Cute Korean Lunch Box Food Makers!

Filed as: Korea FTW! // Responses: 72

Ok, so a short while ago we did a video about Korean Lunch Boxes. They’re so cute, aren’t they? Anyhow, at the end of the video we had a bit of a brain fart and couldn’t for the life of us remember what they were called in Korean. They’re called Doshirak (which we knew but totally forgot) and we’ve bought lots of Doshirak before.

On an important (/unimportant) side note, we were told not to call them bento boxes, because that’s a Japanese word, and Korean people don’t use that word. Which is funny because just today for lunch at our local Korean restaurant they had on their menu, written in Korean, “bento”. Of course doshirak is also used, but it’s not like bento is some forbidden unfamiliar word.

On a side note, we’re getting a little annoyed with anonymous internet scolders who like to tell us that we’re saying things wrong and insulting Korea. For example, we also got scolded for calling Korean fish cake “odaeng” which is a Japanese word. Actually, our KOREAN friends taught us that word, and we’ve walked past restaurants called odaeng in big Korean writing, and all the food stalls that serve it, call it odaeng…sooooo….I guess all those people are writing it wrong. Is it really so bad to adopt a word from another culture? English loves to use other culture’s words! Wasbi, anime, latte, faux paus…um…chinchilla…THE POINT IS, chinchilla’s are the best. No wait, what was the point? Oh yes, stop being so sensitive and go pet a chinchilla. You’ll feel better.

Anyhow, when we showed you that video we had our WTF Care Package contest as well, in which we asked you what you would put in your box. We didn’t really talk about what is usually put in these boxes though. And today we’re not talking about it either! We’re talking about the cute things that can be put in there. Martina’s motto totally fits here: “if you’re going to buy something, it might as well be cute”. So instead of just putting in a formless mush of ham, cheese, kimchi, and rice, you can form them all with these formamabobs into something cute! YAY!!!

Martina's Doshirak. It's cute, right?

Here’s the Pirate Bear that Martina made. His name is Captain Jack Bearow and she only had five minutes so I’m sure she could have made something RAWESOME-ER if she didn’t feel so pressured. My guess: Captain Jack Bearow would have had a pirate ship made out of seaweed, somehow. Martina’s just that creative.

Now, we’ve never experienced anything like this before in our lives. We’ve only seen it in pictures on the internet and in mangas. Did any one of you have a mom who made cute lunch boxes for you with food messages in them? I’m wondering what the experience of opening one of these things up is like. Like, you take it to school, and you open up your lunch box to see a pirate bear and maybe a message of “I Love You” on it. Are you embarrassed or touched or what? Did your friends see it? Ahhh! I’m so curious. We really lacked that type of lunchbox art in Canada, and that’s not to say all Asian people go around making cute lunches, most of them actually have normal lunches, but at least they had the possibility to have a cute lunch. I doubt my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches could have been formed into a cartoon character.

Long story short, stuff like this is totally amazing, and we really hope you’re not embarrassed by it at all. We would have loved to have had lunch like this when we were kids! Actually, that’s not true. Martina would. I’d just probably eat it without even looking at the message…LIKE A MAN!

And lastly, here are our bloopers for the week. We’ve been dancing a lot to Roly Poly lately, and thought it’d be the perfect Doshirak shaking dance. A LIKE A LIKE A DIS! A LIKE A LIKE A DAT! A LIKE DIS LIKE DAT YEAH!

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kariikarii

Skrillex!!

Martina likes Skrillex!! <3333
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GNO5JOFH6ABU4HCXEEWMTBX7ZU JENNIFER

OK. Just give a “Eh whateveh” to the trollers. You can always make up your own words like I often do when I can’t remember the word I want. LOL.
Keep up the great work!
http://twitter.com/italina_bella Veronica Kosloski

People may have forgotten that Korea was under the control of Japan from 1914 to 1945. There is going to be a mix of Japanese words and culture into the Korean culture.

http://twitter.com/HappieDiana Diana

Thank you! That’s what I was thinking…
Anonymous

I don’t think they’ve forgotten. I think that’s probably *why* some Koreans prefer to use the word that wasn’t borrowed from Japanese.

http://twitter.com/HappieDiana Diana

I love your videos and I use words from other languages all the time!
jericho98

Dericious……. simon i think the Konglish is rubbing out on you, you need to stop hanging out with BILASA
Doug M

On a side note, we’re getting a little annoyed with anonymous internet
scolders who like to tell us that we’re saying things wrong and
insulting Korea. For example, we also got scolded for calling Korean
fish cake “odaeng” which is a Japanese word.

Yeah, the annexation of Korea by the Empire of Japan is a pretty sore subject. During that time Korea did import quite a few words from Japanese (Oden -> Odaeng, Shinbun -> Shinmun, etc). Unlike Japanese which imported English willingly, Japan did try to force Japanese to be the primary language in schools, government jobs, etc. Especially true in the 1930′s onward.

