What You Actually Eat in Korea, Part 1

 Part 1: At the Supermarket

I'm always taken aback when Koreans ask me, "You actually like Korean food?" This question comes up a surprising amount and of course the answer is yes! I can't tell if they are genuinely incredulous at my tastes or if they just think they are supposed to act that way with foreigners. For example, the following is an almost exact transcript of a conversation that took place between me and a random Korean guy on the subway:

Guy: So do you like Korean food?
Me: Yeah I really like it! Gamgyetang* is my favorite!
Guy: Oh wow, really? Do you eat Chinese food?
Me: Yeah all the time. I eat pretty much all Asian cuisines. Chinese, Japanese, Thai...
Guy: You eat sushi?
Me: I love sushi! Actually I would love to eat some sushi right now.
Guy: You eat sushi?! You must be Asian...

*Yes...I was just trying to impress him.

Granted, I eat the Americanized version of these foods, but I explained that I couldn't think of anything more American than eating Chinese food out of the carton, or going out to a sushi dinner with friends. Koreans don't usually eat sushi rolls though, just fish and rice, but I eat that too.

Point being, I considered writing about my favorite traditional Korean cuisine, but since there are enough foodies out there with blogs espousing the beauty and wonder of every new dish, complete with flowery descriptions and D-SLR quality photos, I've decided to write about the other food...the on-the-go, I'm broke, or don't-have-enough-time-to-get-a-real-meal food. Personally I find this stuff much more interesting, especially when you see familiar brands touting products that wouldn't go over so well in the United States.

I'm going to skip a lengthy discussion of ramen (ramyeon in Korean) since the answer is yes, there is ramen for days and it comes of a variety of unfamiliar flavors. Though I'm not the world's healthiest eater, in general I try to stay away from it since it's very high in sodium and mystery ingredients.

One of the things most foreigners notice when they first enter Korean supermarkets are gift sets like these:

 

Tuna? Spam? I think most people would prefer an ugly sweater, so I shall enlighten you on two cultural notes. First, Spam is popular in Korea not because of some weird genetic affinity to synthetic meat, but because the Americans distributed it in high quantities as part of food rations during the Korean War and the rebuilding period afterwards.

I think some people have moved on from Spam due to current economic prosperity (my co-teacher has acknowledged that it isn't good for you), but it's also deeply ingrained in modern Korean food culture. My school cafeteria occasionally serves rice with vegetables and small cubes of spam. I've even heard of restaurants that still serve "army soup", soup containing Spam and other foods you probably wouldn't choose to eat during times of peace...or an armistice.

Okay, so Koreans like Spam, but why in such large gift sets? The second note is that in Korean culture, gifts are supposed to be practical. Things like food, vitamins, toothpaste, etc, are perfectly acceptable gifts. For my birthday I received two boxes of these guys which I love:

These little packaged cakes probably have a similar shelf life to Twinkies and would be right at home with an array of Hostess products (assuming Hostess hasn't gone under yet). For the most part Koreans really love sweets. How much you ask? My current public enemy no.1 in Korea is sugared garlic bread, the travesty that it is...but we'll get that in Part 2: Food On the Go, and on the Cheap.

Moving to the chip aisle. Chip flavors have gotten pretty wacky in the States, but in Korea  chips come in flavors of food that you can hardly find here. For example: these taco flavored chips advertise two large pieces of cheese...do you know how hard it is to find a legitimate taco in Korea? Let alone one with cheese? Even in Seoul it's hard to come by a decent taco. So you can't get the real thing, but you can eat the chip flavor! Makes Taco Bell look gourmet.

Although we typically associate chips with salty foods in America, chips in Korea also come in a wide variety of sweet flavors. Yesterday my co-teacher handed me what I thought was a cheese puff (silly), but it tasted like pineapple...broke my taste buds' little tiny hearts (note: I much prefer salty snacks to sweet ones...and I LOVE cheese puffs...please send some).

Sweet and Delicious...I'm mildly curious as to what "Delicious" tastes like in chip form...a lot like honey it seems.

The one thing most foreigners would agree Korea flavors well is milk. I'm not a huge fan of these things, but many foreigners go crazy for these banana and strawberry flavored milk drinks (I going to go ahead and say  "milk drink" since I think the percentage of actual milk in there is a little questionable).

Foreigners however are in disagreement over a drink called Pocari Sweat. Some people love it, some people hate it. It's like the Korean Gatorade...except the flavor has been described to me as "actually tasting like sweat"...or even less flattering, "tastes like urine." Truthfully I haven't been brave enough to try it. Apparently it's pretty good for you and can actually be helpful if you're dehydrated (or hung over). I'll try to work up the courage some day soon and report back on the taste (still in recovery from the beondegi episode).

