Joey Fritz: Good Appetite, Good Health, Good Seoul

Feeling full?? It’s okay, as long as Joey is at the table with you!! He’ll eat whatever you don’t finish along with his own meal!! I always knew he ate quickly and I knew he ate a lot – he’s 6′ 5″ (195 centimeters) if you couldn’t see him from a mile away – so obviously he needs a lot of fuel. But it never ceases to amaze how much and how quickly he eats, while still being a tennis star with the look of a modern Hercules…héhéhé.

After a semester in Beijing, he visited me in Seoul as a final hurrah in the best continent in the world…Asia!! First of all, I didn’t have to do any mental acupuncture on him considering he’s practically an Asian at this point. Secondly, my parents and family were SO impressed…even by him as a person!! (not just his appetite). He was able to eat traditional Soybean Paste Soup, Kimchi, Spicy Marinated Fish – things even I can’t bring myself to eat. I’m pretty sure he got to know Seoul through food – from restaurant to restaurant, from meal to meal. For one meal – ONE MEAL – we ate a pizza, a cheeseburger, three tacos, and two quesadillas…average.

I only take the time to write about this because food is as essential to my family as water is to fish. We don’t necessarily go swimming in it (although I doubt any of us would hesitate to go swimming in a pool of Nutella) but food certainly is the basis of much of our existence. As many of my friends know, I plan what to eat for lunch while eating breakfast, plan what to eat for dinner while eating lunch, and so on. I guess these wonderfully unobnoxious traits from my family!! I kid you not, my family has gotten into arguments over ramen, the quantity of fried chicken I consume, and even over what would go better with the kimchi, wine or beer…

But I think it’s fair to place food high up on my list of priorities. On a basic level, it’s a matter of survival. If you don’t eat, you’ll die…SURPRISE!! But one of the things I’ve learned recently, although a little late in the game, is that you have an appetite when you are healthy. The only time I have ever lost my appetite is when I’ve been sick, which is why if I didn’t appreciate food before, I appreciate all the more now. The love of food comes with health, and health is absolutely the most important thing in a person’s existence, not subjectively, but objectively – you cannot function properly in bad health – you cannot love properly, you cannot think properly, you just cannot be happy.

So it’s natural for me and my family to adore Joey because on a deeper level, he has an understanding of food and a good appetite. He’s also just a bright, positive homie with a contagious energy. I can’t wait for him to visit again, so I can spend quality time with him…eating.

Here is some of the lovely food that has moved on from this earth…into our stomachs 🙂

Check out my other post with more Korean Food Porn!!