Drinking Culture

Often, going out for a meal usually means there will be alcohol involved. If it weren't for my background in drinking, I think I would be getting drunk easily every time I go for a meal with friends, or with my school/work. Honestly though, I'm really amazed at the drinking culture here in Korea: it's no big deal and they drink every night if they wanted to (yes, that includes weekdays), as long as they can get up the next day for work. Here's a few of my favorite things I don't mind drinking with.

This lovely combination is called 치맥 (chi-mek) which is a play on the words 치킨 (chicken) +
맥주 (beer) . Therefore, this combination of 치맥 is chicken + beer. Sounds weird? Actually, it's not. Quite delicious and who knew that washing down your chicken with a nice cold beer would be so nice? 

Chicken is really delicious. There's just something different from American fried chicken to Korean fried chicken. Chicken can be enjoyed with 소주 (soju) which is a Korean rice liquor, but this I will warn you, it's not as refreshing as a beer.

Have you noticed the side dishes that come with the meals? Yeah, often meals are served with side dishes that include radish, pickles, and a snack type cracker.

It’s often that you will most likely go to a bar to get another round of drinks after your meal. Most bars you have to order food in order to drink some beers, but there are some bars that allow you to not have to order food with your drinks. The expats in Korea refer to them as "foreigner bars" since it's just like an bar back in the States, drinks with optional food orders.

convenient store drinking, just like in the Korean dramas
*side note: it is illegal to drink alcohol inside the convenient store,
but it's fine if you drink alcohol outside/in front of the store. odd yea?

But don’t fret! If you don’t want to go out to a bar to drink and risk the chances of stuffing your face again, you can easily go to a convenience store (with tables and chairs out front) and buy some soju and snacks and enjoy your night that way.

On a side note, there are many different types of snacks you can buy to enjoy with your drinks. The yellow cheetos-puff looking type chips are actually banana flavored chips. BTW, Korea totally big on BANANAS!

Speaking of bananas, I present to you, banana milk!

Well, since I was on the topic of alcohol, I might as well touch upon the pricing right? A case of Cass beer (8 cans) is about 8-9 USD.

Soju on the other hand, is merely 1-2 USD depending on the brand you get. Now you choose which one you’d rather get..either a lot of liquor or little beer?

Regardless of your alcoholic beverage of choice, please drink responsibly. This has been a PSA, approved by Mina.