Reno, NV - Gi Woong Yun and his wife, Sung-Yeon Park, simultaneously moved to the United States from South Korea, later pursuing careers at the institution in Bowling Green, Ohio.
They soon got married and have two children together. Park explains that the two would’ve never met had they not simultaneously came to the United States because of how different their lives were in South Korea.
Later down the road, it just so happened that they both scored jobs as professors at the University of Nevada, Reno and have continued their lives there.
Korean Cuisine in Reno
Both acknowledge and like the rise of Korean culture in Reno, but we all know what most often times everyone loves most about their culture, the food.
Korean food is very spicy and full of flavor.
Yun and Park say how food is huge in Korea and that there are restaurants and street vendors everywhere.
However, Yun and his family rarely go out to eat and prefer to eat home cooked meals prepared by Park.
Park says that it is fairly easy to find the things she needs to cook at regular, chain grocery stores as well as the two Korean grocery stores in Reno.
Nonetheless with the growth of Korean cuisine in Reno, when they do go out
there is roughly three to four different Korean restaurants to choose from and it is the older generation who pays for the meal.
Infusing Korean Customs at Arario Midtown
One of those being their favorites in town, Arario Midtown. Yun says how many Korean restaurants are a direct reflection of when that business owner came from Korea. “Restaurant owners that came in the 70s have a decoration and table set out very similar to 1970s of Korea” and so on.
Yun says Arario’s scenery and layout of the restaurant is contemporary and is similar to that of what it would be like in Korea, “because the wife of the owner came from Korea just about 2 years ago”.
While having a meal with them at Arario, they informed me on a few insider details of their customs when having a meal in Korean culture.
The younger generation is supposed to make sure that the older generations glasses are always full.
Yun decided to order Soju, which is a specialty drink for special occasions. The older generation pours my drink and then I pour there’s. Making sure their drinks are continuously filled and that your hand is covering the label. Once everyone’s glasses are full, everyone cheers and sips on it throughout their meal in order to cleanse the pallet.
An Insider's View
Also, if you know the owners of the restaurant then they will sometimes make special meals for you that’s off the menu or will want you to try something new that there in the midst of making to get there opinion.
Yun says some of the weirdest foods he’s tried within his culture was cow balls, some types of fish or octopus, and fish eyes. He even said that it sometimes still moves while you’re eating it.
When traveling to either Korea or any country, “when you travel in a different country, you can try raw food or a salad type of food, but it’s always kind of like there’s danger that comes with it...you don’t know what’s inside of the food. It could potentially be contaminated...I always like to eat some kind of fried food because it kills the germs before it’s served”, Yun says.
Tofu Stew
Besides the incredible flavoring, this is partly why Yun’s favorite meal at Arario is the Tofu Stew.
“It has a lot of things in it, like tofu and seafood and a lot of ingredients in there”, Yun says.
The one thing that was most interesting was how similar Yun and his wife said was how similar Korean food was in the U.S. and in Korea.
“If you go to a Korean restaurant in LA, the quality is really good. I would say it’s sometimes better than Korea. The food that you ate at Arario was started in LA and then moved back to Korea. It is one kind of a chain restaurant, which specializes in that Tofu Stew. It was started in LA and then they kind of imported it back to Korea”, Yun says.
Yun inquired that often times or not, restaurants are the easiest route to go in for immigrants coming to the United States. “When you have money it is not a huge amount of money, but remember Korea was kind of a poor country and the exchange rate. So they don’t have a lot of money, what can they do with the limited amount of resources and then banks are not loaning them because they don’t have any credit. So what can you start and a lot of them started with low capital business.”
Yun says the result of this is laundromat’s, grocery stores or restaurants and is in part a reflection of what the generation did before you and what is available to you when you come here.
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