The Korea Times
Several decades ago, when I first came to Korea as a young soldier, I knew almost nothing about the country save what I had seen on the popular American television program “M*A*S*H.” I was stationed in the mountainous region of Gangwon Province, a relatively quiet and rural part of the country, and our camp was small and primitive. Very few of my fellow soldiers ventured far from the “ville” — the small camp town located just outside the gate — and they devoted little of their free time to learning Korean, the culture or even experiencing the local cuisine. Many considered eating in the KATUSA snack bar a culinary adventure. My first adventure with Korean food occurred during an annual military exercise (Team Spirit), when my unit was deployed near a small mountain village. Our timing was perfect. The village was celebrating a wedding, and some of the kind, elderly villagers invited us to come and partake in the feast. As I recall, there were only three or four of us who went — and only after being warned by our commander that we were absolutely forbidden to consume any
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