Can you buy American food in Korea?

Question

Okay, so I am going to teach in Korea. One of my main issues is with food. Are there places you can buy American food or Italian food? At markets, can you buy ground beef, steak, chicken? What about spices like pepper, cajun seasonings? Butter? Bread? Flour? If anyone has any facts, please fill me in! Than you!

Answer 1

Yes, they have most of big name american restaurants there. Also try Itaewon, thats where most of americans live.

Answer 2

Camp Humphreys and other "camps" are for military personnel or other personnel that somehow work there.

I wouldn't worry too much. Korea is very westernized. There are some things that you won't find of course - like cajun seasoning, but you will get plenty of garlic, steak, and fresh meat in any market - local or major. In terms of bread - there are TONS of bakery in every city/ corner.

Italian food is becoming quite popular and places have very good offerings comparable to foods in the states. If you are in Seoul, there are many places to eat and such. If you are outside of the city, still the markets will be fresh and most subway/transportations can easily take you into the city for you to stock up. There are many fast food restaurants as well.

Don't be so hestitant too about Korean food - it's actually quite good. If you need more info you can IM me - rparkster

Answer 3

Uh oh - I'd get a good online place that ships there if I were you - try the Army base there as well - it's called Camp Humphreys - here a blurb from a blog of a friend of mine that returned from there not too long ago......

In any regard, most Western food staples are hard to come by in Korean grocery stores. The western food that is not hard to come by seems to make no sense. For example, why can one find three or four different brands of honey mustard in even the smallest Korean grocery store but normal yellow mustard might not be available even in a larger grocery store?

And spam? Why? How?

I figured it out. But let me first give you the full list of American grocery products widely available on a Korean grocery store shelf and see if you can't figure out the connection.

Spam
Corn dogs
Hot dogs
Canned sweet corn
Sweet pickles
Processed Kraft Cheese slices
Honey Mustard
Mayo
Thousand Islands Dressing
Donuts

I'm not making that list up. Why that and not say brie, French bread, asparagus, and veal?



It's American army chow. Post Korean War, food wasn't exactly plentiful. So naturally food products commonly used in American army mess halls, notably those with a shelf life, would quickly find their way into the Korean diet.

Let's start with the holy trinity of Korean cooking: Spam, hot dogs, and canned corn.

Answer 4

Yes. You can pretty much go to any korean store and find bread, butter, flour, etc. It might not be American name brand, but bread is bread. No use in being picky. If you are, then why would you be coming to Korea in the first place?

There are also a couple of Walmarts in Korea.

But don't be afraid to try Korean food. You might like it.

Answer 5

Yes. You can buy American food in Korea. But you should care one important fact. All of American foods are made type of Koreans. Original American foods are not agreeable to Koreans. American foods are so oily to Koreans. So I have no idea if foods taste right to you.

Answer 6

Of course, but it will be more expensive unless you can find someone in the military to get you into a military base facility. Certain items, like bread, are more common. For stuff like seasoning you might want to bring it with you since it is small and will last a while. But, eat Korean food--it is delicious.

Answer 7

MacDonald's. etc...