Ever since sometime in 2005 I’d come to despise Wal-Mart. Their business practices disgusted me in the way they destroy small towns and family businesses, encouraged their employees to use state medical resources rather than provide decent medical insurance (which means US citizens pay for Wal-Mart employee health care) and treated their Chinese factories like sweat-shops, complete with hamster-size living quarters. I wasn’t dismayed in the least to learn that they’d packed up shop and moved out of Korea. I used to shop there for the western foods I could not get elsewhere in town. But understanding their business model and tactics since then I would refuse to go even if they were still here.

Instead, I went to Daegu in central South Korea where they have a real live honest to goodness Costco with huge amounts of western foods. They don’t have the same horrid business practices as Wal-mart either.

I made the trip to Daegu yesterday and stocked up on all the yummy things a growing boy needs that can’t be found (either easily or cheaply) elsewhere in Korea. I bought oatmeal, granola bars, real cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, beef jerky, V-8 juice, and a pile of other goodies too numerous to mention. Of course, I had to buy in bulk, but that keeps me stocked up on some of these things for months.

I like Korean food and eat it often – at least one of my meals everyday. But sometimes, a man’s just gotta have the kind of stuff that, when consumed and he’s satiated, he can sit back and reminisce about it being “almost” like mom used to make.

I miss you, mom.