Describe a custom from your country that you would like people from other countries to adopt. Explain your choice, using specific reasons and examples.


           Every human who breathes in this world must consume food to sustain their lives. Since each nation has different preferences on their meal, the world has developed countless dining cultures depending on their predominant edible materials, economic status, and the citizens’ life style. It is true that a custom continuously evolves throughout the history so that it could provide decent comfort and satisfaction to the citizens of that nation, especially when it comes to customs related to basic necessities such as eating. However, it is always beneficial to search for customs worth learning out of a nation’s boundary. I would love to recommend the traditional dining custom of Korea to foreigners for these two reasons; conservation of resources and provision of healthy nutrition.

           To begin with, the unique form of Korean meal conserves money, time, and labor. A typical western meal starts with an appetizer to ready the stomach, reaches its peak with main dish to actually fill your stomach, and ends with a dessert to give some delight to your tongue. Unfortunately, a fancy restaurant would add on a few more steps and break down each course. Not only the server needs to invest substantial amount of money and time to buy the ingredients and cook, but also needs to invest energy for the day that could be used on more productive activities such as leisure. On the other hand, a typical Korean meal locates everything on a single table including rice, main dish, and sub dishes. Usually a sub dish is kept in a protective china or glass bowl and has its way out of the fridge whenever necessary. The meal is frugal yet delicious, saving time for our busy moms who cook and the rest of the family who eat. Therefore, the conservation of resources contributed by Korean dining customs is a notable attribute for foreigners.

           Furthermore, Korean meals supply balanced nutrition into our bodies. Americans these days are obsessed with junk food such as pizza, hamburger, and hotdog. The prevalence of these diets caused many western countries to suffer from discernible drop of general health of the public along with soaring rates obesity, adult diseases, and cancer. However, thanks to Korea’s dining custom, such issues are not as problematic as they are in previously mentioned regions. Our traditional diet which is strictly based on vegetables derives from the scarcity of meat that used to be existent in Korea. The most common food of Korea Kimchi, which consists of chinese cabbage, peppers, and various spices, is scientifically proven to prevent cancer. Since meat is also easy to find around us, now the Korean traditional meal is healthy and delicious more than ever. Hence, adopting the Korean dining custom will remedy the impaired health standards of the very nation.

           In conclusion, if other countries are eager to adopt a Korean custom I will definitely suggest the traditional dining custom of Korea because it protects valuable money, time, and energy of the people and provides superb amount of balanced nutritional value to the public. When my American friends come over to my place in June, I will absolutely invite them to dinner and let them experience the greatness of the Korean dining custom.