Korean 'stew' (
chigae can be roughly translated as a stew). BuDae means army base. The main ingredients are a combination of Korean staples -
kimchee,
tofu,
ramen and a green leafy vegetable that resembles a cross between parsely and wild celery. It might be
sukwhich is also used to color ricecakes a distinct jade-brown color but I'm not sure. The other ingredients are the Korean War-era
K-rations of the US Army. The versions I've had include
baked beans,
hotdogs,
Spam and
American cheese. Eaten at a little neighborhood restaurant in
Seoul over a
bunsen burner with
OB Lager to cool it down. A little sliver of Korean history bubbling away in an aluminum pan.
Certainly one of the finest uses of
Spam - that bizarre concoction that (according to
dubious urban legendI heard) so resembles human flesh that it became the favorite meat of a
cannibal group in Indonesia). And a cultural artifact that is very Korean IMHO and in my somewhat impressionistic and lazy opinion.
Korean in that it takes something so bland and depressing as rations and with the addition of
kimchee makes it firey and fragrant. Reminds me of
Stone Soupor
Nail Soup that German
fairy tale about a hungry soldier who cleverly elicits ingredients for a soup after claiming that he could make it with just a nail…
Korean in that it takes the materials at hand and turns it into something distinctive and unmistakably Korean.