The Reinvention of Cake

Korean Fried Chicken

By

Berry Michel

Since I have been living in Korea, I have really been enjoying the food. One of my favorite dishes is Korean fried chicken. I have found that in my travels, people love that crispy yard bird all over the world and Korea is no exception. So, one of my tasks as a true foodie was to find the best Korean fried chicken in Seoul. Before I moved here, I was watching a Netflix documentary on food and culture in Asia. One of the cities featured in the Netflix series was Seoul, South Korea. In one episode, this older Korean woman was featured for her fried chicken. It appeared that people all over the city adored this woman’s cooking. I made a mental note and when I moved here, I decided to seek this woman out and her famous fried chicken.

I eventually found this place and had a taste of the Korean fried chicken I had been dreaming about and to my pleasure, the chicken was as advertised. Every little bite of this fried chicken was like taking a bite out of heaven. This chicken had been blessed by the hands of God. The Divine Creator had to have something to do with this I thought. There was just one problem with this heavenly chicken story, the old woman. You see in the Netflix documentary they mentioned that the old lady likes to talk crap to her customers, but people enjoyed it. It was just her thing and people found it endearing. The truth is nothing could be farther from reality. Everyone that walks into this woman’s chicken shop knows how grumpy this old woman is and would much rather not deal with her at all. This woman is a piece of work. It’s almost like she intentionally wants to ruin your day. For the life of me, I don’t know why I keep going back to this place. Well, that’s not entirely true. I know exactly why. It’s the chicken.

So, let me jump to the point of this story and wade into human psychology for a minute. This grumpy old woman’s chicken is amazing, and she knows it. She has been in business in this same little chicken shop for decades talking crap the whole time. She knows she can treat people badly because the chicken is that good. People will keep coming back no matter how many feelings she hurts. The crazy thing is that there are fried chicken shops everywhere in Seoul. In fact, there is another chicken shop about 400 feet down the street from the grumpy old woman that is almost equally as good and the people there are kind and nice to their customers. At this other chicken shop, it’s almost like you know this is how I should be treated. Yet people still wander back to this grumpy old woman that gets on your nerve.

I tell this fried chicken story, because it is a lot like relationships, to be specific toxic relationships. Sometimes we find ourselves in a relationship where our partner just plain treats us badly, but for some reason we keep holding on to that person. Usually, we are holding on to this dirtbag of a person because they have something we need or want. That’s right, their chicken is so good you keep coming back for more punishment. Even though there are a lot better options out there for you. There is lot more fried chicken to be had that will not cause you a mental breakdown.

The other reason I tell this story is so we all can do some true self-reflection. Are you the grumpy old lady in your relationship? At certain points of my life, I’m pretty sure I was. Maybe we all should be nicer to our partner and stop depending on our chicken being so addictive. Sooner or later even addicts kick the habit or die.