'Shoot With A Rice'

Koreans usually call a meal 'a rice'. Because a bowl of rice is essential on the meal table although others vary.

Normally, Korean meal has one bowl of rice, one bowl of soup([guk] or [ji-ge]), and other plates. A Rice bowl places right near the person, and a soup bowl does right of the rice bowl--a spoon and chopsticks follow them.

If you have a Korean friend or just a Korean around a you who you want to be familiar with, I suggest one thing that works very good--Treat a meal.

I know that it is human nature to love to get any favor from others. However, if you are thinking about giving a good impression to your Korean friends, I can say 'a rice' will work more efficiently than other presents which in some situations cannot show your real heart as it is.

There even is a slang that means 'to treat a meal'--'To shoot with a rice'. When a good thing just happens to a Korean near you, you will hear this word in Korean "I'll shoot all you guys with dinner!" from the person. It means "I'll treat you." or "It's on me."

Literally, it might be right expressing 'to treat' as 'to shoot' in a way in Korea. Because the people treated by whom would start talking 'positive' stories about whom immediately as if they got shot. Even though some didn't like whom, they could change their mind a bit more positively at least.

If you made your mind to 'shoot' your Korean friends 'with a rice', don't worry about money. Usually, it doesn't matter how much you pay when you 'shoot', but your action to 'shoot' and the situation to have dinner together just count. You can try out with a little 'Deokbokki'(photo available above) or other 1000 won (approx. 1 dollar) streetfoods. Though I'm not denying this proverb "The more, the better!"

Once you 'shoot', the others would 'shoot' back at the next time. That's the mysterious symmetry of how familiar relationships grow in Korea.

*Thanks to miwooc.com for the photo use authorization