Name: Ran Wang
WRIT1133-27, MWF 12:00
Prof. Eric Leake
04/19/12
1068 Words
Korean
Restaurant Observation and Food Culture
Food is indispensable for people’s life.
Nowadays, since more and more Asian students and immigrants come to America, there
are so many Asian food restaurants established in America. China has an old
saying: Food is the paramount necessity of the people. Although, I believe
Americans’ point of view is always different. As for me, living and studying in
America is happy and yearning. Because I am from China, the most important
thing that I could not accept in America is the food; it is very simple and
insipid.
Last Saturday, I went shopping with my
friends. Surprisingly, we found a Korean BBQ restaurant located near the
shopping mall. Also we were attracted by it deeply, because this is our first
time to find a Korean food in Denver. So, we decided to try to eat there.
For this observation, I would like to
report this Korean BBQ restaurant from three aspects- the restaurant’s
decoration; the food type and appearance; and the customers. The restaurant is
named as Q Table BBQ Buffet, which is located on Northglenn Market Place. Before
we entered this restaurant, I saw there is a business schedule post on the
window. The business time is Mon-Fri; lunch time is 1:00-3:00p.m., and dinner
time is 4:30-10:00p.m. On the other hand, it runs all day on SAT-SUN. After
going into this restaurant, the first thing we saw was a waiting room where people
can wait comfortably and conveniently. Then we moved into the restaurant, and
there is a spread table on the right side because this restaurant is a buffet.
I noticed all the price lists are written in details: the meal for regular is $19.95;
the kids’ price is $12.95; and everything is free for babies. Here I found the
first reason why this restaurant is popular. Korean BBQ is one of the most
expensive types of food in Korea; but for this restaurant, not only it is a
buffet and has a relatively cheap price, but also it is an authentic Korean BBQ
restaurant. Then, I found all of the waiters are wearing the black uniforms. Through
their conversation and their appearances, I can tell all of waiters are Koreans
or at least American-Koreans. At this point, a waiter followed us and said “we
have a window seat reserved for you.” After we sat down, I found the table
linen’s color is red; the color of the wall is orange and every dish of food is
illuminated by baby spot. I guess all these decorative colors and detailed
decorations are meant to let the customers have a better appetite. Meanwhile, I
found a BBQ stove on the table, and there is a text on the BBQ stove saying
“BBQ at your own table”. Also, each table has an exhaust fan above the BBQ
stove. Actually, every detail of the restaurant
represents the restaurant's respect to clients,
and every service embodies the restaurant's considerateness to clients.
Before we were ready to get food, the waiter walked over and said “I will help
you guys change the stove when it is burned or when you want to roast other
kinds of meats. By the way, please take the amount of food that you need; otherwise
you should charge for the wasted food.”
Then I began to take the food, I saw a
transparent kitchen there – you can see each cook preparing the food from
outside. After I walked around with all of food, I found an order of the food
that had been put out. When you want to take the food, the first part would be the
appetiers: such as cantaloupe, watermelon, pineapple and other fruits. The
second part is the staple food which is all kinds of Korean raw meats – it not
only includes the frozen steak, raw steaky pork, and fat beef slices, but also
there is lot of sea food you can roast and eat; for example: cuttlefish, sleeve-fish
and fresh shrimp. Also it has Korean characteristic food – soup meat with
noodles, which is putting the South Korea soya bean soup on the noodles. After
that you can sprinkle with shallots and caraways on the noodles. That was the
first line of food. On the other side bar of sushi and wine, which are extra
paid things. The last part is after dinner food. There are lots of different
type snacks; the most attractive one is the
chocolate fountain at the central of the after-dinner section. It is a huge
stand of sweets and a four-tier fountain of melted chocolate where you could
dip your marshmallows and sweets into it and get it coated with chocolate. Moreover,
I saw there are lots of different type soups: such as Korea soya bean soup,
Japanese miso soup and Chinese vinegar-pepper soup.
Finally, when we had finished and were chatting
with each other, I found the customers not all customers were Koreans; there
were also a lot of Americans and Chinese. I analyzed the reason why there are
lots of Chinese. First, the United States has many Chinese immigrants; second, there
is also lots of Chinese food as I listed before. Actually, the food culture of
China has a long history, and it effects the whole world profoundly, especially
the Asia. After talking about the Chinese customers, I have some more thoughts
about the American ones. Apparently, this Korean restaurant was built in
America, so the food there is affected by the United States cooking style and diet
culture. As the author Roy Ahn said in article Home Run: My Journey Back to Korean Food. “When I went out, I ate
all the things my friend did- pizza, hot dogs, enchiladas, and fries with
greasy chili that turned the paper wrapper orange. It’s worth nothing that two
Korean-American boys were among my circle, but we rarely went out for food from
the homeland. Whatever the reason, they were much more comfortable than I was
with being Korean-American. (13)” From this quote, we can see the author is a Korean-American.
In his article, he suggests that the American cooking and diet culture for an
immigrant is irresistible although he always tried to keep his old eating
habits. I believe, as time goes on, not only a Korean immigrant will be
affected by the food culture of the States, but also all immigrants from
different countries will be affected and changed by the new cultures in
variable ways.
Work Cited
Ahn,
Roy. Home Run: My Journey Back to Korean Food. Gastronomica: The Journal
of Food and Culture,
Vol. 9, No. 4 (Fall 2009), pp. 12-15. Retrieved from
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