Cycle 15 – Item 192

15 (Mon) July 2024

Ban-gyetang

1.0

at The Ban Food

-Seongsu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

solo

Boknal is the hottest stretch of summer, according to Korean (originally Chinese) tradition.  The term derives from the Chinese character “伏 (복) (bok)  = to lie down,” in reference to the debilitating impact of the intense heat on the body; “nal (날) = days.”  Essentially the same concept as the “dog days of summer” in ancient Greek tradition (from the prominent positioning of the Dog Star (Sirious) during late summer) – coincidentally, “伏” is a combination of the characters for human “人” + dog “犬,” interpreted to depict a dog lying next to its human master.  Calculated on the lunar calendar, boknal starts with chobok (“cho (초) =  start”) (mid-July) (this year, July 15, today), then jungbok (“jung (중) =  middle”) (late July), and ends with malbok (“mal (말) =  end”) (early August).

During boknal, Koreans eat foods believed to have restorative powers.  In recent history, the most (in)famous example has been bosintang (“protect (bo) + body (sin) + soup (tang)”), i.e., dog stew.  Despite proponents claiming the dog meat to be a fundamental part of Korean cuisine, research shows that it only began to be a thing, and even then fringe, during the 1800s, and became more of a thing, yet still fringe, during the mid-1900s following the Korean War, when meat of any kind was scarce.  While notorious, dog meat has always been fringe, even in its heyday from the 1970s-1980s (only one person in my family, my priest uncle, eats it).  In January of this year, the government passed a law banning the sale of dog meat, to take full effect in 2027.  With the new law, as well the underlying cultural shift, dog meat is now extreme fringe, soon to be entirely taboo.   Anyway, the vast majority of people have always eaten other meats during boknal (notwithstanding the supposed etymological link, as noted above), most commonly chicken (e.g., samgyetang), also beef, abalone.

Even though I am a dog owner (maybe lover?), I’m not opposed to the practice of eating dog, in principle.  So long as we’re eating animals in general, why are dogs in a protected category, just because we keep them as pets?  Birds are pets, yet chicken, duck, quail etc are fair game; same with rabbits, fish, turtles, frogs etc.  Having sampled dog meat once in my life – at a North Korean restaurant in Beijing (before GMTD) – I would never do so again, simply because I found it very disagreeable – like wet dog.

“Ban-gyetang” is not really a dish per se, just sam-gyetang with half of a chicken (“ban (반) = half”).

Even though I tend to avoid this restaurant (see generally 11.253 Spicy Chicken Curry and Other Japaneseish (Not So) Goodies), and I don’t believe in the need to eat restorative foods during boknal, it was so fucking hot outside – hello, chobok! – that I elected to stay within the safe/cool confines of the building for lunch.  The chicken turned out to be horribly dry, even in the soup, so I didn’t eat it after an initial nibble – so much for restoration.

(See also HANSIK)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)