Your Local Korean Grocery (한국 식료품 가게)
Monday, January 28th, 2008The local Korean grocery store can be a cultural connection that, for many, goes largely untapped. The most obvious link to Korea through the local grocery store is the food. The store can be a source for many spices and foods not found in a regular chain grocery store. These include the mundane like curry powder, red pepper powder, soy sauce, fish sauce (젓갈) as well as the more hard to find like 고추장, 된장, 쌈장, 미역, and Korean soda pop and 요구르트 (my children love that stuff).
The best food stuffs to get in the grocery store are the prepared foods. Sure, you can get “Wong’s Kimchi” as your local Raleys or Vons but it is horrible, pasteurized, and not much more than pepper and cabbage. Each Korean market will have different tasting 김치 because the owners typically prepare it right thereaccording to their own unique recipe. Just like 김치 from different provinces in Korea will taste different, it will be different in each store. (My wife says that 전라도 김치 is 최고!) You can get a variety of prepared foods besides 김치, too. Usually you can find many different 반찬, of varying degrees of goodness.
Besides food, the Korean grocery store can be a great source of many things non-food like cosmetics, music CDs, kitchen supplies (like chopsticks, rice bowls, rice cookers, and huge buckets that you won’t find anywhere else), bath supplies (like 때타올, soaps, 등등) as well as the ever-popular Korean dramas. The stores usually record the dramas direct from television and then rent the DVDs or tapes. Mostly, these don’t have English subtitles, so you should ask first if that is important to you.
The most overlooked resource that the Korean market has to offer is free, that is the language connection. Most Korean markets I have been in offer free newspapers, phone directories and this time of year, calendars. But they also offer someone to talk to in Korean! The store owners know varying degrees of English and are all too happy to help you speak a bit of Korean, especially if you are a regular customer. If you haven’t discovered your local Korean grocery store, check your yellow pages and give them a visit. Let me know how it goes.
Posted by steved in Steve's House |
January 28th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
My uncle used own a Korean supermarket, and I remember all the sweet 아줌마’s that treated me so nice
But I have to definitely agree. I’ve lived in a few places, and I always manage to befriend the 아줌마’s and 아저씨’s that run those places
Even this Thursday, the 김치 아줌마 will set aside a special 게장 aside just for me! So be sure to befriend your neighborhood Korean grocery! 
January 29th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I agree that the Kimchi in 전라도 is the BEST of the BEST!
Not because I’m from that area, but really because I’ve tasted various kinds of Kimchi and I just know so. Heh heh.
January 29th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
그럼 전라도의 김치를 맛보러 전라도에 가야 하지요!
When I finally leave Korea, I know I’ll be haunting the Korean restaurants and shops in my area of Toronto. One of Toronto’s “Korea-towns” is close to my family’s house, but I never went before. Now with some cultural and linguistic knowledge of Korea, I will definitely have to go! And bring friends!
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I’ve been in the States for 7 years now, and the first town I lived in didn’t have access to proper asian groceries. It was very inconvenient for my parents, but for me it wasn’t such a big deal. I was busy trying out what kids here ate, even the disgusting food at the school caf was interesting. haha.
Just about when the period of exploration faded, a huge H-mart was built not too far, and I began to re-discover Korean food. I immediately fell in love, experiencing how naturally health-concious (not to mention tasty!) it was.
Like they say,
once you go Korean, there’s no coming back!
…though I’ve always been one 100% -_-
(and lastly, i’d like to welcome myself to the blog. lol. i just came across it and am pretty excited^ ^)
February 3rd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Welcome to the blog, 은파
I’ve been to your website and it looks like you’re a musician! 노래도 몇 곡 들어 보았는데 모두 직접 만드신 노래들인가요?
February 4th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Hyunwoo, thanks for your visit. I have released an original digital single in Korea, but unfortunately I can’t call myself a musician–in fact, I’m a student of engineering… the furthest you can get from art
February 4th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Welcome ep.! Thanks for reading. Our “local” Korean grocery is 45 minutes away. It is not so convenient but we are used to it now.
February 4th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
45 minutes doesn’t sound very close. hehe
자동차로 45분이에요?
February 5th, 2008 at 5:46 am
Yeah. What I meant by “not to far” was also an hour away by car… ah well. better than nothing, right? When I’m at school, I order online and get stuff delivered^ ^
February 6th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Yes, 자동차로 45분 is not very far, really. We about 3 hours from everywhere– L.A., San Francisco, Sacramento–so we are used to the driving by now.
March 30th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
does anyone knows if there is any other information about this subject in other languages?
March 31st, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Yaz Okulu, what other languages do you need? Unfortunately we only have English and Korean here. Where are you from ?