ZenKimchi

I see the holding of chopsticks and spoon all the time. Some are really talented and hold both in the same hand and switch in one swift move. Getting your rice in the banchan, especially the soup, I have been told is a no-no -- one of the few ones. I ask about etiquette all the time. I've heard mixed things about leaving the chopsticks in the rice. The younger generation seems to not care about it. Older people say it brings bad luck. Lonely Planet says it's an indicator of death because they look like incense sticks.

Yeah, it escaped me that I was phonetically spelling how westerners pronounce it. Frequently with literally switching hangeul (Korean script) into Roman letters, the words get so big and clunky they're hard to pronounce. So I just write "dunkass" and leave out the apothesis (extra ending vowel). I read somewhere that it came to Japan through contact with Germany, which makes sense. I make schnitzel all the time with dunkass cutlets from the local butcher.

Was with a Korean friend last night, and I brought up the "shake 'em" dosirak topic. She said that they were a trend that started two or three years ago. She confirmed what my girlfriend and a co-worker told me. The shake 'ems were the type that kids brought in their backpacks in the 1970s and 1980s. They were nice and neat when packed but got shaken in the kids' backpacks. Sometimes the kids would shake them just for fun.

Thanks! I've been lurking for a while. Thought I'd join in.

Yeah, novelty. Whimsical trend. Like an upscale peanut butter and jelly restaurant in New York. They're fun. Co-worker told me he had one last night with dinner.

I've taught a few English schools, and the meals are usually served at the school itself. But on field trips, the kids usually bring kimbap and cute little sides. My girlfriend said that the dosirak in the metal box that was more like a bibimbap was something she grew up with in the 1970s in the countryside near Gyeongju. And, yes, squid is very popular too. The kids ripped into this boy's buttered dried squid.

Ears were burning, so I thought I'd help clarify. There are different kinds of dosirak, since it translates to "lunch box." The kind I talked about in my blog were part of a food trend at restaurants in and around Seoul where the dosirak was either an appetizer or substituted for rice. Fat Man's dosirak are take out full meals, and I honestly haven't come across those types outside of dunkass (read: Japanese influenced) restaurants. The dosirak "shakers" I was introduced to by Koreans, and the background information on the blog were basically verbatim what they told me. They're just called "dosirak" or "benddo" on menus, but you can tell they're the shake up kind because they're 2,000 won.