Comments on idiots' collective: Steamed, Fried, or Endangered?

Reminds me of the farewell banquet thrown for us f...

2008-02-29T01:55:00.000+09:00

Reminds me of the farewell banquet thrown for us foreign teachers leaving the school I worked at in China. When one fish dish was brought out, our host proudly announced through a translator that it was one of the last remaining river fish of it's kind in the world. At that point, all eyes were on us horrified guests of honor.
I rationalized that the poor fish was cooked beyond releasability, and after a couple polite expressions of regret, we partook. It really didn't taste all that special.

When joking with a friend, I came up with a restau...

2008-02-27T08:17:00.000+09:00

When joking with a friend, I came up with a restaurant idea an a slogan:

The Extinction Cafe

"Good To The Very Last One!"

Maybe I should franchise it.

Marquita: I'll give you the info when I see you or...

2008-02-26T10:03:00.000+09:00

Marquita: I'll give you the info when I see you or Daniel next.

Dave: I don't think there's anything un-PC whatsoever in your question. I've actually been thinking of late about how to address the question of morality in Korea, specifically in situations like this. For example, as a matter of principle, I try not to order food that contains threatened or endangered species (though I sure do like sushi), but when I've asked several Koreans about this, they give me a puzzled look and just say they'd never really thought of it before. I'm not sure if this is a conscious case on their part of the "tragedy of the commons" - i.e. if I don't eat the minke whale, someone else will - or if there's just an unawareness of how one's actions impact the larger world. Whatever the case, Korea seems to maintain a highly family-centric sense of morality, in that people worry a great deal about how their actions might impact their father or mother, but not about how they could impact the neighborhood or the community.

I know that such a mindset, however we characterize it, is by no means unique to Korea, so I'm trying to figure out how to properly frame the issue should I decide to do a post on it.

Feels kind of un-PC of me to mention it, but I'll ...

2008-02-26T05:30:00.000+09:00

Feels kind of un-PC of me to mention it, but I'll go ahead and risk it... is the subtext that they're only interested in keeping the species around so that they can eat them?

IE - instead of the american thing of separating animal from food (pigs vs. ham) they really just love the animals for their food?

How can we get a subscription to the IHT?

2008-02-25T21:19:00.000+09:00

How can we get a subscription to the IHT?

Adam,The state of the English-language press in Se...

2008-02-25T20:00:00.000+09:00

Adam,

The state of the English-language press in Seoul - i.e. The Korea Times, the Herald, etc. - is the reason I subscribe to the IHT, though even that doesn't save me from the Joong-Ang.

Funny about the extinction dishes. I feel the same...

2008-02-25T18:53:00.000+09:00

Funny about the extinction dishes. I feel the same way about the English press, generally irksome and mostly poor in quality. The Chosun Ilbo compared Namdaemun burning to 9/11.