So, you’ll see some folks eschewing foreign imported words, especially Japanese words, while English words are fine (since it’s not under duress). North Korean really takes this to an extreme by eschewing all words of foreign origin to form a more pure Korean language.

I have no real inclination on the subject, but it reflects a tension between people who want to assert more traditional Korean language (sans Japanese loan words) and those who are more liberal in outlook. It sucks to get caught in the middle of that as someone who’s simply a Korean-language student nevertheless. I can understand your frustration.

Doug M

P.S. I really did enjoy this video by the way. My wife makes these for my daughter (she’s from Japan), so I’m used to seeing cartoon characters and such. :)

My wife hasn’t made a pirate though yet. I forwarded this along as a subtle hint. ;)

http://www.facebook.com/mandom19 Mandi Dominguez

“Taste like murder on the seven seas” haha I love it!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Y5EZ36HTAGOSBUXNAS5XPKAI4Q Jaim

I make this for my kindergartener. She loves it. Ham is crazy hard to cut. I use either metal veggie cutters for bento or small metal cookie cutters. Black sesame seeds make great eyes and uh, edible markers aren’t bad either. Happy doshirak’ing?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PPH7FVXUSLAS4JZPVHJNDELOZU Aram

Whomever said Odaeng was the Japanese way of writing it and saying it has no idea what they are talking about. Japanese only use vowels or consonant vowel combinations (ex: anata). The only exception you would get is the ん which is an n sound. Which can be paired with other consonants, like in こんにちは（konnichiwa the word for hello). There are on ng sounds at the end of words in Japanese. The only thing that I think is close to odaeng is the Japanese word おでん (oden) which is a fish cake dish. This could be where some of the confusion lies.
Also remember Korea was colonized by the Japanese from 1910-1945, so there is going to be some similarities of language between the two. During that time almost everyone was speaking Japanese, families were sending their children to study in Japan, and people were beginning to give their children Japanese names.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PPH7FVXUSLAS4JZPVHJNDELOZU Aram

Hey Korea is still using Sino (Chinese) words too, not just Japanese. There are so many words that are taken from Chinese. Korea even uses the Chinese number system and their native number system together. This was very frustrating for me when I was trying to learn the language.
Anonymous

Because many Koreans moved to Japan, especially when Korean kingdoms Baekjae and Koguryo (aka Korea) fell, and they have unified Japan (current Japanese emperors are descendants of Korean conquerors). Japanese language and culture has heavy Korean influence. Also the 1910-1945 period left Japanese influence in Korean society and customs. But you seem to suggest Koreans gave their children Japanese names voluntarily. In reality, Japanese used brutal method to wipe out Korean language and culture. Taking Japanese names was forced upon Koreans, many resisted and were penalized for it. Many scholars were imprisoned and tortured for studying and teaching Korean language to Koreans. Even singers and entertainers were forbidden to perform in Korean language, but some brave entertainers found innovative excuses to continue performing in Korean language.

http://twitter.com/jeb284 Jung bang

it was brutal occupation. There are still Japaneses who believe that they were doing good by Korea people with their occupation because truth is never taught in their school. Japan never officially apologize or return any historic treasure they stole from Korea. They fired the last PM to apologize to Korea.
the younger generation don’t care as much but i grew up with a notion of liking Japanese equal to not being loyal to Korea. I know its wrong but you can’t just change overnight.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Alison-Kolano/100001268483803 Alison Kolano

But there IS a way to form your peanut butter sandwich into something cute! I bought a sandwich cutter the other day that turns a boring sandwich into two awesome dinosaurs! plus it crimps the edges of the bead together so the peanut butter doesn’t smoosh out.
Anonymous

Importing words from another language is a sign of linguistic vitality; it means you are enriching your language, people can communicate better with a wider range of subtle meanings. The stronger the language, the more it borrows. The only language that doesn’t borrow words is a dead language.
Anonymous

after reading your blog I now know why the local Korean restaurant is named “Dosirak- Korean Lunch Box.”
derishious! HAHAHAHAHa!
http://twitter.com/molanne autumnwind

lol “You’re your number 1 competitor” …I recently saw Space Jam on television which I hadn’t seen in a while…go Michael Jordan!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Lim-Yi-Jern/100000253966718 Lim Yi Jern

Dericious? XD and I like your Jack Bearow~! :) Sad to say, I never had such cute lunch boxes before.. T^T
All I took to school was bread. EVERYDAY. DX I had a phobia of it at a point. ._.
Taimi Krys

my mom never had these tools when i was younger, but if she had, i KNOW she would have made my sisters and i cute lunches. instead she wrote and drew on our napkins. she has a graphic arts background, so we got neat pictures and cute messages. i was never embarrassed and, on the rare occasion she’d make my lunch in highschool, i still loved getting notes. actually, everyone i ate with would excitedly wait to see if i had a note that day!!
my mom would sometimes do this for my dad at work. i’m not sure about my dad, but his co-workers enjoyed it….which is cutely funny since he was a cop (retired now)!! :D

i would never have been embarrassed to have cute lunches like this, tho. actually, my sister has made me a few….i love the hotdog octopi!!!
Anonymous

I think it’s really unfair that you guys get scolded for using some words with Japanese origin. I mean, how the heck could you know? Koreans use the very same words everyday with no issues! I hope you don’t get too mad at them though. Ever since articles about this site and your vlogs have appeared in Korean media, many must have checked out your vlogs, and they probably consider you to be some sort of unofficial ambassador of Korean culture to the world, and they just have high expectations.

