The In's & Out's of Korean Food

So I've had a lot of questions from the folks at home as to what exactly I'm eating here, if I like it, if it's spicy and how my chopstick skills are holding up.  In an attempt to answer some of those questions I've been jotting down notes and working on this food blog for some time now.  In hindsight, maybe I should have finished writing it before I was only two months shy of fleeing the country, when the excitement of bulgogi and bipimbap has begun to wear down.  Hopefully, I was able to inform without tarnishing...









First, let me impress you on my skills, both honed and acquired...

I've had coworkers tell me about a dozen times since moving here that I "must be Korean", a phrase given to me with great honor simply because of my affinity for spicy food and my ability to get the food into my mouth with the two sticks in my hand.  Granted, I had a bit of an advantage to winning such affections as the teacher I replaced was Muslim and didn't eat any pork.  (I'm gonna glide right over the irony there and hope my "chosen-people" compadres don't call me out or judge me too harshly)  But just the fact that I actually ate the school lunch made me quite popular in my first few months.  They oo'd and ahh'd, they watched me in admiration, they complimented my ability to eat Korean food and I quickly became the school nutritionist's favorite foreigner when I learned the word for "delicious" in Hangul.

Spam - canned pork is kind of a big deal here.

Choppy Chop Chop
I impressed them immediately with my ability to even hold chopsticks even though, I personally, felt clumsy in comparison to the "Swan Lake-like" chopstick dance happening in my Korean coworkers' hands.  In my first few months I chose to avoid forks as much as possible in order to develop my skills, even cooking with a large pair of cooking chopsticks I had purchased.  (Cooking with chopsticks makes a lot of sense sometimes and zero sense other times)  Now, after nine months, I can honestly say I prefer to use them over a fork.  They extend from my hand like an added appendage and I can do just about everything the Koreans can, including cutting up large pieces of food and wrapping a piece of kimchi around a wad of white rice.

Show off.

Of course all my skills immediately flew out the window the day I met my new principal at my second school when he put me through a series of chopstick skill tests.  First he had me hold a piece of radish as he tapped my hand to see how good my grip was on the food.  I passed.  Then he mimed that he wanted me to cut the tough piece of pork sitting on my tray...I failed.  Not only did I not manage to cut the damn pork but I did manage to spray gravy into his general direction when the chopsticks slipped from my hands.

So I'm not perfect, I still occasionally drop a piece of food into my soup bowl causing a tidal wave of jjigae to overflow into my rice.  But I am pretty proud of my skills and ok knowing I may never use chopsticks with the complete grace of a Korean.


Soooo Not Spicy

"Spicy" seafood jjiggae

I remember when I first started eating the Korean lunches I was in awe at how they could eat an entire bowl of spicy soup without even a drop of water to chase it with.  Now I hardly find anything to be spicy, not even the slightest.  I assume it's because I've developed a higher tolerance to it in my time here.

However, Koreans assume that because I am a foreigner, that everything is just too spicy for me.  I've had multiple servers tell me that I wasn't going to be able to handle the spice level of what I had ordered.  My first reaction was to shoot them a "b*tch please" look but that got me nowhere, so instead, I learned the phrase "I like spicy" in Hangul and life has been a lot easier ever since.

Fried ginsaeng at the festival.

There are, of course, exceptions to that rule.  Once at a gingsaeng festival, Jenni and I attempted to order a chicken skewer only to have the man repeatedly warn us how spicy it was to a level of great annoyance.  Our patience with him was thin as we finally convinced him to give us the skewer and walked away with our head's held high and a "you don't know me" saunter.  Smiling and mocking the little man we chewed the first bite of our chicken happily.  About 1.2 seconds later we regretted our cockiness and our lack of beverage as we fanned our mouths, slightly drooling, in a panic to find a way to sooth the pain.  That was and still is the spiciest thing I've consumed in this country.





Now a little bit about how Koreans have impressed me...

