Author Archives: Youngjin Hwang

Fickle in Luck, Fickle in Love

Nationality: Polish
Age: 25
Occupation: Medical Student
Residence: Poznań, Poland
Performance Date: 04/18/21
Primary Language: English
Language: Polish

Main Performance:

  • “Te który maja miłość w kartę nie ma miłości”
    • Transliterated Proverb
      • Te który = Those who
      • Maja = Have
      • Miłość = Love
      • w kartę = With cards
      • nie = No
      • ma = Has
    • Full Translation: Those who have love in cards have no love.
      • Explanation: The proverb refers to how those who have fair luck in life do not have love in their lives.

Background:

The informant, JK, is one of my close friends from my Catholic high school who I maintain contact with after graduation. He hails from a devoutly Catholic Polish family. Among most of the families that I knew of while attending, most of my classmates did not speak their family lineage’s mother tongue except for most of the my Polish and Hispanic classmates. No German and definitely not any Irish being spoken there.

Context:

My informant is currently attending medical school in Poland and I reached out to him through social media to ask if he had any traditional/folk-things he could share with me given his actively apparent and practiced Polish heritage, doubly so now that he is back in Poland.

My Thoughts:

What comes to my mind is that whoever has luck or whoever flaunts their luck is hiding the fact they have no love in their lives. Humility is a rather enormous concept in the Catholic faith so it only makes sense that those who are prideful about themselves, their fortune, and their lives are rather empty beneath it all and have no genuine love. Love also goes without saying as another key concept in Christianity as a whole and a life without love, or God’s love, is probably not life at all. Since this still Catholicism we’re discussing, it is never too late to renounce those prideful ways to become more humble so there isn’t a permanently accusatory tone there but there isn’t technically a suggestion for repentance, only pointing out an observation. Also seems to be another version of “lucky at cards, unlucky in love”.

Are you something to write home about?

Nationality: Polish
Age: 25
Occupation: Medical Student
Residence: Poznań, Poland
Performance Date: 04/18/21
Primary Language: English
Language: Polish

Main Performance:

  • “Jak cię widzą tak cię piszą”
    • Transliterated Proverb
      • Jak = How
      • cię = you
      • widzą = they
      • tak = see
      • piszą = they write
    • Full Translation: How they see you is how they write [perceive] you
      • Explanation: The proverb refers to how one presents themselves outwardly are what people will think of them as a whole. One should endeavor to try and make themselves presentable not in a way to impress others but to more accurately reflect who they really are on the outside lest they give off a negative impression of themselves.

Background:

The informant, JK, is one of my close friends from my Catholic high school who I maintain contact with after graduation. He hails from a devoutly Catholic Polish family. Among most of the families that I knew of while attending, most of my classmates did not speak their family lineage’s mother tongue except for most of the my Polish and Hispanic classmates. No German and definitely not any Irish being spoken there.

Context:

My informant is currently attending medical school in Poland and I reached out to him through social media to ask if he had any traditional/folk-things he could share with me given his actively apparent and practiced Polish heritage, doubly so now that he is back in Poland.

My Thoughts:

How one outwardly appears is what people will consider him on the inside. The proverb tells me that it was said for people to act more honestly with themselves to other people instead of putting on fronts to pretend to be who they are not. It comes off as sound advice but has a judgmental tinge to it by how it seems to suggest that “what you see is what you get” sort of denotations from it as well. I think the quote is another that can be used on the youth to promote honest growths in personality and accepting others, to present the best version of themselves so that the good person that an individual knows that they are inside can shine forth without any misrepresentation or misinterpretation. It is rather beautiful in a way despite being simple suggestion to present oneself as best as they can be as to not have any wrongful slander made against them.

Eat and Gain a Year

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 60
Residence: Chicago, Illinois
Performance Date: 1/1/2021
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

Main Piece:

Sseulnal (설날) is the Korean Lunar New Year and national holiday that we typically just celebrate on January 1st for simplicity’s sake. Me and Grandma prepare the ingredients for the jesa (제사) like always but instead of the usual assortment we go with the traditional ddeukguk (떡국) or rice-cake soup. Only when you eat rice-cake soup on New Year’s Day is how you “gain” an age in traditional Korean folk-belief, representing the full passage of a year.

Background:

The informant is my mother who has prepared rice-cake soup on January 1st for the past 40 years and continues to practice many Korean folk celebrations primarily because she enjoys traditional food as well as having been practiced in her own family life when she was younger. It’s also special to her because she abhors eating Korean food in restaurants and always prefers cooking them personally.

Context:

On New Years I asked my mother again the significance of the rice-cake soup was on New Years compared to all the other foods she usually prepares on a jesa (제사).

My Thoughts:

Despite the whole concept of gaining an age through this particular folk custom, my family still practiced the conventional birthday celebration when the question of age comes up. With how impoverished Korea used to be, many greetings exchanged between people were “Have you eaten yet?” to make sure the other party was in good health and this leads me to believe that surviving a year and celebrating together with family was an incredibly dire and daily traditional element back in the day to make sure everyone had something to eat and live to see tomorrow. There is also another similar food-item consumed during New Years as an auspicious symbol to consume during New Years in Japan called Zoni.

It had just occurred to me through this project that I questioned on why my parents are insistent on keeping these traditions alive as many other Korean families we know of do not celebrate traditional holidays anymore, at least not in the way they’re “supposed” to as most treat this as a holiday from work and an excuse to go vacation under the disguise of “visiting family”. My parents bring up how surprised they are to hear how dysfunctional other family’s relationships are between parents and children not getting along and how this traditional time for family gatherings are often spent alone and away from them.

