Unlocking the mysteries of Korean food

One of the most common questions I get is what’s the food like? So here you go:

I’m glad I inherited my Dad’s taste buds, which require that everything be doused in hot sauce, because Koreans love their food spicy! The only spice they possess is hot red pepper, but they use it on everything. Their most famous dish is called kim chi. That’s fermented strips of cabbage covered in hot pepper sauce and it’s served at every meal. It’s really quite gross, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually. Did I mention that it’s served cold?

Koreans love their fresh seafood too. Outside nearly every grocery store and quite a few restaurants, just sitting on the sidewalk, are fresh fish tanks with all kinds of interesting sea life. Besides fish I’ve seen eels, crabs, sea sponges, every type of shellfish. Even a tank swarming with baby octopus. Actually, in E-Mart there was an octopus as big as big as volley ball. (That’s just his head, mind you, with arms he was a lot bigger. E-Mart, by the way, is just like a Wal-Mart, in fact they bought out all the Korean Wal-Marts. When I say grocery store, I’m referring to smaller Mom & Pop places.)

Despite the seafood I reserve most of my “what the hecks” for the school lunches. I serve and eat lunch with the children everyday. Sticky, sweet translucent noodles. Brown, tasteless gelatin cubes (mook). Black beans that are only cooked just enough so that your teeth don’t shatter trying to chew them. Small heaps of green vegetation, (seaweed perhaps?). I did, however, recognize the tiny tentacles as coming from either a baby squid or a baby octopus. Yup, everyday my students and I dive into a new culinary adventure. (Keeps my gastro-intestinal system on its toes.)

Okay, enough. Korean food isn’t that bad. A lot of it is actually very good. One of the coolest restaurants is an all you can eat buffet of raw meet. You cook it on hot skillets in the middle of your table- delicious! Koreans love their floors, and fittingly, there are many restaurants that seat you on the floor in front of low tables. Two of the other teachers took me to one such place dubbed the Dubu House- dubu is tofu. There I tried panjeon- kind of like a pancake with meat and veggies in it. It was probably the best thing I’ve tasted yet. Rice wine is great. Kim bop- like sushi- it’s egg, and veggies wrapped in sticky rice wrapped in seaweek. Hot pots are really delicious too—bubbling pots of everything that they place on the table in front of you. They ensure a hot meal for the entire seating too.

And of course, Korea has quite a few of the American fast food joints. McDonald’s & Burger King yes. But Baskin Robbins and Dunkin Donuts are even more popular, believe it or not. For the most part, Korean food is very tasty. We’re just going to have to have the chef work on those school lunches. Even the students hardly ever finish their food.

What the heck of the week: ppeondagi--boiled silkworm larvae. Sold on the street and believe it or not, probably smells worse than it tastes. I'll let you know when I'm brave enough.