14.240 Wake Spread

katch4246

Sep 25

Cycle 14 - Item 240

1 (Fri) September 2023

Wake Spread

2.5

at Samsung Seoul Hospital Funeral Home

-Ilwon, Gangnam, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with W and staff

The day was, to put it mildly, eventful: two highs, one devastating low.

HIGH

In the morning, I attended a visit by Korean-American author An Na at SIS. Last spring, our company had facilitated a bulk order of her most famous book, A Step From Heaven (2001), which was distributed to all middle school students as summer reading, so they'd be prepared for the visit - the SIS library does a stellar job of integrating author visits with access to the author's book (see also 14.074 Shrimp Tacos). As recounted masterfully in her presentation, An Na's experiences growing up in California as a young immigrant from Korea sounded almost exactly like mine.

She discussed how Swanson's TV Dinners were the only way that she could eat American food at home; specifically, she was fond of the turkey, because even on Thanksgiving, the spread was Korean - turkey was also my favorite because it was the only way that I could eat poultry at home; my father doesn't eat poultry, so Thanksgiving didn't include turkey (substitute: roast beef).

AFTERNOON

NIGHT

The father of a staff member.

At 4 posts on GMTD in the context of a funeral, the score is now tied 2-2 between parents of my friends (see 1.246 Wake Spread; 11.268 Wake Spread) vs parents of W's friends (see 13.020 Wake Spread).As noted in the prior post (see 13.020 Wake Spread), disposable dining accoutrements like plates and cutlery can be branded, if one of the family members works in a high-end company/agency: HJ works for Financial Supervisory Service (Korea's counterpart to the American Federal Trade Commission), while her sister works for Samsung Financial Networks. Obviously, they're not really trying to advertise, but that's what it is, right?

As evidenced by the prior posts, the food at such places is almost exactly the same, both in quality and variation: rice + soup (so far, yukgyejang 3 out of 4 times) + steamed pork belly with shrimp paste + assorted jeon + kimchi + banchan + rice cakes + fruit - and quality.

Back in the day, drinking was an essential part of the process, especially amongst the men - brothers, sons, friends of the deceased - who were expected to stay on overnight to keep the flames going. But nowadays, visitors tend to be in and out, a trend further encouraged by pandemic restrictions.

(See also BOOZE)

(See also HANSIK)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)