time. I like that. I hate constraints, and putting limits
to what I have to write is just bollocks.
In this blog post though, there’s nothing but food and eating.
That leads us to the topic of Budechige (Army base Soup).
The Korean war that eventually divided the Korean people and
their families with one of the most dangerous, militarized political boarders
in the world is an event that will surely be a remembered for ages to come.
What the south has managed to achieve since then is just simply mind bogging. A
technological hub with an impeccable literacy rate, Korea is catching up fast
with other global players. Real fast. The pace of development and prosperity is
remarkable considering it was poorer than Nepal in the 70’s.
During the war, food was scarce. The usual comfort food was
nowhere to be seen and Koreans started to improvise on what they had. Dogs
were now a source of meat. Tree barks were now in soups. In this way, a soup was made from the food remains courtesy of garbage bins near American Army troop bases. Later it was called the budechige.
American troops fighting in the Korean peninsula had little
trouble with getting additional food supplies. Sausages to salamis, they had
the luxury to throw some away. Koreans took this opportunity to gather what was
left, add onions to Korean spinach to whatever was available and cook a broth
that would help them get through hunger. More than half a century on and the
food still consists of the very same ingredients that their forefathers used.
As I take a sip out of my spoon dipped inside the budechige, I get reminded of
all the pain and suffering that the people must have gone through, all the
harsh days fighting both hunger and foe to keep themselves alive and kicking.
The broth itself tastes much similar to the spicy thai
TomYum, although I admit I only had the nepali version of it. The sticky rice
placates the senses allowing more to be shoved in. The smell is equally
welcoming. With plethora of other side dishes to choose from, the whole meal
transcends expectations and does justice to its history.
Got a bit emotional there.
That should do it for now. I am currently looking ways to prevent halal
post or delete any further blog post as he somehow got a way through to
administer the blog. He did warn me before and I thought he was completely
bull-shit-ing until he made his word look real good. He refuses to tell me how
he did it so screw him. *Happy Ramadan btw, I will be eating your fav. icecream
right in front of you tomorrow. Take that sucker!*
And if you haven’t yet watched the dark knight rises, you
should. It’s worth every penny. The twist at the end is just amazing.
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