Just throw everything in: The Platoon Stew

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 67
Residence: Illinois
Performance Date: 4/19/2021
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

Main Piece:

The 부대찌개 (read: Buddae-jjigae) takes the words 부대 (Buddae) meaning army unit and 찌개 (jjigae) meaning stew/soup together. It is a prime example of the melding of Korean traditional cooking with an American influence. Korea before the technological and cultural factory it has become now was once an incredibly poor country and before and during the Korean War in the 1950’s. U.S military troops that arrived and fought there were supplied with many canned foods.

When the war ended, the troops left with the preservable food still around and post-war Koreans decided to utilize these provisions to good use. Using an old Korean vegetable stew and ramen noodles as a base, a myriad of other foreign ingredients such as hot-dog sausages, baked beans, cheese, and canned spam were added to the pot which resulted in the Army/Platoon Stew. Some people say that the stew was cooked and being eaten out of the left-over helmets. While it has a set recipe that acts as the foundation, many other elements and toppings can be added or removed by the preferences of the audience, adding more American style toppings or more traditional Korean ones.

Background:

The informant is my father, a proud Korean native born just after the Korean War’s end and a veritable library of knowledge on the country’s history and folkways. His lineage unites the two divided Koreas as his family hailed from the northern territories following his father’s escape to the South. His passion led him to previously be at the head of government funded Korean-American tourism business based in the Midwest during the early 2000s, promoting America to Koreans and Korea to Americans. As per South Korean law, he had also experienced mandatory military service where the stew’s relatively simple recipe makes it a favorite among the others serving their time. He often brings up it to the family when anything Korean ever makes it on the news such as movie stars or someone famous saying something positive about Korea.

Context:

I asked about the naming convention of one of my favorite Korean dishes many years ago and received an answer from both my mother and father who provided the recipe and its history, respectively. I asked once more when I had to help make one for the family.

My Thoughts:

While it carries no commemorative experiences by itself, the Buddae-jjigae to my mind perfectly symbolizes the start of the westernization of Korean culture, for better or for worse, while also standing at a liminal point between America and Korean cuisine cultures as well as traditional cooking and “modern” cooking. My grandparents and parents are often critical of the younger Korean generations for being rather dismissive of the traditional foods and forgetting many of the cultural ceremonies and rituals but the Buddae-jjigae serves as a proper bridge that generations both old and new can enjoy. Its recipe can also involve as many ingredients as one chooses, the tougher and traditional means creating homemade stock while the simpler methods are using prepackaged beef or chicken broths. It brings back fond memories of my hometown in South Korea where my and my family would talk to one of the famous restaurants that only served this stew but could only house four parties which meant that there were lines outside constantly. It brings a smile to my face every time I see some American celebrities and T.V Food Critics such as Anthony Bourdain and Andersoon Cooper talk about how much they loved the dish. Apparently even Lyndon B. Johnson loved it.

The Warding Effects of Garlic

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 60
Residence: Illinois
Performance Date: 1/1/2021
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

Main Piece:

During many traditional Korean commemorative ceremonies called jesa (제사), there is a part where a family’s ancestors are honored by being “brought in” through an open door and allowed to dine on the food first before the family that prepared it. Once it is time for the meal to be eaten by the family, the prepared foods are cooked again, but only this time, properly seasoned with garlic.

Background:

The informant is my mother who is the youngest child on her side of the family and the only one who has regular contact with her mother/my grandmother as our family is the only one among our extended family living in the United States with them. Because of this, most of my grandmother’s teachings and culinary knowledge have been passed down to her. Despite many of the commemoration ceremonies being done in the honor of my father’s side of the family, my mother dutifully carries out the traditional cooking required for the occasion. While not highly religious, my mother still holds out on traditional beliefs of karma and good deeds eventually being rewarded so perhaps she follows these traditional rules so closely as to hope for better for her children.

Context:

The ceremony for the commemoration of ancestors or other traditional events usually falls between brunch or dinner-times so most of the family does not eat until then. Because everyone gets hungry, I asked my mother why she needed to cook the food again when everything was prepared, the ceremony was finished, and all that was left was to eat. She replied that the food needed to be cooked again properly since she left out the seasoning, particularly the garlic. When I asked why, she said that garlic wards off spirits. I asked why this was and my brother chimed in to explain to me that one of the creation myths of Korea involved a bear turning into a human by eating nothing but gloves of garlic and mugworts for 100 days, giving garlic in particular some level of spiritual power.

My Thoughts:

Garlic being such a powerful supernatural warding tool surprised me as I thought it was specifically targeted towards vampires from Western legends. Garlic is an incredibly common ingredient found in Korean cuisine so it never properly registered to me as it could have any sort of special meaning beyond a universal ingredient. If garlic was so regularly consumed, why were there even ghost stories to begin with? Was superstition just that prevalent that it may have influenced every-day cooking to ward off malevolent and clingy spirits? There are some accounts where eating garlic wards off tigers and eating pickled garlic in particular being a procedure that was recommended to those traveling through mountains as to not encounter a tiger on their journey. As an avid fan of putting garlic as seasoning for most things, it made me question if garlic was used so extensively for its supernatural benefits, its taste, or the simple convenience of both tasting good and warding off evil. Interesting to note how garlic’s effects are indiscriminate to spirits in general as the spirits that are relevant in this context are “good” spirits who are honored to give blessings to their descendants but they are still affected by its effects.