In Korea I have discovered so many different types of foods! Some you may recognize from the States but will have a Korean twist to them, others will be completely new.
I should begin by saying that I have been told that I have a goat’s stomach and have been known to eat just about anything. If I’m not eating it then you know there must be something wrong with it. But if it doesn’t kill me, well you know the rest, plus I’m still here.
I’ll go by meal of the day since that seems to be the easiest way of sorting them. Now I can’t say that I’ve found a place that serves a typical breakfast: eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuit and gravy, potatoes, hash browns; that sort of thing. The closest thing I’ve found is Kimbab; a roll that has egg and rice wrapped in seaweed. Now I’m not saying Kimbab is a breakfast food but you can’t go wrong eating it anytime of the day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner or even as a snack, it’s always good.
Noodles! Being that I am in an Asian country I expected to see noodles everywhere, but what I didn’t expect was the distinction between all the countrie’s types of noodles. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and all the ways they are prepared. Now I can say that it does get pretty hot during the day and I’ve been told two different remedies to help cool you down on these hot summer days: 1) Eat Ice Noodles (naeng-myeon). Nothing like a bowl of noodles literally served in ice soup, So Delicious! I never expected to be served cold food before but after walking around outside in 101 degree heat, a bowl of ice anything sounds great. 2nd) Eat spicy foods. What?! Spicy foods…? Yup, here food is served hot, and I don’t mean just tickle the tongue spicy, but sweating, heavy breathing type spicy. I don’t understand it but it’s yummy too.
Which would you prefer on a hot summer day?
Seafood! Being that South Korea is surrounded on three sides by water, seafood would be a natural part of the diet here, and it is. This is a seafood lover’s paradise. As I mentioned before I have the stomach of a goat and I may not have been that into seafood before but coming to Korea I have tried some unusual foods.
I think my funniest, most traumatic, experience was being taken to a fish market in Busan; I though this place was like a mini aquarium, all the pretty fish, squids, and octopus all swimming around. I was so fascinated by the fish, running around taking photos that I didn’t notice my host picking out fish and the lady putting them into a basket.
As we rode the elevator to the top floor, where the restaurant was located, I notice a fish flapping around in a bucket that the lady was carrying and she turns around and starts chopping at the neck of the fish with a butcher knife. That’s when I realized this was dinner and all those fish downstairs in that “aquarium” were food.
After getting that bloody sight out of my head, I did enjoy eating the freshest sashimi I’ve ever had.
I’ve also been able to try eel, which is not bad either. You can eat it alone or mixed into a dish with plenty of seasonings either way it makes for a tasty meal.
Now there is one fish that is not for those with a soft palate, I was told that this is something special to the Daegu area and not everyone can eat this fish. So with that being said I was up for the challenge. It was a type of Skate (hong-eo) with a really pungent smell, almost burned of ammonia when you breathed it in, but if you can stomach it you’ll be sure to impress your friends.
Meat! Pork (dwae-ji-go-gi), Chicken (dak-go-gi), or Beef (so-go-gi) you won’t be disappointed.
Here the most typical style is Korean BBQ (bulgogi). Whichever you prefer, order it by the gram and have it prepared right at the table while you wait. In a typical mean you will get upto 5 different side dishes to enjoy with your meat (go-gi).
Anything I missed? Know something I haven’t tried? Let me know! See what I’ll try next!
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