Fat Korea!!!

Breads in all shapes and sizes!!!

Hot Dogs on Everything!!!

It is my personal opinion that globalization is going to be the end of good health in Asia, at least from what I’ve observed in Korea.  A trip to the market leaves me yearning for a good salad.  Back in Canada I went through phases of being a health nut and then I would fall into bad habits but I haven’t eaten like this in a very long time.  Even my month of noshing on taco chips (it was my plan to beat my crippling taco chip craving while in Korea: eat them until I never want to see them again) wasn’t as bad as how some people eat here. 

The stereotype of healthy Koreans no longer holds as much truth as it once did.  While some meals do include many veggies, many of them are lacking anything green whatsoever and are a combination of carbs, meat, and oil.  Still not that bad though.  What is going to kill the next Korean generation is their obsession over sweets.  Donut shops are rampant in this city. There is a Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins right across the street from one another.  You only have to walk a mere five minutes in almost any direction to find a Paris Baguette or Tous les Jours to get your crème puff, pizza bun, or cinnamon bun fix.  Oh wait, what about the weird tendency to slap hot dogs on anything from bread, pizza bread, and...donuts??? Chocolate sticks and chocolate bars (actually anything chocolate) causes these children to lose all rational. I could pour chocolate syrup on a piece of bread and they’d all be climbing on top of one another in their attempt to get the first bite as I wave it in front of them.  Now I know that I’m often an enthusiastic story teller but this is not an exaggeration.  Maybe I’ll test out this theory and tape it for you. 

I haven’t eaten so many sweets and breads in a year as I have in the past month.  They also have a weird love for hot dogs here.  There’s a huge section in the market for hot dogs and each bakery has its share of hot dog sandwiches smeared with gobs of mayo.  Mayo is another favourite of this culture.  You can buy tubs of it at the Costco and oftentimes the “salad” at a restaurant is a half cup of mayo with a sprinkling of cabbage.  Ramen noodles and chip sticks are common snacks for children here and my students never seem to be without a good supply. 

America has come to Korea and it’s going to take its toll in the next decade.  After witnessing the effect of bad diet in the western world, I would have hoped that Korea would be more careful with what is on the daily menu.  Right now Korea has public health care and from what I hear it is a good system.  Just wait until all the children from this generation grow up, get fat, and become diabetic and have high blood pressure.  I’m pretty sure that it will drain the healthcare system.  To the people of Korea!  Stop eating cake, and donuts, and chips!!!!  You are making yourselves fat and now that I’m living in Korea…I’ve already started packing on the pounds…L