Food Update

Just a short update on some of the "delicious" things I've eaten over the last week.


Koreans put these awful things called sweet beans in many of their desserts (particularly ice cream). It looks just like a brown bean and tastes like one too. It's probably the last possible thing I want to find when I bite into what I think is a sweet desert. They also have a habit of crushing these "sweet" beans into a paste and making it the filling of things like ice cream sandwiches and warm rolls. For some reason, I always manage to make a poor choice in the cafeteria or supermarket and have to choke down some beans for desert, or first thing in the morning when I go for a warm roll.

Dr. Oh (the head of our lab) took the American exchange students out for dinner the other night with another professor from the school. Let's just say it was one of the most interesting dinners I have ever been to.  The other professor we were with said "want to know how to make the beer taste better?" I wasn't about to pass this opportunity up, so I followed his instructions to drink half of my beer. Then, he began to fill it back up with Soju. I case you don't know, Soju is a common alcohol over here which tastes like vodka to me, but is half the strength. Then, the professor continued to tell us that it is customary to go "bottoms up" on the first drink of the night. I couldn't believe my ears...this guy must have gone to Dartmouth.  It did add a nice flavor I might add.  By then, the food began to arrive and I stared at what was the most impressive sight of sashimi I'd ever seen.  The sashimi I am used to, like the smoked salmon etc., was child's play.  Let me go through a few of the highlights.





A plate arrived in front of me with literally a whole fish on it (head, tail, skin, and all). It looked like they cooked it straight out of the river. It was only about 3 or 4 inches long and an inch or so thick, but you eat it by popping it straight down the hatch, headfirst. Ok, so that was a little weird, but not actually that bad tasting.







Next, I tried probably my least favorite thing I've eaten in Korea to this day. If you ever get a chance to eat sea squirt, I would highly recommend thinking twice about it. I've got two pictures of sea squirt. One is what it looks like in its natural habitat, and the other is on my plate. They don't really do much to hide its appearance. But, with some alcohol on my side, one of those suckers went right down after the fish. Possibly the weirdest consistency I've ever eaten...nasty.






















When I thought it couldn't get much worse, the waitresses brought in something I have wanted to try since I heard about it over here. Live Octopus. Yes literally wiggling tentacles with suction cups on them (very
different from the kind you get when you order octopus sashimi. I asked Dr. Oh about what he thought of the live octopus, and his response was "it's not baby food". Grand. You have to pry a wiggling tentacle off of the plate, which immediately suctions onto your finger with surprising force. Then, the idea is the chew it rather fast to prevent it from latching onto the inside of your mouth/throat. I had heard some horror stories about people dying because the octopus suctioned on in their throats and suffocated them. I wasn't taking my chances...I chewed that thing to a pulp before swallowing.

The rest was a little anti-climactic, but we still got to try some bubblefish, sea urchin, a rather large piece of fish stomach,  and puffer (the kind that is poisonous if prepared the wrong way. Simsons episode anyone?). After dinner, we all went out to a Korean favorite. Nodebong (karaoke). It's very different from what we do in the states, but it's actually really fun.

Yesterday, a few of the guys from the lab took three of us out for another unique food not uncommon in Korea. Woof woof.  Dog meat.  It was dog soup actually. Korean's don't eat it very often, and it was described to us as meat that would be prepared for a holiday meal (a bit like our turkey). The meat actually has a very unique flavor. The soup had both chunks of dog meat as well as little slippery bits. After eating one of these pieces, I held up another and asked one of the lab guys what exactly it was.  The response I received was "Oh yea. That's the uh, hmm what do you call it..(thinking)..Ahh! Skin". Meals never come without surprises over here.

A lovely view of what you might find in the markets

Enjoy your dinner!!


-OAO