Chuseok Celebration

We were a little premature with our Chuseok celebration for 2009 - sometimes the lunar calendar doesn't quite fit with the busy schedule of AKS members. The festival falls on the 4th October this year, the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, but as September is our traditional harvest month in the UK, and a good time to get together with friends after the summer holidays, the committee bent the rules a little. So on 17th September we gathered for a feast of Korean food, good wine and convivial (if rather noisy) conversation at Woo Jung Korean restaurant in St. Giles High Street near Centre Point.

Having changed the venue, partly due to a low response, we were delighted to have a more than full house on the night, with 35 members and their guests squeezing into the upstairs room.

As there was no room for formal entertainment for the evening, Sylvia had gently persuaded two committee members to talk about their experiences of Chuseok whilst living in Korea. Jim Thomson, a diplomat in Seoul from 2001 - 2006, took the floor before the meal and gave us his thoughts on the festival. He explained some of the customs surrounding Chuseok and the impact they had in modern-day Seoul, particularly with regard to traffic and mothers-in-law!

The food then started arriving with many different dishes for us to try, a hot-pot of vegetables, tofu and bulgogi being the high point. The meal ended with plates of multi-coloured songpyeon, the half-moon shaped rice cakes traditionally made at Chuseok, and dishes of sweet red bean paste with fruit and shaved ice.

At this point I offered my contribution to the proceedings. Having lived in Seoul for 10 years with my Korean husband and our two young children, with regular visits from my Rome-based sister-in-law, my Chuseok experiences had been an unusual mix of Korean tradition and western expediency.

Throughout the proceedings the wine flowed and I am sure an enjoyable evening was had by all.

Our thanks to the owner of Woo Jung who accommodated us at short notice and provided such a splendid feast, also to her staff who managed to serve so many of us in fairly tight surroundings. Well done!

Cathy Kim

More pictures from the evening