Why Korea is so cool! A video by eatyourkimchi.com Thursday, May 28 2009 

Food and bizarre foods and korea and video deconstructacon 12:42 pm

Simon and Martina are so awesome. I just love going to their site and checking out their videos, articles, and other tomfoolery that they are up to. This video goes over the cool stuff in Korea with some very interesting edits. I especially like the Mr. Freeze montage. Awesome!

Check out their site here: www.eatyourkimchi.com

 

Dung Bang!!! AKA Poop Bread! Monday, May 4 2009 

Seoul Eats and bizarre foods and dessert and dung and insadong and street food deconstructacon 10:12 pm

What is Korea’s obsession with Dung? I mean there are even children’s books on it. Seriously. No joke. One I read tells the story of how a little turd was born from a dog and then lived its life until it grew up (or decomposed) to become a beautiful flower.

Yeah. Sure.

Well, in Insadong in Seoul. There is the huge art/ shopping complex called the Ssamzigil. Here you can find a cart named Dalki (Korean for Strawberry) that sells red bean bread in the shape of strawberries and Dung.

How do they taste?

Well…It’s more about the look than the taste.

Dan

 

Hello Bizarre Foods Readers Wednesday, Apr 22 2009 

Noryangjin and Seoul Eats and bizarre foods and jokbal deconstructacon 8:48 am

My name is Dan and you might have seen me on the Bizarre foods episode. I’m with Andrew while eats Turtle, Eel, and Blowfish.

To be honest with you, I haven’t seen the episode yet. They haven’t aired it in Korea yet. I just wanted to welcome you to my site and introduce you to some of the bizarre things I’ve eaten (or been eaten by) lately.

The first picture is of my hand and feet in a pool of water as little fish eat the dead skin off the bottom of my feet. It’s a pretty popular thing in Korea and it does wonders for exfoliation.

Then there is kamja tang. It’s a potato soup with slowly roasted pig back. The potatoes here are fluffy when cooked and they have an elusive sweetness.

Next is Jokbal. Jokbal is slowly braised pig trotters that melt like butter in your mouth.

Then there is a fish with a cataract kissing a Korean upside down fish. The cataract is believed to improve stamina in men.

JUST KIDDING.

It was a fish that I saw at Noryrangjin: the largest commercial market in Seoul.

Then we have freshly sliced Korean sushi and giant shrimp.

Korea is full of amazing dishes and it’s my goal to eat as many of them as I can.

Thanks for reading and I hope you will revisit my site. Also, if you are ever in Seoul, let me know and I’ll be happy to show you around.

Dan

 

Zenkimchi is the Greatest Tuesday, Apr 21 2009 

andrew zimmern and bizarre foods and friends and zenkimchi deconstructacon 2:11 pm


This is the message that Joe McPherson sent out:

“Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern” will premiere its South Korea episode in the U.S. on the Travel Channel at 10 p.m. EST. We at ZenKimchi were highly involved in the planning, research and shooting of this show. Eun Jeong, Dan Gray (Seoul Eats), Chef Hu-nam Kim (Star Chef), and more of our friends guided Andrew Zimmern on his tour through Seoul. If you’re not in the U.S., the episode will later air on Discover Networks stations worldwide on various dates. It will likely be available for download on iTunes ($1.99) by next week. I’m also posting whatever videos I can find on the web to the ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal. Make sure to stop by the Food Journal for behind-the-scenes pics and stories. Happy eating, Joe McPherson ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal

Joe has a great write up and pictures on his site. Be sure to check it out here.

Joe McPherson has been at the forefront of the Korean food wave for years. He was the one that inspired me to write about food. He is my mentor and hero. What he has done for Korea cannot be measured in praise or even in money.

I think the very least we can do is buy him a beer. You know what? That’s what I’m going to do right now and I encourage you to do the same. Go to his paypal link and send Joe some love. The man just got married to the wonderful Eun Jeong and they need some congratulations.

It’s super easy and you know what…

I just sent Joe 50 American dollars right now.

You don’t have to send him that much and I wish I could send him more. A buck, two, or more would show Joe how much we appreciate what he has done.

Again, here is the link to the Paypal account.

