What the ... heat beater?!?!?

Holy shit! There is a chance that Chris in South Korea can parlay his banality and penchant for pedantic posting into a job. (I almost said job in journalism but was laughing too much to go through with it. After all we are talking the Korea Times here.)

I was reading a humourous post on Fun Times in South Korea. For some reason I decided to follow the link to a Korea Times article called Beat the Heat, Korean Style. As with Chris' post it was talking about ways to stay cool in the summer. While it wasn't pedantic it was ... kind of ... stupid in spots.

There were some interesting "health" tips like;

"If you consume cold food just because it is hot, your stomach and organs will get cold, possibly leading to flu."

Wow! Who knew it? Eating a lot of cold food can give you the flu. Really?

In the spirit of "you never know it could be true in some twisted way" I did some checking. Could find nothing to confirm this. Talked to my Sister-in-law, a nurse, and she thought I was kidding. She never heard of it.

"Scientifically, it's not a great idea to eat just cold food over and over again, as it will ruin your stomach and appetite in the long run."

So, scientifically it isn't a good idea to eat kimchi all the time then?

Once again, I looked for confirmation of this and found nothing. Maybe they mistook the old adage "everything in moderation" for scientific evidence?

Then again isn't South Korea the country that had a Government Minister declare that science wasn't important only culture was during the Mad Cow BS? They should have stuck with the culture card this time.

"The “yeonpotang” or the baby octopus stew is a favorite “boyangsik” or energy-booster for Koreans during the sizzling hot summer. "

The baby octopus stew? The? Oh wait this is the Korea Times. I almost expected some professionalism from them. Bad Flint! Bad! And since when did energy-booster equate to healthy?

"If you're not sure which to eat first and don't want to be overwhelmed with all the options, start out with something simpler, such as ``tteokbokki'' or even kimchi. "

Basically it seemed like they were just rattling off a list of spicy Korean food. After Samgaetang and Yukgaejang they stopped talking about health benefits of the ingredients and just went on about foods that will make you sweat.

"For a more modern palate, visit Taco Bell which recently opened in Itaewon a week ago. The famous chain launched its special spicy menu, perfect for both Koreans and non-Koreans to take part in the ``iyeol chiyeol'' tradition in the summer. "

Seriously? They are pushing taco Bell as a healthy way to beat the heat? Is Taco Bell a new advertiser in the Korea Times? Well then in that vein you should be heading off to Popeye's Chicken. Their spicy Cajun Chicken will help make you sweat! Follow it up with a jalapeno pepper sandwhich.

I have to wonder if Han SangHee can actually tell you what a palate is without using a dictionary. I can just see the email response now:

Yes I know! The palate is what we eat our food off of!

With pieces of shit like the Korea Times out there crappy writers still have a hope of finding a job.