Posted on 05/20/2018 4:08:17 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
As one of the most iconic Korean dishes, army base stew, or budae jjigae, has a colorful history. In the aftermath of the war, American servicemen and troops were stationed in South Korea to prevent invasion. Resourceful Koreans had heard that these bases had a surplus of canned meats that often ended up in the garbage. These meats, like ground beef, Spam, hot dogs, and ham, were picked up and put into a spicy stew.
In this episode of K-Town, host Matthew Kang tries an exemplary version of this now-classic stew at Dallas’s Dan Sung Sa. Today, budae jjigae shows up on Korean bar menus and restaurant menus around the world, but its unique history as a “trash” dish is a reminder that Korea, despite its current prosperity and place in the world, was once ravaged by war, and remains in an uneasy political situation to this day.
Oh, the Navy gets the gravy, and the Army gets beans, beans, beans!
Jerry Lewis sings it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gQb7gZ0aIw
They were all excited one day about the cook making black-eyed peas. All day they were talking about it. Me being a Yankee they asked me if I had ever had black-eyed peas. (”uh no.” They went on and on how it was the best thing ever, etc.
And then the other food questions.
“Grits?” Nope.
“Corn on the cob?” Uh - yeah.
“Fried Chicken?” Are you guys serious? (they were)
“Watermelon?” And a bunch of others that were similar.
When we finally got into dinner I took some black-eyed peas.
Took a bite and commented “So what? They're beans.”
I just about got run-off the drill site!
Years later I married, and mother-in-law always serves black-eyed peas for New Years.
And my reaction to grits the first time having them was similar to the black-eyed peas. (I hope I don't get run-off FR!?) Now deep fried okra is okay if done right, and I don't know if it is southern - but it sure is trash - scrapple (blood sausage?) - and that is sure good. But it's been years since I had it.
Lol, southern food is unique for sure. It’s roots, as with most good foods, are based in subsistence. In other words eating what’s available at the time. Example; chicken fried steak, one of my favorite dishes, was derived as a method to make rancid meat edible. Btw, I love blackeyed peas but I like mine with snaps in them. Sadly, most are now processed and packaged through an auto-shelling machine which requires the shells to be mature and dry. Every now and then I’ll go by our local farmers market at the right time of year and buy a half bushel and hand shell along with including some snaps. Having grown up on a farm in Texas, when I was a little critter I spent many an afternoon sitting by my grandmother helping her shell blackeyed peas.
Lol, southern food is unique for sure. It’s roots, as with most good foods, are based in subsistence. In other words eating what’s available at the time. Example; chicken fried steak, one of my favorite dishes, was derived as a method to make rancid meat edible. Btw, I love blackeyed peas but I like mine with snaps in them. Sadly, most are now processed and packaged through an auto-shelling machine which requires the shells to be mature and dry. Every now and then I’ll go by our local farmers market at the right time of year and buy a half bushel and hand shell along with including some snaps. Having grown up on a farm in Texas, when I was a little critter I spent many an afternoon sitting by my grandmother helping her shell blackeyed peas.
Waitress: Well, there’s egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam...
And bags of fried shrimps and BBQ chickens. 1978-79 (Camp Red Cloud, Uijongbu) and 1981-82 (Camp Casey & Hovey, Tongduchon).
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