Dan

 

Fuch’s Let’s Dip Dracula Thursday, Apr 2 2009 

bizarre foods and random web deconstructacon 9:49 pm


I don’t know what to think of this dip. I think my friend got it from Romania or something.

Dan

 

Steve Hatherly from TBS efm radio eats Bundaeggi 번데기 Tuesday, Mar 31 2009 

bizarre foods and bundaeggi and korean food and radio and video and 번데기 deconstructacon 9:16 am

This was a hilarious show because we gave Steve a challenge to eat bundaeggi on the air. He had never eaten it before and he was adamantly opposed to eating it. We made a deal; if 15 listeners sent text messages to Steve to eat it then, he would eat 5. As soon as he said it, 20 callers texted in. Later we revised the questions so he would eat it if that day’s show would topple the previous record of messages. In the next 10 minutes we got another 60 or so messages for a total of 82 for the day. Here is Steve eating the bundaeggi.

Oh, and that’s me on the air with him. You can listen to the Steve Hatherly Show 7 days a week from 2-4pm on TBS efm 101.3 in Seoul. You can listen to it online by going to http://tbsefm.seoul.kr

Just hit the On Air button to get Internet streaming.

And I found some other videos of people eating it as well. Here is Mary from www.maryeats.com

And here I am as well.

Dan

 

Rice and Miso Cup Bra and other food eccentricities Sunday, Mar 22 2009 

bizarre foods and pictures and random web deconstructacon 10:27 pm


via gizmodo

via mathlete
via gizmodo

Hilarious! The girl with the bra makes me hungry and horny. I think it’s absolutely hilarious and fun. Now if a girl was to wear that for me, I’d love her forever.

The second picture is Wake N Bacon where you would wake up to the smell of sizzling bacon. Not a bad idea.

Next is a bad ass cow grill. I can see the headline now, “Robocow cooks his biological counterparts!”

And the last picture is..just ouch.

Well, I hope that brought a smile to your face or at least a smirk. Have a great Monday! I’m off to Korean class!

Dan

 

Research: The banana diet in Seoul Wednesday, Dec 10 2008 

bizarre foods and diet and japanese food deconstructacon 5:45 am


http://www.gadling.com/2008/11/03/big-in-japan-cant-get-skinny-eat-a-banana/

I am doing research for a story that I’m writing on the banana diet in Japan. This diet has called a 20% increase in the price of bananas and supermarkets are constantly selling out. Now I’m not sure if the diet works or how it actually works, all I know is that everyone running out of their stock of chiquitas. Apparently it was started by a pharmacist named Sumiko Watanabe for her husband and he lost 37 pounds! 
Now, my theory is that this diet has become a fad because bananas are yellow and curved like a smile. Remember, this is a country that has hello kitty as the national mascot. My theory is that if you eat enough bananas in the morning then it just fills your stomach so you just can’t eat as much.
Here is an excerpt from gadling.com on how it works.
Here is how it works:
In the morning, you can eat as many bananas as you want, alongside room temperature water. This is the key as breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and a few bananas in the belly certainly helps in getting your digestion going.
For lunch and dinner, you can pretty much eat anything you want, along with a small afternoon snack, but you have to avoid desserts, stop eating by 8pm, and go to bed before midnight.
According to Mrs. Watanabe, her husband quickly lost 37 pounds, which prompted her to release the diet on mixi, the Japanese equivalent of Facebook or MySpace. The Osaka pharmacist has also published her Morning Banana Diet in Japanese, Korean and Chinese, and has thus far sold close to a million copies.
Of course, while Mrs. Watanabe is lugging her suitcases full of yen to the bank, food distributors are quickly realizing that their supply of bananas can’t meet demand, especially following a recent TV appearance by the Watanabes.
According to Takeshi Ozaki, a spokesperson of Life Corporation, which runs more than 200 supermarkets throughout Japan: “Bananas suddenly flew off the shelves, there was a 70%-80% increase in weekly sales compared to the same period last year.”
A Japanese pharmacist, Sumiko Watanabe, designed the diet to speed up the metabolism of her overweight husband. The diet was successful for him and has received media coverage.
Over 730,000 books about the diet were sold in the first seven months from it being published in March 2008. The book has been translated and published in Taiwan and South Korea.
Here’s an excerpt:
Bananas are hardly the first fad diet to create shortages in Japan’s consumer markets. During the 1970s, there were similar runs on black tea fungus, oolong tea and konnyaku; during the 1980s it was baby formula, banana and boiled egg; then, in the ’90s, came apple, nata de coco, cocoa and chili pepper; and during this decade black vinegar, carrot juice, soy milk, beer yeast and toasted soybean flour (kinako). Last year’s fermented soybean (natto) diet emptied supermarket shelves. Based on experience, Horiuchi predicts that the banana boom will last only another month or so. “In the past, there were all kinds of hit diets. But they never last, do they? So, we don’t really want to end up with an uncontrollable banana surplus.” 
So…does it work? I don’t know. I’m trying to find some medical evidence, but there seems to be a lack of it. Why does this the banana diet work?
Here are some people who say it does

