Lady Burger

It’s often said that with respect to cultural norms, and especially gender relations, Korea is behind the west by several decades. Some of that is on purpose.

A fair number of Korean people, men and women, look at the strides made by women in the west and see it as a bad deal. Largely because most American families today feel that one income is just not enough to get by, it’s far more common today for both parents to work outside the home, and what was once considered a right that had to be fought for, now becomes just one more responsibility. (“You mean, I have to be a doctor AND I still have all the work of being a wife and mother? Well, okay. I guess those dishes aren’t going to get washed by themselves…”)

Around here, though, the prevailing mindset says that “Gosh, being a woman is hard – but, gee, being a girl is fun!” Therefore, let’s put it off as long as possible.

A lot of Korean females behave and are treated as children right up until the day they get married – that’s a gross generalization, of course, and even if the changes are slow, they are still happening. Women uni graduates are being sought after and hired by the huge multinat corporations here, and a few (though not many) are even taking slots in middle and upper management. I’d say that still more than half of these educated women will quit their jobs after wedding vows, and the rest will do so at their first pregnancy. But you will see more women in corporate settings today than in the past. It’s a trend, I suppose you could say.

Lotteria hasn’t gotten that memo, though. A fast food chain originating from Japan (though most Koreans I talk to think it’s a Korean company), their customer base predominates toward teenagers. They have a hunch that there might be something almost as fun as being a girl, and not quite as scary as full womanhood, and the word for this fun thing, of course, is: “Lady.” It’s an English word, of course, and I’m not sure if there is an exact equivalent in Korean. The closest I can come up with is sooknyoe (Romanization approximate, sorry) but it’s a word that a lot of Koreans will understand, in some way or other, though possibly not in the way of correct English.

Hamburgers are a Western food, however, therefore modern and therefore attractive to young people. Hence, the newest culinary addition to the diet of this city, the Lady Burger.

Lotteria thinks ladies are special, and they want the ladies to know that they think so, and that due to this specialness they deserve their own variety of hamburger – and it is theirs, because let’s be clear, the boys are not going to be allowed anywhere near it. I’ll confess here that I have not tried to buy one myself, and I suppose I’d have to claim it’s for my wife, though I’m not sure that would work either. It’s distinguishing features are that it is made from 100% han-woo (beef from a Korean cow) and it sports a thin slice of ddeok (a chewy sort of flavorless cake made from rice).

What’s clear to me is that there’s a clear issue of gender discrimination involved – or reverse discrimination, I guess. I’m seriously thinking about whether a class-action lawsuit would be in the interest of social justice. To my knowledge, there are no menu items that are intended only for male customers and which are prohibited to women. I, for one, am mad as hell about it, and I’m not going to take it any more. I hope you are, too.

I’ve already had a little fun about this with some of my adult students.

Consider. While it’s very true that hamburgers do not contain any ham (or at least, we hope so), a chicken burger is made from at least some partial amounts of chicken and a tofuburger is something we would expect also to be in some way derived from cultured bean curd. Lotteria also has a menu item called the Kimchi Burger, and in this part of the world we can also get an Ojingeo Burger (made from squid) and a Say-woo Burger (made from prawns). You can see where I’m going with this, right? You can usually guess the main ingredient from what goes in front of the word “Burger.”

Then what, we must ask ourselves is the primary ingredient in the Lady Burger?

Oh, no. Say it ain’t so. I’m sure it isn’t so. It can’t be so.

 Still, you might understand my disquiet. I think a large disclaimer needs to be included with these adverts.

 “NO LADIES WERE HARMED IN ORDER TO MAKE THIS FOOD.”

 Oh, and I think the part of the ad that might bother me most? The part that says: “MUST-EAT.”

Oh, dear.

But then, I’m a guy. For me, it needs to say: “CAN’T-EAT.”

NOTE: “BS food” is not connected with Lotteria in any way. It is funny, though.