[MANNAM] Cultural difference in food

[MANNAM] Cultural difference in food

We had Korean class today and we talked about Korean counting units.

Among many other units, we specially talked a lot about ‘인분(in-bun)’.

‘인분(in-bun)’ is a count unit of food specially soup or something that is in a pot.

You know Korea has influenced a lot from China.

In Korean language, there are pure Korean and also Korean word based on Chinese character.

Chinese is an ideogram which has meaning in every character.

Many other units you know might be pure Korean but ‘인분(in-bun)’ is a Korean word which is from Chinese character that has meaning included in each character.

‘인(in)’ means person and ‘분(bun)’ means amount or quantity.

So, ‘인분(in-bun)’ altogether, it means amount of food for a person.

Therefore, not like other units, ‘인분(in-bun)’ is used to Sino numbers.

For example, '삼인분(sam-in-bum)' instead of '세인분(sae-in-bun)'.

You might have heard ‘인분(in-bun)’ mostly in Korean restaurants.

Especially when you order soup(찌개 jji-gae).

There is a reason why they order soup(찌개 jji-gae) in ‘인분(in-bun)’.

In western culture, food is usually served in a separate plate.

Not an appetizer like salad, but main dish.

So when you order dish in western restaurant, you might order the number of dish, like one steak and two pastas.

However, in Korean restaurant, you will order it as a number of people.

It is because the food is usually come out in a big pot.

It's not the number of dish but it is about the size of the pot and amount of the food.

This is why people can't really count but use unit ‘인분(in-bun)’.

Even in learning Korean counting units, you can feel the difference of the culture and can experience the culture of each country.

This is why learning another language is not just about knowing alphabets, but is learning a culture.