In 1999 a spark happened. Korean Garden in Junction City, Kansas.
My National Guard unit, the 744th Transportation Company was running special missions with our trucks. It seems that the military, during Desert Storm had made one of the most shocking decisions of the entire conflict, by which I mean they forced us (surprisingly not at gunpoint) to wash our army trucks and trailers in saltwater. In the years that followed, not surprisingly to anyone breathing air, the trucks were categorically rusting out and were catching fire and electronically shorting out due to widespread corrosion in the electrical systems.
Junction City just a few miles outside of the post. Riley had seen better days. Its ghostown-edness was very evident when we got down on the main strip in Junction City, where a depressed plethora of restaurants awaited our scrutiny. The Failed Clinton Administration had closed many once-bustling bases and reduced the local economy the income of a 13-year-old paperboy. This was blazingly evident when we saw the conditions of the restaurants.
The taxi that picked us up should have earned us medals for bravery. A near-blind 50 something troll-like woman driving a 1989 Chevrolet Celebrity station wagon that was obviously lacking adequate exhaust and brakes came to bring us into town. There were probably 9 of us jammed into this thing. Even worse was that she drove it like an enduro car clearly oblivious to the fact that the car was a death trap.
She dropped us off on the strip and we were thankful none of us died or even messed ourselves. We set off on a journey that took us into one restaurant after another. They all failed somehow. One might have a menu that did not appeal to the mass of us. Another may have revealed a less than clean kitchen which was seen when a door opened. Another the carpets smelled like mildew and dog and of carpet fresh. We came to a sports bar kind of place that served typical bar food, burgers, fries, wings, etc. It was there we lost 3 of our posse. We continued on and within minutes we came upon a very small and modest building that housed a simple family Korean restaurant called the Korean Garden.
Now our group contained two contrasting “Wayne’s”. One of them I would have expected to have stayed at the sports bar. The other Wayne knew Korean food well because when he was on active duty, he was a colonel’s driver in South Korea. This colonel LOVED Korean food, so he ate “on the economy”. (A phrase used when you are on military duty but you eat your meals at local restaurants instead of in a mess hall or military rations). So other Wayne KNEW Korean food. We were in for an experience.
With the exception of one of us, no one knew what we should order. Fortunately, there was “other Wayne” to explain it to us. Once we all ordered, he just looked at us and said, “man! you guys just ordered a crazy amount of food!”.
The restaurant was simple, clean, and family-owned. No gratuitous decorations. Just simple with white linen table cloths and a nice atmosphere. The funny thing is, other than bulgogi and rice and maybe some pork belly, I cannot tell you what I ate. But the six of us all shared our food around the table,family-style. Not a single one of us was disappointed. In fact, we were walking on air. This was evident when my friend, Wayne (the first one mentioned) who is a straight-up meat and potatoes man exclaimed ” Mikie, I ate rice!”
For me, I did not know it, but that day a subliminal atomic bomb detonated in my DNA. Those moments in life are the most amazing to me because we cannot be sure if at that moment we were changed forever or if we just suddenly began to find out who we are. Ever stranger, I DID NOT KNOW IT WAS HAPPENING! In 2000, during a time out of work recovering from back surgery, I downloaded Korean recipes by night and cooked by day. I was really in culinary infancy. But, like Clapton’s, “Have You Ever Loved a Woman” I could not leave it alone. Even 16 years later, I am discovering absolute continents of self-understanding. Yes, I know this sounds so dramatic. But I am not kidding! I get it now! I was attached to Korean food before I could truly understand what it really means for my life and existence. Like a pregnant mom craves iron-rich food when she is anemic, I have a fire burning in me and did not know why. The prize though is much deeper than I knew. How could food be so deep? The Koreans got it right. It took a wonderful woman with a cooking youtube channel named Emily Kim (a.k.a. Maangchi) to help me begin to understand. I promise to explain that very soon. It will all make sense soon, it is starting to make sense to me.
