RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

The holy trinity of Cajun cooking is onions, bell peppers and celery.

You can't make a good bowl of gumbo or jambalaya without it!

You mean your average Korean housewife uses celery in typical Korean dishes? Could you tell me which dishes you think of? Because this is news to me.

Just to add to the list of expensive fresh produce:  peaches!
I used to buy a 4.5kg box for 12-15.000 this time of the year. Now, it's 35k or up. I haven't been to the actual market for a while though. I might have a look there this weekend.

Excellent question.

Of course celery isn't used in Korean cuisine.

20 years of supermarket shopping aligns (only 4 times in 20 years of at least weekly shopping - Emart). Not a single 5-day market or local supermarket. Not one. It's like trying to find licorice.

You mean your average Korean housewife uses celery in typical Korean dishes? Could you tell me which dishes you think of? Because this is news to me.

Just to add to the list of expensive fresh produce:  peaches!
I used to buy a 4.5kg box for 12-15.000 this time of the year. Now, it's 35k or up. I haven't been to the actual market for a while though. I might have a look there this weekend.

I was talking to my wife about celery in Korean dishes, seeing as it was bought up by Marti. She also said it doesn't usually happen. She said it's mostly used as an addition to salads, and then sparingly. I never doubt her word when it comes to Korean food.

I was at GS yesterday and saw small boxes of peaches for sale. I remembered what you said, so went and had a look at the price. There were 5 in a box...10,000 won  About 1.2 kg  (based on me weighing a peach at home).

If Marti knows about Korean dishes that use celery I'm also interested, and I'm not talking about a couple of slithers for appearance's sake.

Of course celery isn't used in Korean cuisine.

20 years of supermarket shopping aligns (only 4 times in 20 years of at least weekly shopping - Emart). Not a single 5-day market or local supermarket. Not one. It's like trying to find licorice.

That's the other extreme end of the scale...

I don't know where you normally shop but celery is readily available everywhere around here, even in medium sized neighborhood supermarkets. Not to mention the big chain stores and their smaller versions.

It is certainly not used in typical Korean dishes.
I assume mostly middle-aged or younger women would buy it, and juice it, use in salads, or just chew them raw. For diet/weight-loss/health benefits etc.

Lol.

In this town "city" of 50,000 plus, the biggest community between Daegu & Jinju, celery is nowhere to be found. Since the spring of 2017... notta single stalk.

The top 3 importers of Celery are Djibouti with 14,528 shipments followed by United States with 13,684 and Ivory Coast at the 3rd spot with 6,948 shipments.

Djibouti! :)

South Korea ain't top 50.

Yeah, I'm surprised as well that your town doesn't sell any celery. 5 of the 6 supermarkets where I live sell bunches of fresh celery and have done as long as I can remember. 
You said the same thing about bell peppers some time back. I distinctly remember telling you to go directly to the growers, like we do.

Lol.

In this town "city" of 50,000 plus, the biggest community between Daegu & Jinju, celery is nowhere to be found. Since the spring of 2017... notta single stalk.
Djibouti! :)

South Korea ain't top 50.

I'm pretty sure they are locally grown. The total consumption isn't much here so easy to produce enough.

Yeah, I'm surprised as well that your town doesn't sell any celery. 5 of the 6 supermarkets where I live sell bunches of fresh celery and have done as long as I can remember. 
You said the same thing about bell peppers some time back. I distinctly remember telling you to go directly to the growers, like we do.

There's always been bell pepoers. I eat them every dang day. The price however can jack up to levels on days ...wtf? ....and pauses on.

Not 49,000 won watermelon at the store last Thursday type pause full stop.

In the end, i eat peppers every single day. It's the #1 source of vitamin c? K. It and onions are family staples. And by staples i mean, "we are out of ____" is an unquestioned trip to the store.

Bell peppers or hot peppers, every dang. day.

I grew up eating tons of Hungarian sweet peppers and hot peppers, banana peppers, hot paprika (spice powder, to overexplain for translation), ... the Korean restaurant tradtion of fresh peppers and onions served mealside meshes 100% with my upbringing. My hand fits Korean glove (in a way i can never wear their socks - almost never, ... i know i know.. online shopping ... i just returned two shirts, one heavy poly (made "with cotton" apparently can mean 10%) and the other paperthin wrinkly, unlike the picture online. Ugh

There's always been bell pepoers. I eat them every dang day. The price however can jack up to levels on days ...wtf? ....and pauses on.