Stomachs of Stone
Koreans can eat just about anything and not get sick.  Or at least not like we would.  I don't think there is a single person I know from my program that hasn't been down and out at least once from food poisoning.  The street meats were usually the main culprit, but some of us even "lost our lunch" so-to-speak after having a group meal with a table full of Koreans that didn't seem affected.  It was a mystery to me until the lantern festival where I saw a large table full of uncooked chicken skewers piled up about seven high, ready to be grilled up when the couple hundred skewers they had already cooked were all purchased.  Coming from the world of catering, this was a gross over-preparation and imbalance of the supply vs demand factor.  Not to mention the fact that the uncooked chicken was set in the sun with zero refrigeration for who knows how long.  I noticed the same situation again and again at food stands all over the country.  It seems that the Korean people and their steel stomachs can handle this, while our puny little American tummies are not equipped.

Those are all uncooked chicken skewers my friends.

On another note, there are very very few Koreans that have any food allergies.  I've tried to find a reason to this but I was unsuccessful.  I know allergies exist here because my school menu flags things like peanuts and milk products but with over 500 students, I don't know of a single one that has ever had to skip out on any part of the meal due to allergies.


Like 'Merica...But Better
Koreans love Western culture and mimic it as often as possible.  Sometimes this results in disaster, like when a t-shirt designer who clearly doesn't understand the English language puts English words or expressions on t-shirts and hats that just make zero sense, or worse, are accidentally, incredibly, inappropriate.  I enjoyed quite the chuckle when I saw a guy wearing a shirt that said "Acne King", or the time I saw a very old lady wearing a shirt that said "Juicy is better".  But sometimes they're not so funny, like when a very innocent 6th grade student comes into school wearing a shirt that says "Fukk Swag" or when my adorably shy 4th grader has on a jacket that says "Marijuana Picker" on it.

Other times, Koreans do Western better than we do.  Case in point...Korean fried chicken.  Oh.  My. Freggin. Delicious.  I don't know how they do it, but they do it better.  I was never a huge fried chicken eater before SoKo, but I know it's going to be one of those things I can never have again in the States and see it the same way.

Special tongs to hold down your special chicken.

Another example of their fantastic adaptation of western food is the delicious and amazingly decorated cakes (both ice cream and regular).  Korea puts that extra something into their food presentation, especially their desserts.  And not only are the cakes so pretty you don't want to slice them, they also taste amazing.

Even their savory pastries are pretty
(and inventive)

How to eat cake in Korea.  You need:
(1) set of chopsticks and (1) cup
or just a bag to grab it with.

Now for a shout out to the Korean waffle.  You can buy one off the side of the road in my hood that is huge, soft, folded in half, and filled with your choice of flavored whipped cream with a drizzle of honey.  I have to actively walk down a different street when I know the waffle place is open to avoid the calories.  But the smell is so intoxicating it almost lifts me up and draws me in like a cartoon character.

On a semi-related note, they do ice cream with style here too.  I once bought what I thought was a strawberry popsicle but turned out to be a layer of strawberry sorbet over a layer of pure white chocolate over cookies and cream ice cream.  I mean...what?...yes please.  I never know what I'm buying but it usually only takes one bite for me to yell out to the heaven's "what is this gloriousness and where has it been all my life?!?"



The times Korea does me wrong...

Korea Stop It, Just Stop
As purely magnificent as Korean Fried Chicken is, the opposite can be said of some other Koreanized Western foods.  For example, Korean pizza...oh Korean pizza...why?  I cannot tell you how excited I was when I saw ricotta cheese on my pizza at school in a country severely lacking in decent cheese.  I also cannot tell you how destroyed I was when I took a giant bite only to realize it was mashed potatoes.

Mashed.

Potatoes.

