Food for Thought : Nutrition Students From Korean University Learn How to Cook American

They smiled triumphantly, like sculptors who had finished their finest works. They captured the moment on videotape so they could relive their sublime labor. And they took snapshots to prove to friends back home in South Korea that they had truly honed their skills.

Their prized creation: a sloppy Joe.

Nutrition students from Sook Myung University in Seoul are spending two weeks at Cypress College with students and faculty from the culinary arts department, learning how to prepare popular American dishes and how to set a table, and--best of all--getting a taste of the American diet.

The 17 undergraduate and graduate students from Korea’s second-largest all-female university paid about $600 each to expand their culinary skills to include such dishes as clam chowder, Cajun blackened fish, mashed potatoes and, in the case of Thursday’s menu, sloppy Joes, chili and banana splits.

They ask questions, such as “What is that red stuff accompanying the turkey?” or make requests--”We want to see blue Jello.” They laugh as classmates attempt to pronounce cranberry sauce. They sniff dried spices that they had only seen in fresh forms. They jot down notes, such as the definition of scalding milk, used to prepare a cheese sauce topping for vegetables.

And they eat.

“We are all adding so many pounds,” said interpreter Sun-Hae Choi, who is also enrolled in the university program. “We now see why there are so many overweight Americans. The American diet contains so much fat and oils. Our stomachs cannot hold in all the food, but we stuffed ourselves with cheesecake anyway.”

Jung Hwa Lee, 20, said a whole cheesecake imported to Korea sells for $25 to $30.

“In Korea, we enjoy cheesecake, but we never knew the amount of fat in it,” Lee said. “It is also very expensive. The first thing I will make when I go back home is cheesecake.”

The group is led by the dean of the School of Home Economics at Sook Myung University, Dr. Cho Ae Yeom. Yeom’s son-in-law, who lives in Anaheim, helped organize the group’s first-ever expedition to America for a program of this kind.

“In Korea, we stress the learning of other cultures through languages,” Yeom said. “This is the chance to learn more about other countries, which in many ways is defined by the foods they eat.”

When the daily menus were compiled back in February, coordinators at Cypress College considered nutritional value as well as variety.

David Schweiger, director of the program and coordinator of the hospitality management department at Cypress, said representatives from the two schools faxed suggestions back and forth, with about half of the proposed meals being revised.

“Because they are concerned with fat content and they aren’t big meat eaters in Korea, they asked that we replace beef with turkey when we could,” Schweiger said.

So they had turkey chili and turkey sloppy Joes on Thursday. Half of the sloppy Joes were prepared using beef, the other turkey.

“We want them to get an accurate taste of what Americans eat too,” Schweiger said.

Korean students in the undergraduate programs took to the foods better than their older classmates.

“At home, many of them have already eaten at Arby’s and McDonald’s.” Choi said. “The older generation sticks with more traditional foods.”

Choi said a typical Korean meal consists of fish, seaweed, rice and blanched vegetables. The average American, Choi said, consumes 35% of total calories in fat. For Koreans, less than 5% of calories are from fat.

But those statistics didn’t stop most of the visiting students from feasting on their creations.

“The food is good, and the kitchen is clean, organized and spacious,” said Hee Jung Lim, 28.

Lim, an only child, said she will prepare New England clam chowder for her elderly parents.

“It is soft enough for them to eat and I liked it,” she said.

Schweiger said the students were surprised by many of the foods they don’t have in Korea, such as turnips, artichokes and Brussels sprouts. They were also amazed by all the prepared foods, such as cream of mushroom soup from a can.

“We’re a society of convenience,” Schweiger said. “We had to explain how to make certain foods from scratch because they don’t have access to such things in Korea.”

While the students looked forward to eating the foods that they cooked--pot roast, chocolate chip cookies, Caesar salads, baked squash and brownies--they couldn’t let go of what they were raised on.

Each morning, Yeom--who is also a mother-figure to her students--would rise early and cook a pot of rice so they could have a breakfast of rice and kimchee.

In shopping visits to South Coast Plaza and during a trip to Yosemite National Park as well, the students found time for dinners at Korean restaurants, with more rice and kimchee.

“We just can’t live without it,” Choi said.

The group returns to Korea after their cooking stint ends next Thursday, but the students will leave with more than the ability to cook American dishes and correctly pronounce cranberry sauce.

“We will all take home to Korea plastic roasting bags we bought at the grocery store,” Choi said. “It cooks the turkey a lot faster!”