Welcome US beef back to Korea?!

Well it is official, beef was officially allowed back in Thursday, June 26. And things haven't been so great since. Starting Friday they were going to start scanning and inspecting the beef that has been in quarantine. There are 5,300 tons of US beef in storage around South Korea. And after it was announced that trade was back on people went out in masses and blocked the ports, stood in front of trucks, and basically made conditions so bad, that nothing was inspected on Friday. The protests are turning violent, to the point that citizens and police officers are being taken to the hospital, buses are being ruined, and an estimated trillion dollars of damage has been done - between taxis and businesses not being able to operate, all the buses being ruined, the extra cops and riot officers brought in. So a large majority of citizens are ready for the riots to stop. As far as the US beef goes, about 50% of consumers are ready for it, because the price is about half to three quarters cheaper than domestic, and tastes way better than the Australian grass-fed stuff. The reason that they won't let US beef come in, and then label the country-of-origin is that people think the restaurant owners and others will falsify documents, and say that it is domestic or Australian when it is actually US.

Then as if things couldn't get worse: there are e-coli recalls, beef heads recalled in TX for SRM (specified risk materials), the animal abuse video (which all happened within the last day or so) - there are many things keeping the natives angry, apprehensive, and doubtful.

Ok, on the fun aspect I went to a sensory lab on Thursday. Apparently it is one of the biggest and best in the world; and at an all woman's university. My co-worker's sister (no names to protect the innocent) is finishing up a masters there so we got an up close and personal tour. They do lots of testing on green tea and soups. Our tour guide is looking at the panelists and their responses, and trying to figure out how to get their terminology similar. It was interesting and that night we went to a Korean pork BBQ restaurant. Since I have been here I have only had this dish twice. What I had envisioned was way different than what was served. You get strips of raw pork belly (about 1/4 inch thick), put it over either a gas burner or charcoal burner, you then cut the meat into little strips and cook with garlic and onions. Then when it is done you wrap a piece of the meat, with some chili paste, garlic, onions, or whatever. And then you pop it into your mouth, not exactly the most dainty eating ever, but very tasty. Each Korean meal is served with many side dishes (when I say many I mean 4-8 different things)!! When I get back to the states I am going to try and mimic this style, I think it could go places.

Today we had pork dumplings for lunch. They were great, probably one of the tastiest things I have eaten so far. We also had pancakes (nothing like a breakfast one) - a potato one and another one that tasted like it had cheese in it. The chopsticks are still kicking my butt, my co-workers usually kindly get me a fork. Amazingly enough, there are never knives. If you need to cut something you use your spoon and try to hold it down with the chopsticks - nice visual huh?

Ok, that is enough for now. Kendra sent my camera cord and I got it today; so I will post some pics. Have a great weekend.