On my pizza.  Since then I have learned to bite with caution when it comes to pizza in SoKo.  I got over the fact that a common pizza topping here is corn...fine...I can deal with that.  I no longer question why I get pickles as a side dish to my pizza, I just accept it.  But can someone please tell me what a Mayo Q pizza is and why there's honey on the crust?  Or better yet, why do I have the option to stuff my crust with a sweet cranberry cream?  I understand Korea has an affection for sweetandsalty food (like the garlic bread I tried that had sugar on it)...but there are some things that just don't make sense.  And I blame Pizza Hut and Dominos for enabling such lunacy on their menus instead of sticking to the classics.

This is a "Surf 'n Turf" pizza with your choice of cranberry or apple sweet cream stuffing.  From Pizza Hut. (pic from here)

And this is called the Cheesecake Sandwich - cajun shrimp & spicy gouda on crust that is sanwiched
with cheesecake mousse in the center.  From Dominos.  (pic from here)

Western food isn't the only thing Koreanized around here.  Much like there is Chinese food and then there is American Chinese food, there is also Korean Chinese food.  And I'm sorry...I really am...I know there are plenty of foreigners who enjoy a good jajangmyeon but that is NOT Chinese food and I do NOT like it.  There was a time when I didn't mind it, but after repeated sessions of black bean sauce over thick spaghetti-like noodles for school lunch with something floating around in it that resembles ground beef (maybe?), I had enough.  I'm aware that American chinese food can be similarly taunted for being a distant cousin of the real thing.  But while America tips it's hat in the general direction of China, Korea fully admits they just kinda did their own thing and called it Chinese food.  I feel strongly about this because Chinese food is my favorite, and I have been lost in a land without it until recently.

American Chinese food in SoKo - in all it's fried, MSG-filled glory.

Luckily for me, we just discovered a new "American-style" Chinese restaurant that originated in Ohio of all places.  Plus we have been frequent visitors of an amazing place called Monster Pizza where you can enjoy New York Style classic pizza while you watch the Koreans try to figure out how to eat such big slices.  I once saw one of them swirling the cheese with their fork as if it was spaghetti.  You do you.

The fries were good, the yogurt
to dip it in was...interesting.

The things they do to hot dogs
here should be illegal.

Um...It's Looking At Me

I have to admit, I'm a bit of a wimp in some regards.  I have some brave friends, who don't mind chowing down on the fishies they serve you as a side - full, tiny fish with their eyes staring at you all dried up and shriveled in the dish.  Apparently they taste really good.  I wouldn't know.  I don't eat anything with its eyes or feet still attached.  I tried, I did my best.  I knew coming here that I would be pushed out of my comfort zone.  I ate a bug, I ate one of the tiny little crabs, still in its shell (I still shiver when I think about it), I've picked and eaten off the carcass of a large fish that looked like it was just plucked straight out of the ocean and placed onto the platter.  I even ate chicken feet that one time...and eel!  But after I crossed those things off my list I was happy to never consume them again.


I don't do eyeballs.
I don't do feet.
And I don't do tentacles.

Squid and Octopus are kind of a big deal here, and most people really love them, and I'm certain they are delicious.  I like calamari!  But I don't like tentacles.  Essentially, if it looks at all like it originally did when it was crawling around on this earth, I can't eat it.  One of the delicacies here is eating octopus that was alive like a second ago and is therefore still crawling around on your plate in an involuntary manner while you eat it.  I've had a couple friends try it, even after they've been warned that if they don't chew it properly the tentacles will literally cling to the inside of your throat and choke you.  Why?  Why and how could you eat that??  Mazel tov to you brave souls, it's just not for me.

The little fishies are a delicacy and considered
a very nice (and expensive) gift.

When you put baby octopus on the grill,
they stand up. Ruined my life.

Lots of buckets full of lots
of creatures with lots of tiny
eyeballs staring at me.

Chicken feet also stand up when you grill them.

Full shrimp: feet, eyes, little
antenna like things.  I can't do it.
I won't do it.

"Please don't eat me!"

Rules to live by...

