Korea, a Nation Truly Serious About Food.TXT

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In Korea, saying someone "eats heartily" is a compliment.
Whenever you turn on the TV, there is a show about delicious restaurants.
We popularized the term "Mukbang" worldwide.
Our food delivery system is among the best in the world.
24-hour convenience stores are scattered everywhere.
Most companies have refrigerators and pantry areas.
Korean school lunches are world-class.
"Have you eaten?" or "Let's grab a meal" are common greetings.
There is a social atmosphere where you might get scolded for leaving food on your plate.
There is a proverb that "eating is what truly remains."
Ernst von Hesse-Wartensleben, an Austrian who traveled through Joseon during the Enlightenment period:
"The Joseon people are big eaters and have no comparison. When I went to Japan, they said Joseon people eat three times more than us, and it was true."
Isabella Bird Bishop, a British scholar:
"Koreans typically devour 3 to 4 servings in a single meal."
Yongjaechonghwa, recorded during the reign of King Jungjong:
"Even the poor will go into debt just to eat their fill."
A memorial submitted by Yi Geuk-don, Minister of War during the early Joseon period:
"The problem is that when there is a bumper crop, the people do not spare food; they devour in one meal what a Chinese person would eat in an entire day."
Li Rusong, a Ming Dynasty general during the Imjin War:
"If the people eat like this, how can the nation be governed?"

A middle-class meal table in the late Joseon period