here is an article from the NY Dailytimes.
The plan is simple: Eat only fresh bananas for breakfast or brunch with sips of lukewarm water, enjoy a normal lunch, afternoon snack and dinner – no desserts – before 8 p.m. and be in bed before midnight. Exercise is optional.
A couple of days into trying the plan, I have to admit it’s easy. Two bananas keep me full until lunch, which, according to the rules, can be anything as long as there’s no dessert. Making the effort to eat before 8 and get to bed before midnight sounds more like common sense than a fad diet, but by day three I’m getting bored of eating only bananas for breakfast – and the scales haven’t moved.
Internet forums like Morningbanana.com wax lyrical on the supposed metabolism-boosting resistant starch found in slightly green bananas, and many repeat the story of a Japanese actress who lost 26 pounds on the diet.
Most people have only just begun the diet, and there’s a curious lack of impressive first-person weight-loss stories posted, suggesting that the banana alone may not be the magic bullet for weight loss that it’s touted to be.
“There’s nothing magical about a banana,” says Bonnie Taub-Dix, a New York-based dietitian and national spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
“It’s high in fiber and a very rich fruit, so it’s going to make you feel full, but instead of the morning banana diet, you could make it the morning yogurt diet, and you’d be getting a better blend of nutrients.”
The biggest problem, says Taub-Dix, is the lack of clear calorie guidelines, plus instructions that include “exercise only if you want to” and “eat anything you want for lunch and dinner.”
“It’s not well-defined or scientifically based,” she says. “Whenever you have a diet that says eat all you want, there’s the possibility that people who are prone to overeating will have problems.”
And with anywhere from one to four bananas allowed for breakfast, there’s even more scope for calorie confusion.
“Bananas can range anywhere from 60 calories to 180 depending on their size, and it’s all about how many calories you eat at the end of the day,” says Lisa Sasson, clinical associate professor of nutrition and food studies at NYU, who calls the metabolism-boosting claims of the diet “preposterous.” 

 

