Filipinos really love pork. Just look at adobo, their signature dish... Korean culture seems to be quite popular too, as Korean-style barbecue buffets are thriving in many places. Among them, the all-you-can-eat samgyeopsal (pork belly) for 199 pesos caught my eye.

Even in a less affluent country, is an all-you-can-eat deal for 199 pesos (around 5,000 KRW) really possible? And there's one or two in almost every neighborhood. If you visit the Philippines, you'll realize that the cost of living for ordinary people is by no means cheap. Everything feels expensive relative to their income. The only things that are cheap are labor costs, due to the overflowing population and lack of jobs...

How can they offer unlimited meat for 5,000 won? I was always curious, so when I had the chance, I visited a couple of places.

The meat was mostly fat with very little lean meat, the kind of cut that would be discarded after trimming in Korea. Whether the 199-peso samgyeopsal places get their meat from the same supplier, I don't know, but both places I visited were the same.

Even so, considering the cost of fresh vegetables, side dishes, rent, electricity, gas, and labor, it remained a mystery. But I decided not to overthink it and just ate. Although I usually eat a lot, the quality of the meat was so poor that I couldn't eat much. I don't think I'll be going back... though I might go just one more time.

On my second visit, I witnessed a truly remarkable sight. A family of three sat at the next table, chatting and laughing happily. If a stranger saw them, they would have thought it was a family who had struck gold. If they were ordinary Filipinos, living a life with the difficulty of hell on earth in the Philippines, could a 5,000 won meal bring them so much joy? Was the burden of their continuous hardship momentarily forgotten by a 5,000 won meal? Or were they from the middle class or above? What brought them joy? Had they learned to find happiness in small, simple things?

I wanted to ask them directly, but first, I don't speak English well, and I hadn't come with a friend who could translate. More importantly, it felt impolite, so I decided against it.

Even though it was a 5,000 won meal, it made me think a lot about their culture, their ways of living in their circumstances, and how they find happiness and joy even there... It was an evening that made me reflect on many things.