Vegan Doshirak!

I know, it's a terrible picture.  I'm still having a hard time figuring out how to get decent low-light pictures on my new (used) smartphone.

One of the questions I ask during my first week of classes, our Introductions unit, is what my students' favorite foods are.  A common answer is "meat."  Then I explain that "meat" sounds strange in English, like you're a dinosaur.  You should instead say "beef" or "steak" or "pork."

The point is, Koreans love meat.  Being a vegetarian or (god forbid) a vegan here is pretty much impossible unless you're willing to do all of your cooking at home.

So anyhow, I'd heard that meatless products were making inroads into the country, and last night after work I picked up my first vegan box-lunch.  (Koreans call them "doshirak," ready-made convenience store meals basically.)

And guess what?  It was pretty good.

Here we have some chunked up roasted squash, and then penne pasta with a "bean meat" (콩 고기) meatless flourish.

I thought it tasted fine cold, but 30 or 40 seconds in the microwave would also be an option.

This cost me three bucks and, to cut to the chase, I'd eat it again.  Not bad at all, and I'm curious to see if companies are actually going to make profits in this notoriously meat-centric country.