밥 (bap) is the Korean word for rice, it's also the Korean word for meal. I find it absolutely fascinating that koreans associate rice with a meal, for instance, If you eat with a Korean and you order noodles, the koreans will say that you have not eaten a meal, but merely a snack. If you eat soup, you will also be served a small bowl of rice, because if you eat just soup you are not eating a meal. Every single day for lunch rice is on the menu, because you have to have a balanced meal, and only having rice with your meal makes it balanced. When I ask my kids what they eat for breakfast they always respond rice. When I ask them what they eat for brunch, lunch, snack, dinner, midnight snack... the response is always the same: rice. The fact that this one particular food is so ingrained in the culture is fascinating. I wonder what other, less obvious, implications this dependence on rice has within a global perspective?
On a side note...I can't imagine that Koreans are pleased when they come to America and we don't serve rice in every restaurant. Perhaps they carry microwaveable rice tubs in their luggage?! Sometimes I wish that I carried refrigerated tubs of cheese in my luggage...
Anyeong!
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