The two presentations turned out well. The TED event was full of energy–passionate intelligent people. It also helped the mood that there was a little rock festival playing right outside the building. Speakers talked about food from a Korean poet, food and art, the need to diversify Korean alcohols (including beers), and a great story of makgeolli’s fight for respect in noveau riche Korea. Jennifer Flinn of Fatman Seoul, whose site I’m happy to announce is back in business, talked about the anthropology of Korean food blogging compared to western food blogging. As with hers, my piece was one of those rapid-fire three-minute talks. The topic was “10 Tips to Globalize Korean Food (from an American Perspective).”

I could tell places where I screwed up, but I feel much better about it now. I heard that Roh Tae-woo’s daughter was in attendance. Afterward we had some good fresh oysters on the half shell, freshly made sushi from a master behind the counter, and a variety of artisinal makgeollis. Oh, there was also some North Korean Taedonggang beer on hand for tasting. I also got to meet some great interesting people. It was one of those moments when I felt that those petty little differences we expats tend to inflate on Koreans and they do to us just didn’t exist. We all laughed at and gasped at the same things.

They’re going to translate all the speeches and post them online. I’ll tell you when they’re available.

The KOTESOL presentation surprised me because it turned into a conversation more than a lecture. It started when I was showing places to get ethnic ingredients when people raised their hands and shared their tips on where to get stuff. If you were at the conference, please share those tips again here in the comment section.

I was really wondering if participants would actually find the information useful or if it was already old hat. Turned out it was not too bad. I should really rework it and make a YouTube video if people think that it would be helpful. Stafford and the organizers took videos of the talk, so those may get online soon in some form or another.

In the meantime, I’ve made a PDF of the Powerpoint slides, and I’m making the recipe handout sheet available. Just click on the following links to download.

Korean Food Survival Slideshow (PDF)

Recipes (Word)