FatManSeoul

Most people were rightly impressed with the amazing amount of food that Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps manages to chow down every day.  But how much more impressive would it be if his powers of eating were combined with those of world champion hot dog eater Takeru Kobayashi for the ultimate power breakfast battle?

It might look a bit like this . . .

or maybe not . . .

The Seoul Food Festival (English Link.  한국어 여기) is still a relatively new festival (it started in 2007) so it’s still finding its feet.  Fatman is a new blog, so we sympathize.  We also sympathize with all the people who can’t seem to find their way around!  With five venues and inconsistent translation, it’s important to have a little bit of help figuring out where to go and when and what to do there.  Fatman hit the streets for the first weekend in order to help our readers find their way around for the final weekend . . .

• @ Chonggyecheon:  Cooking performances and lectures starting at 6 pm on the 30th (Sat)
• @ Gyeonghui Palace:  see Seoul History Museum events
• @ Seoul History Museum:  Tea demonstration and lecture starting at 6 pm on the 30th, and the Chitwa parade (similar to a changing of the guard ceremony) that leads from the Seoul History Museum to Gyeonghui Palace.
• @ Namsan Hanok Village:  See mask dances and traditional performances starting at 6 pm on Saturday, the 30th.
• @ Namsan M Tower:  exhibitions and food performances starting from 1 pm Read the rest of this entry »

오늘 아리랑방송 TV에서 노기로 되어있는데 ‘Korea Now‘이란 쇼에 나올 거예요. 국내 아리랑TV에 새벽 6시, 아침 10시, 오후 8시와 11시에 나오기로 되어 있어요. 그리고 아까 링크들로 직저 들어가서 아리랑의 사이트로도 볼 수 있어요. 이 목록에 들어가면 8월 27일의 에피소드를 보시면 돼요.

이 에피소드가 “주한외국인 볼로거”에 대한 주제이예요. 사이트에 나온 설명은:

외국인이 한국에서 일하고 살면서 느끼는 한국을 들어본다. 한국어를 쓰고, 한국문화에 젖어 사는 이들. 단일민족인 한국인들 사이에서 지낸 이들의 10년 생활을 자신들만의 community를 만들어 타향살이 애로사항, 한국문화에 관한 편견과 오해 또한 애정을 블로그, 파드캐스트, 유투를 통해 한국을 알고 싶어하는 이들에게 전한다. 국경을 뛰어넘은 블로거들. Korea now에서 만나보았다.

Fatman’s gonna be on Arirang TV today (along with our sister site, FeetManSeoul, and fellow blogosphere stars Expat Jane and Roboseyo), on the show “Korea Now“, and will be aired on domestic TV at 6AM, 10AM, 8PM, and 11PM Korean time. You can also see it on the internet from the links above. In any case, it should be at the top of the list, the one having aired on August 27.

The show will be about “Expat Bloggers.”

Shoppers have spotted jars of kaya here in Korea! The thick, sweet cocount slather used at Ya Kun and Kopitiam Kaya chains is now available from the imported foods shelves of the underground grocery at Lotte Department Store at Euljiro-ipgu. Try the brown, green, or chocolate kaya for 6,900원 per jar.

According to the Korea Times, the major movie theater chains are now letting us bring our own food in!

Moviegoers will be able to enjoy coffee or snacks bought outside of the theaters while watching films, and operators will have to provide lists of food moviegoers can bring inside.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Monday ordered the nation’s four largest multiplex cinema chains to rewrite regulations banning customers from carrying foods they have bought outside. The chain theaters are CGV, Megabox, Lotte Cinema, and Primus Cinema.

Following the order, the theaters are posting on their Web sites the list of food items that are allowed or banned. Lotte Cinema removed “ice cream” from its list of non-permissible foods. It will also allow “hot coffee” if the coffee is carried in a container with lid.

It’s not all good news though:

CGV and Primus will permit cookies and canned drinks. The two and Megabox will not allow foods in glass bottles, which might hurt viewers if broken. Among other banned items are foods with strong odor, such as pizza and “sundae” (Korean-style blood sausage).

“The measure is expected to ease moviegoers’ inconvenience by expanding the number of allowable food items,” an FTC official said.

What? Does this mean no peanut-butter pressed squid?!? Theaters can take Fatman’s 쥐포 when they pry it from our cold, dead hands! But we do wonder . . .did anybody drag a plate of 순대 along as their movie date?

From Korea Beat, we have the tale of a new and creative (albeit unintentional and kind of gross) way to get your kids to eat something a little more nutritionally useful than a plain ol’ butter ring.

chocoroach chip cookie

Mmm, protein!

Things seen and eaten at the Seoul Food Festival:

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the great things about Korean bakeries is that the major chains are constantly trying to one-up each other with new and exciting flavors for each season. By remaining sensitive to flavor trends at large, all the major and many of the minor players try to understand the changing palates of their customers and incorporate them into their baking. Over the next few weeks, Fatman will be taking a more in-depth look at what some of the big bakeries are popping out of the oven this summer.

Tous le Jours has increasingly been making a serious bid for the top baker slot, with some hard-core promotions going on. Like many bakeries, they’ve noticed the rise in the popularity of donuts and have started making their own in-house versions. And with berries as the flavor trend of the summer, it was inevitable they’d try their hand at making some berry adventurous combinations . . . Read the rest of this entry »

This history of the 20th century through . . . food?

음식으로 역사를 배울 수 있어요? 너무 신기해요!

Note: We are required by international food blogging law to post this video.