Bun Dae Ki: Filling Small Bellies

A friend was looking at my blog and shared a story with me that I want to share with you. He was a child in Korea during the Korean War. School was cancelled during the war, but when the war was over the children were happy to return to school again.


The only problem was that they didn't have a school building. So classes were held under a tree beside a silk factory. A by-product from the silk factory was the pupae, Bun Dae Ki. Food was scarce at that time, so the children ate Bun Dae Ki each day for their mid-day meal.


Recall from my earlier posting that Bun Dae Ki is a rich protein source. This food helped sustain the children through those difficult times. 


This little boy who ate Bun Dae Ki at school later attended Seoul National University. After graduation and military service, he came to the United States with very little money...but he did have admission into graduate school at Columbia University. The little boy earned a PhD in and became a college professor.


While working as a college professor, he began a consulting business which became quite successful. He has now sold the business and has become financially wealthy. Now he can afford to eat almost anything he wants, but it was food such as the Bun Dae Ki that nurtured him and gave him the opportunity to accomplish so much!


This story makes me feel so thankful for the abundance I have always had because of my luck being born in my middle-class family in the United States. For my friend, although he suffered during those difficult times, perhaps it was surviving adversity that gave him the self-discipline to become so successful. That self-discipline, along with his incredible intellect was the combination that brought him so far from that outdoors classroom. 


Thank you Bun Dae Ki!

Bun Dae Ki: Silkworm Snacks

I was in a Korean Market last night and came across a shelf with cans of boiled silkworm pupae. This made me curious, so I bought a can and brought it home. I opened the can and was at first repulsed by what I saw. It is not really a cultural norm in the United States to eat insects...and I guess my initial reaction confirmed my thorough indoctrination into my country's culture.

The scientist in me had to examine them more closely, so I cut one in half, and noticed the developing insect inside the crunchy shell. They were packed in brine, which I discarded...then after taking the picture on the left...I knew it was time to try one. They have a nutty smell with undertones of something I can't find a word to describe.

The nutritional information label indicates that one serving is almost one entire can and has 168 calories. This same serving has 20 grams of protein, so they are nutritious!

I knew I had to be fast, so I popped one in my mouth and bit down on it. A squirt of briny fluid was released in my mouth. The outer covering was crunchy, but the insides were kind of mealy. It almost tasted like some corn tortilla chips I have tasted, but a bit stronger.

I wondered whether these pupae were left over from silk production, so I did some investigating on the Web. I found this photograph demonstrating the relationship

between the cocoon and the pupa. It reminds me of a time when I took a spinning workshop and we were working with silk. During the workshop, we began working with the fibers at different stages in the processing. Our last project was to take the cocoons and process them to get our own fibers for spinning. We soaked the cocoons, and hastily discarded the pupae.

I admire Asian cultures for their efficiency in using all parts of this resources. It makes a lot of sense to me to utilize the pupae, an important protein source that they get in abundance when producing silk for cloth.