wmartin@brl-vgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (05/14/84)
The recent inquiry about Korean food inspires my posting this question. I have asked about this in Oriental food stores in many cities, and no one has ever recognized this dish. Perhaps someone on the net will have a name for this. A bit of history: I was a civilian in VietNam back in 1972, assigned to a Logistics Assistance Team working with the Korean White Horse Division in Nha Trang. (The US had South Korean forces as allies in Nam, in case you didn't know.) The Koreans had great food. The Korean staff gave me cases of Korean K-rations so I would have foodstuffs in my quarters. Korean K-rations came in a case of smaller boxes, each of which had two cans in it. One was kim-chee, which I grew to enjoy, and the other varied with six (or so) different entrees in each case. Everything could be eaten out of the can (chopsticks were provided, along with P-38 can openers) or you could heat the entrees. One entree was pickled garlic cloves, the whole clump sliced horizontally into thin slices, in some sort of sauce. That was the only thing I didn't enjoy eating; I learned to recognize the Korean characters for that stuff and gave those cans back to the Korean staff, who gobbled it up and then we couldn't stay in the keypunch room with them the rest of the day... But I digress... Other entrees included a squid and beef stew, and some other items I've forgotten. But my favorite was a can of little tiny fish and seaweed. It came in layers, half the can filled with seaweed and the rest with fish. This was GREAT! Much better than any sardines I've ever had before or since, and I've never had seaweed that tasty in any other oriental dish. Ever since then, I have tried to find a commercially-packed version of this, but never have. I do not know what it is called. I have described it to clerks at oriental food stores and no one has recognized it. I assume that it is some sort of peasant-style or simple Korean staple. K-rations are not fancy food, after all. Maybe that is why it isn't known outside of Korea. I've seen the packages of dried tiny fish in oriental markets, which look like the same fish, but I really want to just find the same stuff in a can like I ate before, as opposed to obtaining ingredients and trying to duplicate it. Those K-rations were made in California, by the way, but had all-Korean-language markings aside from site of origin. So it must be obtainable in the US somehow! Anybody out there know what I am describing? If I had a name for it, I could seek it with greater ease. Will Martin