Hankering interrupted

I was visiting Medium-Sized City in the Midwest and had a hankering for Korean food. One of my friends from law school (non-Asian) was born and raised there, and so I decided to ask her for restaurant recommendations.

"Hey," I asked her, "do you know any good Korean restaurants in Medium-Sized City?"

"Hmm," she said, "Korean restaurants?"

"Yeah, Korean restaurants."

"Hmm," she said again. A long pause. "There's a Benihana's."

"Really," I said. "A Benihana's."

"Yeah," she said.

"Benihana's isn't Korean."

"Oh, well, I don't think there are any Korean restaurants."

Something about that conversation bugged me. First, I later learned that there were in fact Korean restaurants in Medium-Sized City. She just didn't know (or didn't care to know) about them. Maybe it bugs me that the extent of "exotic food" people will try is the Olive Garden or, if they're particularly adventurous, P.F. Chang's.

Second, a Japanese chain is not an acceptable substitute for Korean food. Maybe all East Asians "look the same" but their cuisine is not.

Yes, I realize my post reeks of coastal snobbery. I know not all Caucasian girls born and raised in a medium-sized city in the Midwest will be completely ignorant of Korean restaurants or find that Korean food and Japanese food are interchangeable. I'm sure there are some who are probably very adventurous and have tried eating bats in Cambodia or marinated raw meat from Ethiopia.

I just haven't met any of them. But maybe I just need to make an effort to find them.