In general the rules of etiquette around here vary a little bit.  I guess it all depends on your generation, location, and comfort level with those you are dining with, as is the same in most cultures.    For example, I heard before coming here never to lift the soup bowl and drink from it.  But I've seen many a coworker drinking directly from their soup bowl both in the cafeteria and out at school functions.  And in general, being a foreigner gives you a bit of a "get out of jail free" card.  People tend to give you a pass if you commit a blunder.  Still, here are some basic rules that you should try to adhere to if living in SoKo...

Place settings at school dinners always
come with a shot glass.  Because Korea.

*Never, ever, stick your chopsticks into your rice.  This is some kind of ritual for the dead so it's considered a really big no-no.
*Don't even blink until the oldest person does.  The elder at the table should be the first to sit, the first to receive their drink and the first to eat.  Basically just try not to be the first person who does anything, ever.
*Don't blow your nose at the table.  I'm a big fan of this one as it's a HUGE pet peeve of mine.  This should just be a given people, it's gross.  Go Korea.
*Endless refills.  Make sure you never pour your own glass, make sure you always pour your neighbors glass, be aware if your neighbors glass ever gets below the halfway point, use both hands when pouring or holding your own glass to accept the pour, etc etc.  Oh and be careful about the level in your shot glass.  I learned the hard way at a school dinner that an empty shot glass means "please pour me another shot".  Instead, leave a bit of the Soju still in there and in general your principal will stop forcing alcohol on you.  (where do I live??)

Teacher Dinner

*Learn to share.  Sharing is caring in Korea.  Most of the dishes served in this country are communal.  The sides or "panchan" are all shared.  It's even quite common for everyone to take shots from the same shot glass as part of some kind of bonding ritual.  (Germaphobes beware)
*Silence is golden.  Don't be offended if no one is talking to you during the meal.  Koreans don't really talk a whole lot while they eat.  It's not that you're not welcome to start a conversation, but keep it brief, this isn't a gab session, it's a race to the finish, which brings me to...

Those cushions don't do much for ya btw.

*Bali, bali!  Koreans eat super fast.  And I mean super super fast.  Personally, the older I get, the slower I tend to eat.  Which is great because I used to literally inhale food as a toddler.  Then I came to Korea and I found myself either left alone at the table, or shoveling food into my mouth while my coworkers sat there watching and patiently waiting for me to finish.  I've had to learn to inhale again, which totally takes the fun out of savoring a meal.  But while my lunches are on warp speed, my dinners, alone in the comfort of my Korean-free apartment, are more Romanesque, moving at my preferred snail's pace.

A couple other important things to know:

1. Kimchi is a culture.  If you don't like kimchi (you crazy), don't advertise it.  And if someone gifts you with a container of kimchi, consider it a super nice gesture on their behalf.  Kimchi is their reason for eating, their defense against SARS (so we've heard them proclaim), their main source of vitamins (it's incredibly good for you) and a huge part of their identity.  I can safely say that kimchi will be, without a doubt, the number one thing I will miss from Korea.  Yes I know you can get it in the states, but it's not the same, not even close.  *Kimchi, I will shed a tear for you - I will pour one out for you*

Traditional Kimchi

"Soup" Kimchi

2. White rice is a staple, obviously.  But for reals.  Like it's in every meal.  And it's expected that you consume it.  I've just recently had to break the news to my coworkers that the reason I don't really eat my rice isn't because I'm ill (as was stated to me), it's because I can't consume rice like a Korean without gaining a ton of weight.  My tiniest of coworkers, on the other hand, who are always watching their weight, eat their white sticky rice like it's diet food, ignoring the surrounding protein and vegetables.  Must.  Be.  Nice.

If rice in every meal isn't enough to
make your waistline grow, you'll also
be the recipient of many rice cakes and even
rice drinks.  I'm not a fan of either.

The amazingness that is school lunch...

