Korea vs The West: Drinking Culture P1

Part 1/2: An average night out for Koreans.

Koreans love a drink. Or 20.

 Not gonna lie - I can totally relate and so would about 95% of the Koreans I know.

Of course, not everyone is a raging alcoholic in Korea, many people don't drink at all or are not heavy drinkers but there's no denying that drinking is much more normalised in Korean culture and the lack of awareness of alcoholism is a problem.

If you've been following my blogs, you'll know that this isn't about statistics but if you're interested, check out this article on drinking problems in Korea and this one on how things might be changing.

I could talk for hours about Koreans and alcohol - there are so many different facets to it, right.

The social rules, alcoholism, culture, food, socialising, just to name a few.

Welcome to this two part mini-series about Drinking Culture in Korea.

I'll ease us into it slowly, starting with something light-hearted!

An average night out.

What's an average night out for you??

Depending on who you're going out with, the occasion and your age range this could differ vastly right?

If you're in your early 20s, maybe you'll start off with pre-drinks at a friend's house to save $$, get a little tipsy to then hit a bar and then a club?

If you're in your 30s maybe you'll have a nice dinner with wine, chitchat for a few hours and then a bar afterwards with some G&Ts or a nice whiskey?

For most Koreans, it'll probably look very similar to something like this:

1. Dinner and drinks
2. More food and drinks
3. Karaoke and more drinks and more food
4. More food and even more drinks

And yes, these are all at different places.

We call this 'stages' or 차. 1차, 2차, 3차 etc.

At each of these stages, once you finish the food that's the cue to move to the next 'stage'.

"Let's go to 2nd stage!"

So yeah, that's a lot of alcohol and a lot of food.

There are pubs and bars in Korea but they are very much western concepts not Korean. For Koreans, we drink at a 술집 (sool-jib) which is basically a restaurant where you eat and drink together. The whole idea of drinking without food is still quite foreign to Koreans.

I'm guessing it might have something to do with Korean alcohol being quite strong.

So, food is used almost like mixers and chasers in the Western world.

(Are mixers and chasers what they're called outside of Australia..)

Food and alcohol.

Red wine and steak, cheese or chocolate?

White wine with seafood?

Beer with… a bag chips or peanuts…..?

Any good alcohol-connoisseur could tell you how important the right food pairings with alcohol are.

And Koreans will take this very seriously.

I mean, we are all self-proclaimed soju-connoisseurs, aren't we?

So much so that we have a separate word for it. 안주 (anju) specifically refers to food that you eat with alcohol.

Here are a few common Korean food/alcohol pairings:

• Pork belly and soju 
• Spicy chicken feet and soju
• Sashimi and soju
• Chicken and beer
• Pizza and beer
• Dried seafood and nuts and beer
• Korean pancake and makggeoli (막걸리, traditional rice wine)

Across the different 'stages' there will be a different combination of food and alcohol.

An 'average' night might be 2-3 stages on a weekday, and even 4-5 on a weekend.

Yes, you heard me right - on a weekday!

As someone who has lived in a western country her whole life, this is still shocking to me.

In Korean culture, it's typically not frowned upon to get drunk even if you have work the next day. It's just part of social and corporate life for many.

Heck, you probably drank WITH your boss and colleagues and are hungover together!

Drinking alcohol has been a huge part of Korean culture, passed on through generations and so there are many upspoken rules and traditions involved.

Things you can and should not do - drinking etiquette!

We'll delve into those topics next time, so stay tuned.