Research: The banana diet in Seoul Wednesday, Dec 10 2008 

bizarre foods and diet and japanese food deconstructacon 5:45 am


http://www.gadling.com/2008/11/03/big-in-japan-cant-get-skinny-eat-a-banana/

I am doing research for a story that I’m writing on the banana diet in Japan. This diet has called a 20% increase in the price of bananas and supermarkets are constantly selling out. Now I’m not sure if the diet works or how it actually works, all I know is that everyone running out of their stock of chiquitas. Apparently it was started by a pharmacist named Sumiko Watanabe for her husband and he lost 37 pounds! 
Now, my theory is that this diet has become a fad because bananas are yellow and curved like a smile. Remember, this is a country that has hello kitty as the national mascot. My theory is that if you eat enough bananas in the morning then it just fills your stomach so you just can’t eat as much.
Here is an excerpt from gadling.com on how it works.
Here is how it works:
In the morning, you can eat as many bananas as you want, alongside room temperature water. This is the key as breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and a few bananas in the belly certainly helps in getting your digestion going.
For lunch and dinner, you can pretty much eat anything you want, along with a small afternoon snack, but you have to avoid desserts, stop eating by 8pm, and go to bed before midnight.
According to Mrs. Watanabe, her husband quickly lost 37 pounds, which prompted her to release the diet on mixi, the Japanese equivalent of Facebook or MySpace. The Osaka pharmacist has also published her Morning Banana Diet in Japanese, Korean and Chinese, and has thus far sold close to a million copies.
Of course, while Mrs. Watanabe is lugging her suitcases full of yen to the bank, food distributors are quickly realizing that their supply of bananas can’t meet demand, especially following a recent TV appearance by the Watanabes.
According to Takeshi Ozaki, a spokesperson of Life Corporation, which runs more than 200 supermarkets throughout Japan: “Bananas suddenly flew off the shelves, there was a 70%-80% increase in weekly sales compared to the same period last year.”
A Japanese pharmacist, Sumiko Watanabe, designed the diet to speed up the metabolism of her overweight husband. The diet was successful for him and has received media coverage.
Over 730,000 books about the diet were sold in the first seven months from it being published in March 2008. The book has been translated and published in Taiwan and South Korea.
Here’s an excerpt:
Bananas are hardly the first fad diet to create shortages in Japan’s consumer markets. During the 1970s, there were similar runs on black tea fungus, oolong tea and konnyaku; during the 1980s it was baby formula, banana and boiled egg; then, in the ’90s, came apple, nata de coco, cocoa and chili pepper; and during this decade black vinegar, carrot juice, soy milk, beer yeast and toasted soybean flour (kinako). Last year’s fermented soybean (natto) diet emptied supermarket shelves. Based on experience, Horiuchi predicts that the banana boom will last only another month or so. “In the past, there were all kinds of hit diets. But they never last, do they? So, we don’t really want to end up with an uncontrollable banana surplus.” 
So…does it work? I don’t know. I’m trying to find some medical evidence, but there seems to be a lack of it. Why does this the banana diet work?
Here are some people who say it does

here is an article from the NY Dailytimes.
The plan is simple: Eat only fresh bananas for breakfast or brunch with sips of lukewarm water, enjoy a normal lunch, afternoon snack and dinner – no desserts – before 8 p.m. and be in bed before midnight. Exercise is optional.
A couple of days into trying the plan, I have to admit it’s easy. Two bananas keep me full until lunch, which, according to the rules, can be anything as long as there’s no dessert. Making the effort to eat before 8 and get to bed before midnight sounds more like common sense than a fad diet, but by day three I’m getting bored of eating only bananas for breakfast – and the scales haven’t moved.
Internet forums like Morningbanana.com wax lyrical on the supposed metabolism-boosting resistant starch found in slightly green bananas, and many repeat the story of a Japanese actress who lost 26 pounds on the diet.
Most people have only just begun the diet, and there’s a curious lack of impressive first-person weight-loss stories posted, suggesting that the banana alone may not be the magic bullet for weight loss that it’s touted to be.
“There’s nothing magical about a banana,” says Bonnie Taub-Dix, a New York-based dietitian and national spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
“It’s high in fiber and a very rich fruit, so it’s going to make you feel full, but instead of the morning banana diet, you could make it the morning yogurt diet, and you’d be getting a better blend of nutrients.”
The biggest problem, says Taub-Dix, is the lack of clear calorie guidelines, plus instructions that include “exercise only if you want to” and “eat anything you want for lunch and dinner.”
“It’s not well-defined or scientifically based,” she says. “Whenever you have a diet that says eat all you want, there’s the possibility that people who are prone to overeating will have problems.”
And with anywhere from one to four bananas allowed for breakfast, there’s even more scope for calorie confusion.
“Bananas can range anywhere from 60 calories to 180 depending on their size, and it’s all about how many calories you eat at the end of the day,” says Lisa Sasson, clinical associate professor of nutrition and food studies at NYU, who calls the metabolism-boosting claims of the diet “preposterous.” 

 

In Brief from Seriouseats.com Donut Hamburger Sunday, Oct 26 2008 

american food and bizarre foods and dessert and hamburgers deconstructacon 5:08 am

Chamomile Pudding from the ‘Alinea’ Cookbook

Here is a Donut Hamburger from Donna’s Donuts. It’s got a chocolate dipped apple fritter like patty. It’s a heart attack on a donut bun. Here’s a close up.


via A Hamburger a Day

 

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