Korea is a society, due to its incredibly turbulent modern history, that has a range of unspoken rules, faux pas, and idiosyncrasies that may seem puzzling to those who weren’t born and raised there, and unfortunately that’s a fact that the natives sometimes forget. The use of some adopted Japanese words is a prime example. Since they have been already incorporated in Korean vocabulary, people do use them. However, if one were to use such words in more official or public context (such as a newspaper article or broadcast media), that would be criticized, because there’s the desire to undo what Japan forced upon Korean people during the colonization. But things like that are obvious only to Koreans. I think that to attack outsiders for not knowing or observing such rules is ironically, insensitive.

Anonymous

Adding on to this, English is such a hot mess of different languages. It’s origins are in German, Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and who knows what else. Throw it in a bowl, mix it together and you’ve got English. ALL of the words in English are derived from other languages. Which explains why a native English speaker might be very surprised to find this is a sensitive issue elsewhere.

Hope Satterfield

I simply thought this would amuse you and several other people as my friends and I got a hoot out of it. Okay, so I was looking up useful phrases and the very last phrase was “My hovercraft is full of eels.” It also had the translation for what that is in Polish (a kajillion other languages too!). When I go to South Korea, I am DEFINITELY going to say that. So, mój poduszkowiec jest pełen węgorzy. Holy eels, that looks hard to say!

Hope Satterfield

DARN IT! Typo: “Okay, so I was looking up useful phrases to use in South Korea like My name is blah blah blah blah and such and the very last phrase was…. etc. *sigh* :/

Sara Eden

The people who are criticizing you probably just *think* they know more about Korea or asian culture. The Korean language borrows TONS of words from Japanese, Chinese and English. Hangul is a realtively young language (invented in the 8th century) and most of the words in Korean are borrowed from other languages. Koreans, know and use words like “odeng” and “bento” just as much as they know and use 햄버거, literally haem-beo-geo, hamburger the English word. Clearly your criticizers have never lived in Korea. If I turn around and ask my Korean friends right now, “what is pressed fish cake in Korean?” they will say “odeng,” guaranteed. In fact, I just did, and they said “odeng.”

People drink way too much hater-ade. You guys do your best to do your research and present us with an accurate reflection of Korea. I love what you’re doing!

:)
Holly Channells

For some reason I don’t find it surprising that people are so touchy about the “Correct word” that should be used. Whoever is hatin’ doesn’t take into context the fact that so many people use foreign loanwords on a daily basis (like me). From what I’ve read in the comments, you could probably deem “bento” an unofficial cognate of the language.

Wow, I’m glad I’m not the only one having Krenglish problems. I was… doing something that I can’t remember (*cough* talking to myself*cough*) and I somehow rolled out “wreekend”. I’m still laughing at myself for that (-o – ;;)…
Anonymous

I too, have dreamed of my mother making me one of these. Oh bad A would that be to stroll up at lunch and open your box to reveal that adorable piece of art!? I think I’m gonna make one of these for lunch and go to school just to see the reaction I get.
http://twitter.com/Giiniro Sammy Leigh

My Mum and I constantly bombard our meals (or my little sister’s) with
random messages and characters for each other (though we’re not from any
Asian background, so maybe we don’t count in your asking of who does
this lol XD) I don’t know why and how we even end up doing it half the
time but I’ve often walked away in the middle of making a sandwich to
come back and find a character drawn on it in sauce by Mum lol XD We do
it with a LOT of stuff: sauce messages, onion ring faces… I think we
made a cat out of left over taco stuff once? >_____>;;; LOL
Anonymous

OMGsun Too damn cute <3
http://twitter.com/Zanneh354 Zathena?

I’m sorry is that a DRYER under your stove. Please talk about this.. it seems weird for americans to see that.

http://www.eatyourkimchi.com Simon and Martina

That’s a washing machine. Not sure what else there is to say. Umm. Ovens aren’t common in Korea. Not a lot of baking done at home. So our officetel, and just about every one we’ve seen otherwise, has a washing machine in its place.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Najwa-Nazihah/100000072810845 Najwa Nazihah

i have exactly the same lunchbox
http://twitter.com/Dubu_Bekah Rebekah Tan

OMG The moment you said S and H….I immediately tot of SHINee…. *fangirl’s moment*