This is Ddukbolki with "cheese". Yep, that's a slice of processed cheese thrown on top. Ddukbolki is quite delicious; spicy red chili sauce, big rice noodles, egg, some sort of processed fish that has the look and consistency of tofu, and some mixed veggies.Last night was another night of welcoming teachers; i.e. the entire staff gets together to drink their faces off at a nice restaurant. It seems that every restaurant is less about taste then trying to out-weird the other establishments in the area. "Live octopus eh? Well, tonight we're serving various animal intestine and fish egg sausage, with a lovely grey-black tasteless sesame soup". Yep, that was just a sampling of the many delicacies which I partook (hahahaha... I don't think that's even a word...) in last night.
And so, a list of the Weird Shit I have Eaten:
- Just last night I had some sort of stew which involved fish intestine (actually not too bad), and these little sausages with some sort of fish egg inside.
- "Black Sesame Soup"- it's a mottled grey and black colour with a gritty non-taste. My co-teacher said to me "It's very good for your health. Just trust me".
- Every sort of raw and cooked fish you can imagine. Octopus (still moving), squid, from small little snails you can find on the beach to the big escargot-like snails, sea slug, skate (the fish that smells like urine... that one was an unfortunate accident), eel etc. Dried fish is also very popular; my favourite being the little whole minnows. Very crunchy!
- Chunks of cooked blood. One afternoon Alex and I had lunch in a restaurant in Naju and we were served this mystery soup that had strange chunks of brownish red stuff... we thought it was some sort of mushroom at the time (it almost had a hard tofu-like quality).
- Every sort of leaf you can imagine, including underwater greenery as well. Koreans love to wrap rice, meat etc. in leaves, any sort of leaves.
- I'm pretty sure I've sampled every sort of kimchi by now. I love fresh, just made kimchi, but Koreans especially enjoy it after it has been fermenting for A LONG FREAKING TIME. Kimchi is cabbage and spices and good ole red chilli peppers (sometimes with fish guts if you're lucky!) all mixed together. Then the old ajummas put a crapload of it in a big pot and let it sit outside for a while. Then it'll need to sit in the Kimchi fridge for even longer, and voila! you have delightful, sour pickled kimchi. I know now what the older stuff looks like now (extra floppy and brown, emitting a strong odor), so I can avoid it for the most part.
- Goat stew. Very stringy.
- Various street meats. I shudder to think of what could be in some of them. It's best that I don't know. Whenever I go out with friends in Gwang-ju there is always the obligatory "street meat run" at 3am; always delicious and just a little bit questionable.
- This is kind of boring, but every kind of rice you could possible think of. Before I moved to Korea I had no idea that there were so many possible variations. Have you even eaten rice that was purple?? Black? A strange yellow colour? A very popular soup in Korea is, of course, "Rice Soup" which consists of burnt chunks of rice in water. Mmmmmm... a party in my mouth!!
- Now for the bug category: ummm... just silkworm larvae I believe. Although I've had ants and grasshoppers before (covered in chocolate!!), it wasn't in Korea.
- Drinks!! Soju is a sort of vodka all the teachers at my school delight in making me take shots of. Some sort of murky, evil rice wine. Pomegranite juice, persimmon juice, "Nostalgia Drink" (which I think consists of sugar, water and chunks of rice from the taste of it), aloe juice (with actual chunks of aloe in it, my personal favourite) and the evil ginseng drink to name a few.
- I think it's meant to be a desert: apple, raisin and cucumber all tossed in mayonaisse. ??
- Chopped cabbage with ketchup on top; on the side, sliced cucumber with ketchup. (This was at a "Chinese Restaurant" in Naju. I think maybe the owners thought since we were white we'd appreciate ketchup on everything??)
- Pickled radish slices (used as a dessert and a veggie wrap).
- Soy bean soup (kinda smells like feet, but very healthy I'm sure).
