Korean School Lunch

Back in the states if you were to ask a student at most elementary schools what their favorite part of the day is many would probably say lunch and recess. Here at Samyook Elementary, most students would probably label lunch as their LEAST favorite part of the day. Why? The food. If you ask my first graders why they love field trip day the most common response is "I get to bring my own lunch." Why do they hate the food so much? As some of you may or may not know, we work at a Seventh Day Adventist school and therefore there is a "strict" vegetarian policy (more on that later...). Although vegetarian food can be delicious, a lot of what the school makes just isn't. In addition, for the most part students are required to eat everything on their plates. For the older kids this is always true, for the younger kids it is dependent on their Korean teacher. Luckily for us, the teachers don't have to clear their plates!

Most days we are served rice, soup, fruit, kimchi, and three other sides. One of these sides is a always kimchi and it is a lifesaver as it helps us finish the rice. Sometimes the other sides are great, other times we can't stand to finish them. For example, we have been served plain uncooked slabs of tofu, what can only be described as grass and twigs, and more or less flavorless jelly cubes made from acorns. And with the exception of a day here and there, the daily soup is basically intolerable. On Wednesdays we have something "special" like bibimbap, egg over the rice, curry, etc, and on Fridays we normally have some sort of noodle dish. Earlier, I said "strict" vegetarian policy loosely as there are days certain dishes taste quite fishy (kimchi is traditionally made with anchovy paste), non-synthetic meat flavorings have been used for the curries, and one of our fellow teachers that speaks Korean said he has seen spam listed on the menu before.

Without further ado, a week of school lunches:

MONDAY

Rice, tofu seaweed soup, yogurt, clementine (in season right now and delicious!). Sides (left to right): tofu potato thing; green plant with sesame oil maybe?;  raw cabbage and carrots covered with a sauce that can only be described as tasting like pureed sprinkles; kimchi. 

TUESDAY

Rice, tofu seaweed soup (a different one), apple, the plastic wrapped thing was some sort of pastry with an "apple" filling (at least that's what the kids said - it tasted nothing like apples). Sides (left to right): egg pancake; absolutely no idea what the second one was; sweet seaweed and apple slices that tasted more or less like you walked over to the nearest tide-pool, grabbed a handful of whatever was inside, and shoved it in your mouth; kimchi. 

WEDNESDAY

This was a great day! Curry over rice, chocolate cookie, chocolate soy milk, kimchi,  and korean pears which taste sort of like a mix between an apple and a pear. 

 THURSDAY

Rice, seaweed soup, persimmons. Sides (left to right): sweet potato/onion saucy thing; some sort of seaweed pancake; the dreaded acorn tofu in sauce; kimchi.

FRIDAY

Friday is pretty hit and miss, and this is the definition of a miss. Pumpkin porridge: the worst Friday meal. I can see how this could be good if it was pureed better and was lacking the rice cake balls and black beans. Also on the tray, banana soy milk, a banana, and the sides (from left to right): rice cakes with a sweet liquid filling, apple/persimmon/ clementine chunks covered in the sprinkle sauce, and kimchi.

So there you have it, a week of school lunch at Samyook Elementary School. We promise to post with some of our favorite non-school foods soon!