So during about mid-June or so I had a cold. Sore throat and my nose kept running -- all I wanted was some chicken broth. Like, I wasn't even concerned about actually getting noodles or vegetables in it at that point -- I just wanted chicken broth. So I asked my co-teacher if I could find that anywhere, which, naturally, didn't quite have the answer to my question. She knew was I was referring to after I explained how I made it but there was no way that I could buy it here. They don't have canned goods (maybe a few but it's rare) so there is definitely no Campbell's soups for an option for dinner. However, when I mentioned this to my co-teacher she said how once mid-July hits all the Koreans start to eat Samgyetang, which is Ginseng Korean Soup. The theory behind eating this in mid-July is that they believe it has many nutritional benefits, so you can be replenished during the dreadfully hot days.
Of course to anyone from a Western culture, we'd feel this is a little "backwards", as we usually eat chicken soup a lot in the winter time to stay healthy and eat lots of fruit in the summer. In general I've noticed though that, in general, Korean's health remedies are not really surrounded by fruit. In fact, they usually will say how fruit and cold things "cool" the inner body and stomach so it isn't as good for digestion. And I've not only heard of this through co-teachers but also my acupuncturist and I've read it as being some Indian health philosophy as well, so it must be an Asian thing.
So, as of the end of July the restaurants that serve Samgyetang are quite crazy and all the 7-11's, GS 25s, Family Marts, and any other convenient store in existence in this country are even serving bags of this soup for sale during these humid months.