Yeah, that was probably it...price not availability.

I pay whatever.. but 4,800 won for the same thing last week at 1,200 won?  ... be a fool or shop around? ... assume it's market price and be foolish.

I simply am incapable of shopping around for produce unless it's watermelon for 49,000 won. I "settled" for four reddish apples for 13,800 won. I have paid 3000 to 14000 won for the same size container of strawberries,... i just gotta get 'em. There are only a handful of things i must always consume, and clean water, berries and onions are among them.

I pay whatever.. but 4,800 won for the same thing last week at 1,200 won?  ... be a fool or shop around? ... assume it's market price and be foolish.

I simply am incapable of shopping around for produce unless it's watermelon for 49,000 won. I "settled" for four reddish apples for 13,800 won. I have paid 3000 to 14000 won for the same size container of strawberries,... i just gotta get 'em. There are only a handful of things i must always consume, and clean water, berries and onions are among them.

Why not just use frozen berries? You can get more varieties than in fresh. It's a lot cheaper and very convenient to use. Yeah, the texture is a bit off, but the nutrients are all there. In fact, studies have found higher concentration of nutritional elements in frozen produce than their fresh counterparts.

Thanks. I'll check ot out.

You mean your average Korean housewife uses celery in typical Korean dishes? Could you tell me which dishes you think of? Because this is news to me.

Just to add to the list of expensive fresh produce:  peaches!
I used to buy a 4.5kg box for 12-15.000 this time of the year. Now, it's 35k or up. I haven't been to the actual market for a while though. I might have a look there this weekend.

Huh?

I wasn't talking about Korean food. Sorry if I gave you that impression.

Why not just use frozen berries? You can get more varieties than in fresh. It's a lot cheaper and very convenient to use. Yeah, the texture is a bit off, but the nutrients are all there. In fact, studies have found higher concentration of nutritional elements in frozen produce than their fresh counterparts.

There was a bit in my English textbook about this

Blueberries? said I , in a somewhat sinister mien.  Get on (or off) the bandwagon. 

Huh?

I wasn't talking about Korean food. Sorry if I gave you that impression.

Oh, my bad then. Re-reading what you wrote, it's indeed not necessarily indicating that.

Why not just use frozen berries? You can get more varieties than in fresh. It's a lot cheaper and very convenient to use. Yeah, the texture is a bit off, but the nutrients are all there. In fact, studies have found higher concentration of nutritional elements in frozen produce than their fresh counterparts.

I mentioned that same thing the last time van was complaining about high prices.

I went for a walk just before to one of the supermarkets we shop at, and the price of celery has risen to 14,900 won a pack...nearly double from last week. I'm 100% sure that this is the same celery but has had its leaves lopped off and has been repacked. They just don't sell celery that fast. This is a country supermarket.
The lettuces have gone from 1500 won to 4,000 won. Again, the same lettuces I saw a few days ago, but now they have had all their outside leaves stripped and are now a ball the size of a fist.

Shame on them! This is not the producers or the wholesalers jacking the price up...this is the supermarket ripping off people for Chuseok. As has been established, celery is not even an everyday Korean food staple. I'm going to protest this by not shopping there for a time 

I went for a walk just before to one of the supermarkets we shop at, and the price of celery has risen to 14,900 won a pack...nearly double from last week. I'm 100% sure that this is the same celery but has had its leaves lopped off and has been repacked. They just don't sell celery that fast. This is a country supermarket.
The lettuces have gone from 1500 won to 4,000 won. Again, the same lettuces I saw a few days ago, but now they have had all their outside leaves stripped and are now a ball the size of a fist.

Shame on them! This is not the producers or the wholesalers jacking the price up...this is the supermarket ripping off people for Chuseok. As has been established, celery is not even an everyday Korean food staple. I'm going to protest this by not shopping there for a time 

It doesn't help you much but I saw celery for 10k on Friday. It was a pretty big bag. Still, it's about 4 times the usual price. What the heck is going on with celery? If it was a staple vegetable, people would be on the streets and demanding lower prices.

I will make lasagna next week but I will leave the celery out from the ragu. It would literally cost more than the meat.

On a positive note, I was able to buy Shine Muscat grapes for 12.900/2kg box at two different supermarkets recently. They became very popular since they appeared a few years ago, so I guess many farmers started growing them which brought their prices down.