What I Learned From My Microwave

We decided that we had been without a microwave long enough, so this last weekend we purchased one.  Our PX sells microwaves that operate on 110 and work on-post, but we live off post and Korea is a 220 country.  So we got a Korean microwave - a fairly basic model -  with lots of interesting buttons (Koreans like things with buttons) all labeled in Hangul.  Between the pictures in the instruction manual and help from a friend, I got the buttons identified.  Pre-programmed buttons on microwaves are a reflection of functions and food items that are most frequently used, which I knew.  What was surprising to me was how much cultural insight I have gained by knowing what these buttons do.  There are the usual on, off, timer and quick defrost buttons. There is one for cooking rice, one for soup, one for noodles and one for warming "baby milk."  The "mandu frozen" button made sense - mandu (little dumplings that look like won-tons) is popular but time consuming to make, so it is often sold frozen. No surprises so far, and an interesting reflection of common Korean foods. But there is more - a button for "frozen rice food", which is the equivalent of our "TV dinner" and which almost always contain rice.  I didn't know about these.   Then there was a button for frozen pizza.  I had no idea Koreans liked pizza enough to have a dedicated button.  I also didn't know you could get frozen pizza here.  Even more surprising was the popcorn button!   Maybe you just can't get a microwave without a popcorn button, no matter where you live.  These are the "food" buttons.  Next are the "utility" buttons.  There is one for santizing baby bottles.  And one for deodorizing the microwave.  And, perhaps my favorite - one for steamed towels!  Sometimes in a restaurant you will be given a warm towel for your face and hands before you eat.  This is not just a restaurant luxury but is done at home - another thing I learned from my microwave.  So - what does your microwave say about your culture?  Which buttons do you use the most?  While you figure that out, I am going out to see if I can find any of those little hand towels so that I, too, can set a proper Korean table.