In terms of healthy snacks, outside of nuts, fruit, and vegetables (which can get rather pricey) the options feel pretty limited. I love granola bars at home, but the only brand I've seen here that makes them is Dr. You. They satisfy the craving, but just barely. I've grown to love Dr. You's flaxseed cookies (though I think they are more like sugar cookies with flaxseed). In the past cashews and almonds have been my go to healthy, yet filling snack, but they are very expensive here!

 

This little container cost me the equivalent of $6! I also eat a lot of yogurt at home, but here most of it comes in liquid form. You drink rather than spoon it, which for some reason does not wet my appetite. If you go to Costco in Seoul you can get almost anything you're missing from home, but it might be expensive and for me it is quite the trek for weekly groceries. Since I've only been here three months my cravings haven't been dire, but we'll see how long I can go without Kraft Mac n' Cheese and avocados before things get dicey...

For your entertainment, here's what they think of American food at Emart, a Target type chain with a full grocery section:

 

Actually America and Mexico are grouped together in this aisle, so I guess it's really "North American food"...apparently we subsist mostly on tomato based condiments and marshmallow Fluff. 

Muuido Island: Mud, Huts, and Walking on Water

Last weekend I took a scenic trip to Muuido Island, a two minute ferry ride off of Korea's west coast. Seriously, the island is so close to the mainland they could easily build a bridge, or give visitors inflatable row boats to drift on over, but nope, gotta take the ferry. I suppose it keeps the small island from being completely overrun with fishermen and tourists. I myself went with the Seoul Hiking Group (kind of like Climbing in Korea...with less climbing).

I was bummed when I left Yeoju Saturday morning since the weather wasn't so great, but it turned out that the low temperatures were perfect for Muuido since its beaches aren't really for swimming.

From the edge of the water, looking at the island. There's a small sandy beach then it's all mud. Mmmm squishy.

Though beautiful, the tide drifts in and out over a kilometer, revealing a muddy, snail infested coast, perfect for squishy barefoot treks and clam digging, but not so great for swimming. By the time you hit the ocean when the tide is out, you'd probably have to wade another half a kilometer to reach waist deep water. When the tide does come in, it's up to you whether or not you want to enter the opaque shallow waters and swim with hoards of -insert crustacean and/or slimy sea creature-. In spite of my oh-so-sincere love of crabs, I decided to pass on that experience.

Even if you don't want to swim there's still plenty to do on Muuido: ziplining, ATV riding, hiking, horse back riding, and eating seafood. Or you could really indulge your adventurous side and do what I did: nothing. I spent a blissful 48-ish hours just sitting, relaxing, and taking occasional walks on the beach. The only real variation was Saturday night, when I joined the group to warm up with a bonfire, some wine, and a pair of iPod speakers.

There were a few different sleeping accommodations. I opted for the "beach hut", though "beach box" might be a more appropriate term. When looking to travel cheaply in Korea, most people stay in pensions, which are like hostels, except the rooms have no beds, just blankets and pillows. The hut/box was like a much smaller pension room, sans bathroom (there were relatively decent public bathrooms a few paces away).

Pick a hut, any hut.

My size.

Sleeping on the floor isn't so bad unless you're like me and like to sleep on your side. Then you get to spend a lovely evening with your shoulder jammed awkwardly into your chin. Had it not been so cold out, I probably would have just piled up some sand and slept on the beach. Guess that brings me to Muuido travel tips: bring a sleeping bag and snacks (there is a small convenient store, but it has a limited selection with jacked prices since it's an island).

Sunday morning I took advantage of the low tide and took a quite literal walk around the island. You can walk where there used to be water and get great pictures of the Island's rocky cliffs and shores. When there are no people around the effect is surreal. I'm sure James Cameron could put these rocks to work as some distant planet movie set.

Welcome to planet Muuido. The Muuidians are expecting you.

For extra fun, bring a friend along and have them take a picture of you out on the shore; from far away it looks like you're walking on water:

No man is an island...except this guy. I wasn't exaggerating when I said you have to walk really far to hit water of any actual depth. On another note, there's been no shortage of inspirational scenery lately. Due to a wave of typhoons (unintentional pun, now intended), we've been experiencing some amazing sunsets. Unfortunately I didn't have a real camera on me, just my iPhone, so the color/picture quality isn't great, but I was able to catch this sunset by the river in Yeoju:

I wish this photo captured the atmosphere better, it was like someone plugged in an electric pink light bulb behind the clouds. Speaking of light bulbs, the classy, glowing building to the right is a love motel...can't win them all I suppose. Then this weekend I lucked out when I caught this sunset while riding the subway in Seoul. Who needs Instagram filters when you've got a phone camera that's useless in low light and a tinted train window? Not me:

Keep in mind that's a very, very very small portion of Seoul you're looking at right there.

Well, that's all for FlyLikeaSegal, the sunset addition. Sorry for the delay, I'll try to get out my next post by earlier next week! Stay tuned for baseball in Korea...I hope you like cheering.