January 6, 2006 KST 00:44 (GMT+9)

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Hot chicken for barbarians and hopeless gossipers

January 07, 2006 ã…¡ They say that holidays are a time for sharing and
reflecting together with one's family. That's probably true. But during
the big dinner at my aunt's house this year, the conversation naturally
came down to two things: skiing and stem cells.
The topics were probably inevitable. Of my four cousins, two are
scientists ۥ each married to a biologist and a radiologist. And
everybody and their children are fervent skiers who fly to Champery,
Switzerland every Christmas to ski.
The conversation began about a ski camp my niece recently attended. As
the hours past, talk drifted to stem cells.
At first, it was interesting to see my scientist cousins and their
spouses discussing a subject that was completely new to the rest of us
just a year ago. Suddenly, we had all become stem cell experts,
expressing disappointment and anger over the recent controversy. The
discussion often slipped into gossip about the private affairs of
scientists involved in the recent controversy.
There were various opinions, but I was most intrigued by how my normally
serious scientist cousins reveled in the rumors of love affairs among
other scientists. My mother seemed convinced that women married to
serious scientists are bound to have affairs. It was inevitable, she
said, because their husbands are stuck in the laboratory, spending more
time staring at human cells than watching their wives put on lipstick. I
agreed with my 67-year-old aunt that it was surprising to see so many
good-looking scientists and doctors in the media during the past few
months. Where have they been all these years?
At one point, my cousin insisted that one of the female scientists who
was involved in the recent stem cell project was having an affair with
another man in her team. As soon as she said this, her sister yelled
out, "But that can't be true. She's Catholic!" The whole table burst
into laughter.
It was strange. We all admitted we were tired of talking about the
issue, but the subject seemed to come up again and again.
As we sat there, a plate of delicious marinated chicken was served.
While we talked, some of us had drumsticks in our hands. We devoured the
meat until the plate was emptied. At that moment, it occured to me that
the idea of gossiping about strangers had something to do with our cruel
and unmerciful animal nature, similar to our gesturing with drumsticks
and gnawing meat off the bones.
It seemed evil. I sensed that we secretly enjoyed watching the recent
scandal. We shared a unanimous pleasure in seeing the star scientists
collapse miserably. As the evening darkened, I wondered if such
unanimity was a satisfying response, even if we had been right.
After all, what is the pleasure of living in a society where we all feel
the same ۥ even if the chicken is yummy?


How to cook

Ddakjjim (Steamed Chickens)

Ingredients (for 1 serving): 400g of chickens, 80g of carrots, 50g of
Shitake mushrooms, 1/2 onion, 45 millimeters of soy sauce, 15g of
crushed garlic, little bit of salt, pepper and sesame seeds, 1/2 cup of
water, ginko nuts.
1. Take the inside out of chickens. Cut them into bite-size pieces.
2. In a pot, pour all the sauces and water.
3. Simmer the chickens in a pot.
4. After 5 to 10 minutes, add the vegetables.
5. Serve with sesame seeds on top.
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by Park Soo-mee >