Eat My Words: Ads on Spoons

I try not to make eating out a habit. Especially since the choices in Midtown aren't exactly affordable. But with my train station exiting on 32nd and Broadway, it's hard not to get sucked into the bright lights and pungent smells of Koreatown and its fishy pickled goodness.

Which brought me to Chung Moo Ro, a narrow unassuming Korean restaurant that’s relatively new to the block compared to mainstays like Gahm Mi Oak and Kum Gang San. And “new” in more ways than one. As soon as my waiter set our table, I noticed a little wax paper “shirt” wrapped around the bowl of my spoon. I thought it was a safety precaution at first. Like having the wrapping around chopsticks. But upon closer inspection, I realized the spoon was already used, and that the paper was a carefully placed advertisement for Charmsoju, a brand of soju, or Korean rice wine.

What? Spoon advertising? What has this world come to?-- were my initial thoughts. What’s next? Toilet paper and potato skins? Then I realized that this kind of invasiveness/pervasiveness is probably not a huge deal in Korean culture. The street outside the restaurant is brimming with neon and electronic signs and ads from the ground to five stories up. Brand messages are expected, and perhaps welcomed, in the densely populated metropolis of Seoul, not to mention small pockets of real estate like Koreatown. Koreans are used to having their senses assaulted from every angle—is a little logo on a soup spoon that big a deal?

I doubt I’ll return to Chung Moo Ro. But the spoon isn’t to blame. In fact, the spoon will probably be the most memorable tidbit from my meal.