When winter break started last semester and I was suddenly and unexpectedly left without my daily Korean lunch, there was a giant hole in my life.  I love Korean lunches.  I love the Korean women behind the counter who have learned to give me extra vegetables, who giggle at my love for kimchi, who almost tear up from pride when I come back for seconds.  I love the flat little metal chopsticks.  I love the fact that my lunch tray as individual compartments so nothing ever touches!  (I hate when my foods touch).

Everyday at school I'm given an incredibly healthy soup filled with either seaweed, leafy greens or root vegetables.  Everyday I get my kimchi.  Everyday I get a piece of fruit or yogurt for dessert.  It's balanced, it's beautiful.  I get a menu once a month that shows me not only what I'll be eating the next day, but also the calorie content and grams of protein.  The only complaint I could possibly make is that there isn't always a lot of protein.  It seems to have less value here.  On the other hand, if I'm quick enough, I can get seconds of my protein before the sixth graders eat it all up.

A few school lunches for your viewing pleasure...

Veggie soup, kimchi salad,
kimchi, dongkatsu (fried pork)
and dalgi! (strawberries)

This one has a cup of jello!

Bibimbap, mini sausages, kimchi, egg soup
and a mandarin orange.

Tofu jjiggae, veggies in a peanut
sauce, half a banana, kimchi and
skewered tentacles of some
kind which I did not eat.

Rice noodle soup, three types
of kimchi, seaweed and the purple
things are sweet potatoes.

Tofu, vegetable and potato soup, steamed pork, kimchi, apples and a beansprout salad.

And this is how school lunch works...

Water and tea station, for after you eat, not
during.  Because why would you want to drink
while you eat?

Also when you're done you can grab a paper thin
napkin so try not to spill during the meal.  I fail at
this constantly.

A spot for your tray, a spot for your spoon, a spot
for your chopsticks and a giant hole to dump
your uneaten food in.

Lastly, here is a list of Korean food that I have consumed in my time in Korea...

The stuff you know:
These are the things you think of when I say Korean food.  Even if you've never had anything Korean in your life you probably at least recognize these names.

Bulgolgi - delicious but not as incredibly common as you'd think.  It's always a treat to have this beef dish at lunch, because beef itself is always a treat.  But I wouldn't go so far as to say this is a number one dish here.  It's just probably the most internationally recognized Korean food.  That and it's buddy...

Bibimbap - vegetarian or with a teeny tiny bit of ground meat in it, bibimbap is always good and always full of vegetables which I like.  It's quite common to have it at school lunch, and can be purchased pretty cheaply.  But you'd never see it as a feature on a menu at a nice place.









Korean BBQ - Korean BBQ on the other hand is a true culinary staple that is probably the most common thing for Koreans to eat when at a restaurant.  You can have samgyeopsal at a tiny hole-in-the-wall mom and pop place down the street or a fancy, all you can eat buffet of gloriousness with modern facilities.  Korean BBQ might actually tie Kimchi in the running for things I will miss the most.  It's just so freakin good.

BBQ buffet

Traditional BBQ

Fancy vent system

My favorite BBQ Buffet,
because it has beef!

A close up of a typical grill.

This place just sets the meat on fire for you -  blow torch style.

A nice set up of sides and sauces.

The stuff you might know:
For those of you who have ever eaten Korean food in the states here are a few things you may recognize of the menu.

Jjiggae - this essentially a stew, and from what I remember was readily available in Korean restaurants at home but probably rarely ordered by someone not in the know.  Common jjiggae's contain tofu (Soondubu jjigae) or kimchi (Kimchi jjigae).  There is also something called "Army Stew" (Budae jjigae) which, you guessed it, was made in the army quite frequently and has a "pop and drop" method of cooking, meaning pop open an can and throw it in.  So it can be a mixture of vienna sausages, baked beans, bacon, rice cakes, etc.  Basically whatever was available.

Galbi - essentially little ribs of delicious meat.  Quite common, quite tasty and I'm pretty sure available on Korean menus at home.

