South Korea Recap: Food and Yummy Goodness
We only knew a tiny bit about Korean cuisine before out trip, so we were very happy to have been able to try different kinds of food. Some of the items in this post have already been discussed in our previous daily blog posts, but don't fret! We're adding fun snippets of information along the way.
Do you like...
- ...fresh fruit juice?
- ...spicy food?
- ...side dishes?
- ...street food?
- ...rice cakes?
- ...long spoons?
FRESH FRUIT JUICE? YES, PLEASE!
There's something funny about paying $1 or 1,000 won for a fresh cup of fruit juice. It's funny and sad at the same time that freshly squeezed lemonade or orange juice costs so little in a country whose economy is much smaller (in terms of 2016 GDP) compared to that of the United States. We suppose this point of view has to do with the health, organic, and green fad going on our side of the coast. Getting a glass of freshly squeezed juice in our hometown would cost us 3-5 times that amount!
The best part? You can get them almost anywhere! Yes, they do squeeze those oranges right in front of you.
THE LAND OF SPICE AND (EVERYTHING SPICY)
Are you a big fan of spicy food? Well then you're in for a treat! Almost every food dish you can think of will have a spicy kick to it. Our friend Bee believes that "Korean level spicy" is at the very top of the how-spicy-is-something list. We're inclined to agree with her, especially after trying out what non-spicy is supposed to be - surprise, it's regular spicy!
When we had a black bean soup base for our lunch at Myeong-dong, we were pleasantly surprised the soup had a nice spicy kick to it. It wasn't meant to be spicy at all; the soup base was supposed to be the mildest of the mild!
SIDE DISHES GALORE!
Almost every sit-down meal in a traditional Korean restaurant will include various side dishes. Many of these include kimchi, pickled [insert pickled-item-of-choice-here], dried squid or octopus, rice noodles, soy-based soup, tofu, and so much more. While the side dishes in general are the same, we found that they can vary depending on where you go. For example, during our visit in the province of Gangneung, we had multiple tofu side dishes. The Chodang Dubu village in Gangneung province is very well-known for their salt water tofu, so it's not surprising to see more than one tofu side dish wherever we ate.
Bonus: Side dishes are refilled for free. Yes, rice is a side dish.
STREET FOOD, WHERE?!
For our foodie friends out there, yes they have a lively street food scene! Most of the stalls, and some food trucks, open up shop late in the afternoon. The timing heavily correlates with the end of the work day. As you likely read, we visited Myeong-dong a second time to taste the different street food items available (sans-lobster because Hamu is allergic to shellfish).
Street food varieties are similar to the ones we found in Japan, though there are some variations. The most notable items we found were freshly squeezed / prepared juices and lobster tails with cheese. You can find grilled octopus, multitude of deep fried items (rice cakes, octopus, squid, dumplings, sausages), rice cake and cheese skewers, potato tornado skewers, galbi meatballs, beef skewers, and even Japanese yakisoba!
Since this trip was primarily driven by food, we were almost always full no matter where we went. Unfortunately, this includes the time we visited Myeong-dong to have street food. We were able to try a few different items and some familiar ones.
Bonus: they don't make potato tornadoes extra crispy here! The outer side is crispy, but the inside part of the potato is soft and chewy!
ALL HAIL LONG SOUP SPOONS!
Who knew long soup spoons would be useful? Not these adventurers!
Since this trip, we have increased appreciation for long spoons! The long spoons we're talking about are locally referred to as sutgarak [숟가락] or sometimes sujeo [수저], though sujeo is also used a reference to the set of eating utensils, including chopsticks. If you have never used one, we recommend trying it out the next time you're in a Korean restaurant.
We liked the spoons so much we bought a set to use at home.