Typical Lunch At My School: Yesterday on my plate there was (in clockwise order) simmered and sauced octopus tentacles, new kimchi, old kimchi (I didn't eat any of it), some sort of salad which was meant to be the desert), seaweed soup with mussels, and rice.
And so, a list of the Weird Shit I have Eaten:
- Just last night I had some sort of stew which involved fish intestine (actually not too bad), and these little sausages with some sort of fish egg inside.
- "Black Sesame Soup"- it's a mottled grey and black colour with a gritty non-taste. My co-teacher said to me "It's very good for your health. Just trust me".
- Every sort of raw and cooked fish you can imagine. Octopus (still moving), squid, from small little snails you can find on the beach to the big escargot-like snails, sea slug, skate (the fish that smells like urine... that one was an unfortunate accident), eel etc. Dried fish is also very popular; my favourite being the little whole minnows. Very crunchy!
- Chunks of cooked blood. One afternoon Alex and I had lunch in a restaurant in Naju and we were served this mystery soup that had strange chunks of brownish red stuff... we thought it was some sort of mushroom at the time (it almost had a hard tofu-like quality).
- Every sort of leaf you can imagine, including underwater greenery as well. Koreans love to wrap rice, meat etc. in leaves, any sort of leaves.
- I'm pretty sure I've sampled every sort of kimchi by now. I love fresh, just made kimchi, but Koreans especially enjoy it after it has been fermenting for A LONG FREAKING TIME. Kimchi is cabbage and spices and good ole red chilli peppers (sometimes with fish guts if you're lucky!) all mixed together. Then the old ajummas put a crapload of it in a big pot and let it sit outside for a while. Then it'll need to sit in the Kimchi fridge for even longer, and voila! you have delightful, sour pickled kimchi. I know now what the older stuff looks like now (extra floppy and brown, emitting a strong odor), so I can avoid it for the most part.
- Goat stew. Very stringy.
- Various street meats. I shudder to think of what could be in some of them. It's best that I don't know. Whenever I go out with friends in Gwang-ju there is always the obligatory "street meat run" at 3am; always delicious and just a little bit questionable.
- This is kind of boring, but every kind of rice you could possible think of. Before I moved to Korea I had no idea that there were so many possible variations. Have you even eaten rice that was purple?? Black? A strange yellow colour? A very popular soup in Korea is, of course, "Rice Soup" which consists of burnt chunks of rice in water. Mmmmmm... a party in my mouth!!
- Now for the bug category: ummm... just silkworm larvae I believe. Although I've had ants and grasshoppers before (covered in chocolate!!), it wasn't in Korea.
- Drinks!! Soju is a sort of vodka all the teachers at my school delight in making me take shots of. Some sort of murky, evil rice wine. Pomegranite juice, persimmon juice, "Nostalgia Drink" (which I think consists of sugar, water and chunks of rice from the taste of it), aloe juice (with actual chunks of aloe in it, my personal favourite) and the evil ginseng drink to name a few.
- I think it's meant to be a desert: apple, raisin and cucumber all tossed in mayonaisse. ??
- Chopped cabbage with ketchup on top; on the side, sliced cucumber with ketchup. (This was at a "Chinese Restaurant" in Naju. I think maybe the owners thought since we were white we'd appreciate ketchup on everything??)
- Pickled radish slices (used as a dessert and a veggie wrap).
- Soy bean soup (kinda smells like feet, but very healthy I'm sure).
Typical Lunch At My School: Yesterday on my plate there was (in clockwise order) simmered and sauced octopus tentacles, new kimchi, old kimchi (I didn't eat any of it), some sort of salad which was meant to be the desert), seaweed soup with mussels, and rice.
2 comments:
Cathy you're so brave. I truly think I'd starve in Korea and have to be sent home for lack of nourishment. I threw up in my mouth a little when I read the dried blood chunk part. Thanks a bunch .... going to brush me teeth now.
I probably wouldn't have eaten the chunks of blood if I hadn't thought they were some sort of mushroom. Sorry about the vomit inducing!!
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