Kimchi Pajeon

Haemul Pajeon

Pajeon - a savory Korean pancake made with seafood (haemul), peppers and scallions (gochoo) or kimchi.  I loved this so much I learned how to make it at home.  It's not as good as the local ajumma can whip up but at least I can go back to the states with the knowledge that I will have this again.

Panchan (or banchan) - Korean side dishes which can be anything from 67 different varieties of kimchi to a gazillion ways to recreate the egg to various tiny creatures (all containing eyes so I don't eat them).  Most panchan is delicious: pickled radishes, kimchi, bean sprouts, marinated onions and something similar to spinach are probably the most common.





The stuff you've never heard of:
At least I had never heard of these things before coming here.  And some of these items are quite honestly the best things about Korean and will be sorely missed if I cannot find an authentic enough Korean restaurant at home. (Which candidly, I'm sure I will not want to eat at anyway for a solid six months or more).

Jap Chae - used often as a side dish, these delicious clear noodles are one of my favorite things here and another dish I've learned to recreate at home.  The noodles are actually made from sweet potatoes so they contain less guilt than other forms of noodles in the country.

Juk - this is rice porridge.  The first time I had it, it was like eating bland tasteless mush.  But then I went to an actual juk restaurant where you can get a million varieties including a chicken cheese juk that's delicious.  Instead of hearty chicken soup when they get sick, Koreans eat juk.

Haejangukk - speaking of getting sick, this guk (or soup) is known as the "Hangover Soup".  Koreans eat it after a long night of soju inhalation.  This is in my top three of Korean foods that I enjoy.  It's a spicy hearty red soup with gigantic pieces of fall off the bone pork in it.  It's true comfort food.









Gamjatang - this tang (or meat stew) is like haejangukk's cousin.  While haejangukk is served individually gamjatang is the shared version.  And instead of eating it with rice like haejangukk, gamjatang has pieces of potato in it.  Both delicious but I'm selfish and prefer not to share so I usually lean towards haejangukk if I had to pick one.

Naengmyeon - icy noodles and another one of my favorites especially now that summer is here.  It's also one of the few dishes that isn't always infused with that red pepper paste (of course the one I have a photo of, is coated in the stuff).  There is actually ice in this dish, along with noodles (or "myeon") and a very tangy broth.  It's not for everyone, but it's for me, so it made the list.

Teokbokki - this is definitely NOT for me.  Thick cylindrical pieces of rice cake doused in a spicy red sauce.  They're just too chewy for me and way too high in calories for me to even attempt to acquire a taste for it.  But teokbokki to Koreans is like a big deal.  So I don't advertise my aversion to it.

Chueotang - otherwise known as "mudfish soup".  I did like this...a lot...but then I looked up the actual name for it, for this blog, and I saw an image of the actual fish used to make it.  Now I can never eat it again.  I was going to say it's delicious and blah blah blah but my little baby of a stomach doesn't even want to talk about it now.  Thanks for that.

Dotorimuk - this is actually a jelly or gelatin made from acorns (a kosher dream) so I imagine it's good for you.  It doesn't have much of a taste and is served in a really yummy salad so I don't mind it.  Other people I know can't stand the texture of it.  To each his own.

Bossam - same cuts of pork as the Korean BBQ but they're steamed and served with various types of kimchi and lettuce for you to wrap it in.  It's usually a pretty impressive display of pig and veggies.










Korean fast food:

Ok nowadays Korean fast food is just like American fast food with McDonald's and Burger King's popping up everywhere.  But here is a list of food you can get quick and super cheap and generally all in the same place.  (Note:  this is also the type of place you'd find tteokbokki and bibimbap)

Ramen - needs no explanation, can get quite spicy here and is available in a million varieties in convenience stores as well as these quick and easy restaurants.










Mandoo - Korea's version of the dumpling, not my favorite but people love them.  Served alone or in a soup.

