8.291

23 (Mon) October 2017

Ojingeo Sundae

1.5

at Korea House

-Pil, Jung, Seoul, Korea-

with meeting participants

Mission to Korea + Fall Vacation, Day 2.

• Day 1 (8.290 Pleurogrammus Aonus)

In Seoul.  Here, initially, to coordinate the Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting for National Ethics/Bioethics Committees (AP-NEC), which WHO is co-organizing in collaboration with the National Bioethics Committee of Korea (KNBC), from Tuesday to Wednesday.  Then, the rest of this week and all of the next on an extended holiday with the family.

Any event hosted in Korea is likely to comprise a full package of activities, every hour from morning to night planned for.  Otherwise, Koreans feel that they’re not fulfilling their hosting obligations.  Generally, it’s a commendable cultural trait – though sometimes I suspect that the guests just want to be left alone on occasion.

Tonight, a pre-event dinner and cultural program at Korea House, so very cliché yet perfectly appropriate therefore.

Ojingeo sundae is a Korean squid dish.  Consists of squid (ojingeo), the body stuffed like a sausage with seasoned rice then steamed (sundae).  Something of a fringe cultural dish, typically in heritage restaurants but otherwise not commonly available.

I’m not a big fan.