Kimchi in Chile

I was at one of the major intersections in Auckland (Queen Street) years back waiting for the pedestrian crossing to go and felt so adapted  - crossing, there was a rush of people including the many Asian faces. Home didn't feel too far off and I felt a sense of ease being there. A teenager then, this familiarity was comforting. Before moving there for my studies, my family did speak of many issues and racism was definitely on the list ( this was more than 10 years ago). Here in Chile, I'm beginning to feel the difference. These recent years have certainly seen a good growth of other Nationalities in a country that one could call mono cultural at large. Of course there were the early immigrations largely from Spain mainly the Basque
 ( like my Luis), the Germans, Italians, Greeks ( of course), Middle Easterners and so on.

But Asians? Luis and I still go, " Hey, look Asians"! or

 Luis would go, " Look ! your people, Indians" :p......but we are much less astonished these days.

Things have changed quite a bit and I believe will continue to do so. Our neighbours
 ( well for now,  for the end of May is coming up and we're moving!!) are even Koreans !
The first sight of Koreans in Chile were when they declined repatriation after the capture from the United Nations. Then in 1970, the floriculture encouraged immigration. The first families that came to Chile were motivated by Argentina has their final destination but ended up in Chile because of immigration requirements. A capital of US 30000 was obligated, so many settled in Chile.  Now, there are almost 2000 Koreans in Chile residing mostly in Barrio Patronato in Santiago. There are numerous Korean restaurants including other businesses - imports of textiles and other products from their country.  For those wishing and craving for some good but cheap Korean food or even just spicier food, Patronato is the place to go. On our side of the city; Las Condes or Vitacura, there's only one Korean Restaurant
(Gaon Restaurant) and it's authentic.
 Luis and I went there again just last Thursday after having an unforgettable
culinary experience back in 2006.

So, gone were the days, when I would be at the customs in Chile, with minimal Spanish trying to explain what mum packed for me in an aluminum foil and what the heck I was doing miles away from home. Asians must have been pretty rare at that time - at least to a degree it felt so. I'm glad my darling boyfriend ( "Pololo" ) was waiting for me and was visible through the glass and was allowed to come in and explain to the customs that it was simply homemade Fruit Cake :)
 - that I was of course not smuggling in drugs and just innocently coming to visit him.

So although Chile is geographically distant from the root of all these exotic flavours, it doesn't fall short to please. If you're an Asian and feel the need for some blast of pure flavours, head out to Patronato or the Central.  There are many great restaurants and oh,so affordable too!  Also, thanks to my dearest friend Xue Lian from China, I now know that some of these authentic restaurants have two menus
- one for the Chilean Clientele and another one for their local people.

 So my dear Asian friends or those Chileans that have been
 transformed and have cravings for some genuine food at times,   

- you need to get your hands on the right menu!

Of course there are many Chinese (Asian) restaurants all over the city but they have been altered to accommodate the palates of our beloved Chileans.
The great thing though is that,  there are certainly Asians everywhere these days
 and it's always nice to bump into them now and then. 

Like the other day, I ran into a Chinese lady, she could have been Korean or Japanese though ( I can never tell!) and we had this look on our faces like we've just crossed paths with a long lost friend.

We had the biggest smiles on our faces and we said the longest," Holaaa!' and had like tears in our eyes and looked back as we parted......(no no.....I was just dramatizing)

but you know, it was nice, so special - the feeling that somehow, we've known each other in a different life or something. See what living in a foreign country could do to you!!   

I kinda appreciate the little things that pop up - like the Asian lady before who was actually walking down the street with an umbrella (no one else does you know in the scorching sun during summer. It's norm to rejoice at the sight of the sun here - but only a true Asian could understand the multi- functional umbrella). All in all, it has certainly been a great adventure so far, and it's getting even better with the discovery of some great Asian food
 - the general acceptance of these foreign flavours are ever so enlightening.

Luis grilling for us at our 8 yrs and 1 mth celebration dinner -Korean BBQ

( Us, of course eating at every opportunity! :)