Banchan is as intrinsic to 한식 hansik (Korean food) as pork is to Spanish cuisine. It would be anathema to have one without the other. A Korean restaurant without 반찬 banchan might be called a Chinese or Mongolian restaurant by the culinary illiterate. Even if a Korean restaurant has mediocre banchan, the idea of not offering it at all would be an affront to all that is Korean. Charging for banchan is almost as heretical.
A recent Seattle Weekly restaurant review about Chan's, a new "modern Korean fusion" restaurant in Seattle, brought the debate over charging for banchan back to the forefront of my mind.
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| The banchan spread at Brothers Korean BBQ in San Francisco, Calif., comes with the meal. (Tammy Quackenbush photo) |
Last year, ZenKimchi Food Journal editor Joe McPherson and I wrote dueling editorials about charging for banchan. It was sparked by an interview in The Korea Herald with former restaurateur Cho Tae-kwon that included his advice for convincing non-Koreans to appreciate hanshik.
McPherson flat out rejected the concept at the time, dismissing it as silly. My knee-jerk reaction was very similar. I told KoreafornianCooking.com Facebook fans at the time, "Yeah charging for banchan is 바보 (babo, dumb)."
After my initial "You've got to be kidding!" I tapped into my inner Ayn Rand and wondered with words about a way to charge for banchan.
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| If you make your own banchan at home, you have a small idea of how much work goes into making it. (Tammy Quackenbush photo) |
In other words, banchan better be as good, or even better, than the main dishes for it to work. After years, even generations, of teaching people that banchan are gratis, convincing people otherwise would be an uphill battle.
According to Hanna Raskin of Seattle Weekly, Chan's in Seattle may have found another way to convince people to buy banchan — one I would have never considered — charity.
"(Chan's) won't bring banchan to the table unless guests pledge three bucks to Korean Foster Care. That's not a suggested donation: It's the mandated price, listed on the menu. …So, it sounds like the banchan selection is carefully considered, made with fresh ingredients. A certain kind of customer can appreciate that attention to detail.
"Every nibble on the vegetable tray is attractive and fresh, but the decision to charge for the mini-spread is bound to flummox eaters accustomed to Korean traditions."
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| VIP Restaurant (aka Yang Bin restaurant) in Anchorage, Alaska, doesn't charge for banchan either. (Tammy Quackenbush photo) |
Or is a simple tug on the heart strings enough to pay extra for banchan that would be included in the meal price at many Korean restaurants on either side of the Pacific?
What would your reasons be for paying more or not?
In my limited experience with Korean restaurants (all in the US), the prices for the entrees are much higher than they would be for a similar entree anywhere else. The price clearly reflects the banchan. I see it like a place where every meal comes with a salad bar on the side. You pay for it whether you use it or not.
ReplyDeleteSo paying for banchan is fine, but only if the entree prices go down accordingly. But if everyone who goes to a Korean restaurant has banchan, what is the reason for charging separately? Is there a problem with people ordering tiny meals to get the free banchan?
Banchan is served up based on the number of people in the party, not on the size of the meal itself, so there would not be a concern about someone ordering a chintzy meal to garner a disproportionate banchan.
DeleteIIRC, I have seen a couple of restaurants that serve banchan buffet style, but that is very rare.
Over the past few years, everyone from South Korea's First Lady to celebrity chefs, restauranteurs and K-food bloggers are trying to figure out how to promote Korean cuisine all over the world--how to fit Korean cuisine into different cultures expectations.
In Korea, at least, restaurants do not serve a wide variety of dishes like Korean restaurants in the States. In the States, Korean restaurant patrons could be eating a totally different meal from the next person. In Korea, restaurants are "one trick ponies" so to speak. If you walk into a dakgalbi restaurant and the only menu option is dakgalbi with banchan, a bowl of rice and (possibly) a small bowl of soup. There's no long menu of different options. The only variable is that they will bring out more servings of the main course and banchan based on the number of people in your party but that's it.
One Korean food expert got lots of media attention by throwing out the idea of charging for banchan, in part to reduce food waste, which is an epidemic problem in Korea.
You're right that the banchan is part of the hidden cost of the meal, whether the restaurants themselves will willingly admit that or not. I suspect it would take a huge paradigm shift for Korean restaurants in Korea to ever embrace the idea of separating banchan from the meal itself and charging accordingly.
I learned something new! I guess I haven't paid for it, but I wouldn't mind paying for banchan. It's totally worth it.
ReplyDeleteOf course I would. If only I could. No doubt about that.
ReplyDelete