[KS] What is the history and use of charcoal in South Korea?

[Geoffrey Cain]

One Korean restaurant near my old home, in the Chicago suburbs, still uses
only charcoal briquettes. Haven't seen anything else like that outside of
Korea, but they could exist.

The 70-something owner told me she doesn't want to give them up out of
nostalgia. For her, serving food on these charcoal grills is a part of
"being Korean" as she remembers it from the 1960s and 70s. She specifically
used the word "McDonald's" to describe the newer methods.

Best,
Geoff.

On Sat, Dec 10, 2011 at 2:36 PM, Dr. Edward D. Rockstein <ed4linda at yahoo.com
> wrote:

> Ink!
>
>
> Dr. Edward D. Rockstein <http://koreanpoems.blogspot.com/>
>
> ed4linda at yahoo.com
>
> *Those who corrupt the public mind are just as evil as those who steal
> from the public purse*--Adlai Stevenson
>
>
> --- On *Fri, 12/9/11, Brother Anthony <ansonjae at sogang.ac.kr>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Brother Anthony <ansonjae at sogang.ac.kr>
> Subject: [KS] What is the history and use of charcoal in South Korea?
> To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
> Date: Friday, December 9, 2011, 9:24 PM
>
> I do not want to flog a dead horse, but the extract from Bak Jehyeong (Pak
> Chehyong)'s "Geunse Joseon jeonggam" (Kunse Choson chonggam) in the
> "Sourcebook for Korean Civilization 2 page 307ff that describes the fate of
> the "General Sherman" says that the replica (?) of the destroyed ship built
> for the Taewongun had charcoal-fired engines that could not provide
> sufficient steam to move the boat.
>
> With all due respect to my dear friend in Harvard, I do not believe that
> the lethal yeontan briquettes so common in Korea until recently were ever
> made of charcoal. They were (and still are) made using coal dust. Korea had
> no wood to make such huge quantities of charcoal in those days. I wonder
> how much charcoal was needed in pre-modern Korea? Obviously (I suppose)
> blacksmiths and other workers of metal would have used it. But who else?
> They did not have all the barbeque restaurants we have here now, and
> probably did not believe or care that sticks of charcoal are supposed to
> absorb bad odors. Unlike wood, charcoal is very apt to produce carbon
> monoxide, so it is not ideal for ondol use. A few scraps in the straw rope
> when a baby was born and some pieces when soaking meju to make soy sauce  .
> . .  Whereas in North Korea in recent years "Official North Korean
> estimates set wood (used each year) for charcoal production at 0.8 to 1
> million m3," and "fuel wood (as wood and converted to charcoal) accounts
> for about a quarter of North Korea’s primary energy supply ? about the same
> as South Korea in 1965." (From  http://japanfocus.org/-Peter-Hayes/3233 )
> gives food for thought.
>
> Brother Anthony
> Sogang University, Seoul
>
>
>


-- 
Geoffrey Cain | Journalist
http://www.geoffreycain.net/
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