The argument that something is valuable simply because it is ‘traditional’ falls flat when we fail to understand the context within which that tradition started. Even with the best intentions, without understanding this context, the best we can do is recreate the outward form of that which we believe our predecessors, ancestors, or fore-bearers were … Continue reading A Tradition Without Life is a Desiccated Flower
With the popularity of MMA (mixed martial arts) and with the internet as a magnifying glass, it has become ever more difficult for so-called ‘traditional martial arts’ to hide behind tradition-for-tradition’s sake without being able to back up that tradition with martial effectiveness. All martial arts these days, it seems, are judged on the basis … Continue reading An Alternative to Mainstream MMA Culture
What got me into martial arts was a friend, but what got me passionate about martial arts was a story. When I first started doing traditional Korean hapkido, it was difficult, I was uncoordinated, and I was inconsistent. It was an extracurricular activity for me, not much different than going to the movies or reading … Continue reading Hooked by a Samurai Tale
My wife and my first date was at a Vietnamese restaurant. We were going to go eat Thai food, but she wanted to stay closer to home because she was nervous about going out on a date with someone she only knew from the coffee shop in a country she had only lived in for … Continue reading Taste The Soup (Before You Change It)
Many foods that are considered ‘delicacies’ in their place of origin are ‘an acquired taste,’ as the saying goes, elsewhere. In the cuisine of Southeast Asia, there are many such foods, but in Cambodian food, the star is prahok. Prahok is paste made from crushing, salting, and fermenting certain types of fatty river fish that … Continue reading Sachko Prahok Chaw (An Acquired Taste)