Gimbap - this is Korea's sushi.  Except you won't find any raw fish in it.  It's typically filled with tunafish in mayonnaise, carrots, some fake crab, egg, and a piece of picked radish.  Of course other varieties exist including some with bulgogi, kimchi or squid.  It can be in the shape of typical sushi or a triangle.

Dongkatsu - ok this is actually a Japanese dish, it's fried pork that can be filled with cheese or sometimes sweet potato.  But you find it at this same type of quick restaurant and with some rice, panchan, shredded cabbage mixed with thousand island-type dressing and a bowl of clear broth you can expect to pay like tops $6 for the whole meal.




Sundae - sounds like a sweet treat but it's actually blood sausage.  Yeah.  I forced myself to try it when it was served at school once.  Mostly because everyone was watching to see if I'd like it.  Honesty, it wasn't bad.  Still, "baby gut" here can't handle the thought of it.


Korean desserts:
Besides the adopted french pastries and incredibly decorated cakes, oh and Korea's absolute obsession with Baskin Robbins ice cream, Korea has a few dessert tricks up it's sleeve.

Bungeoppang - common street food, like bread in the shape of a fish and filled with red bean paste.  It took me a long time to try red bean paste.  I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that it was a dessert ingredient.  But I gave in and I'm glad I did, it's yummy.

Ttoek - rice cakes.  These have zero flavor in my opinion and are the same gummy texture as their savory cousins tteokbokki.  So in other words, not my favorite.  But it's considered quite a nice gesture to give these as a gift and they're often used as wedding favors.









Hotteok - amazing little pancake-like things filled with some kind of cinnamon goodness inside.  These are also street treats and incredibly hard to walk past because they smell like heaven.

Bingsu! - my favorite!  It's essentially shaved ice but instead of being coated in a florescent sugary flavoring it's usually topped with fresh fruit, or brownie bites or a small scoop of ice cream.  They're served in massive portions so clearly another shared item.  Bingsu is awesome.

Korea also serves a Tawainese style that's just as amazing and impossible not to photograph...

A few extra tidbits...

Some Korean Street Food:

Fish cakes and tteokbokki with a happy chef.

Ginkgo berries - delicious

Huge balls of cotton candy make this girl happy.

Various dried sea creatures, usually squid and stingray type things.

Larva and some kind of some other creature..

Korea also has a lot of things on a stick and a lot of nugget type things in cups.

Tornado Potatoes!

Honorable Mentions:

I still don't know the name of it but it was some
kind of pork in some kind of red sauce (like everything
else), but it was fantastic.

Pastries filled with red bean paste and shaped like temples.

On the left is Korean sashimi, I have no idea what that is on the right,
below is a cold kimchi soup that is incredibly refreshing.

I love duck.

Shabu Shabu (pictured above) is also an amazing thing I can get my hands on here in Korea.  It's not technically Korean food (Japanese and Vietnamese) but they do a mean version of it.  Take one large pot of broth, add vegetables, thinly sliced meat, sometimes mussels, etc etc until you're in heaven basically.  I have a bit about this in another blog and I intend to have it at least three more times before leaving, it's just that good.

Some Indian Kebab on a rotating grill, again not Korean but just so delicious.
And fun!  Who doesn't love a rotating kebab grill?? 

I have to take a moment to mention the amazing fresh and local vegetables.
While there may not be a ton of variety, it's all really good, and it's all really local...like down the street local.

Korea does some crazy things with eggs, and I like all of it.  No matter how cray cray it may look.

Not a food, but still delicious.  Maekgolli, a rice based alcohol, is pretty popular
but THIS Maekgolli is chestnut flavored and it's amazing.  It's also served
in a hobbit hole of a bar in my neighborhood which makes it even more fun.

And THIS, my friends in Korea, is why I always photograph the food we're eating before I let you touch it.  Yes I'm "one of those people", 

but look at my pretty blog! :D