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So, I just returned from a trip to Korea, which was fantastic. I ate at so many street vendors and little hole in the wall restaurants. I swear, I think two out of three businesses in south Korea are restaurants there are so many of them!
I had a lot of excellent things to eat while I was there, and only one thing that I would refuse to eat again. The only thing I tried that was completely disgusting was silkworm pupae. They smell like rotten zombie feet and they come served in their own yellow slimy body juices. I tried them anyway because that's just how I roll, and they were every bit as nasty as they looked like.
Let's see, things I had that were delicious: almost every banchan (side dishes of kimchees and such) was quite good. They're served with any sit down meal you order, sometimes many of them. The most banchan we got with one meal was 15. Yum! Sometimes we didn't know what it was, but they were so tasty we didn't care. Then there was bulgogi (beef with rice), dolsot bibimbap (stone bowl rice and meat/vegetables), Korean barbecue where you grill your own meat right at the table and wrap it in leaves with rice and kimchee, haemul pajeon (seafood pancake) which was a real favorite of mine, live seafod we picked out at the fish market and had cooked right there in front of us, all sorts of street food which I don't know the names of but look kind of like variations on dim sum, a sort of organ meat sausage, all sorts of different noodle dishes, kimbap (looks like sushi but it's not), etc.
But the most unusual thing (besides the silkworms) that we had was a full kaegogi meal. We were walking in a traditional street market deep in the southern part of the country. It looked like the dark street scenes of Blade Runner sans the flying cars where I'm sure they almost never see western faces and we came to a little restaurant tucked away where an old woman was cutting up sides of freshly butchered meat out front -- dog meat, actually. So we pointed to the meat and asked "Kaegogi?" and she smiled widely and pointed us into the restaurant.
We went inside, sat on the floor at low table, and ordered dog dinner from a server that spoke no English. She finally understood what we wanted, and turned to the other two workers in the store, and they all three had a good laugh at the westerners who had fallen downthe rabbit hole. Not laughing on a bad way, but more like great surprise and humor at what we were wanting to try. The other patrons of the place pretty much had a good chuckle at the odd site as well. I'm not sure they had ever had Americans in there to eat dog before.
Anyway, it was served very well cooked along with a lot of banchan including steamed dog offal of heart, kidney, tongue, liver, marrow bones, and skin. The server was very sweet and showed us with much pointing, hand waving, and giggling Korean which sauces went with what bits. The dog meat itself was ribs which were so tender the fatty meat was falling from the bones. It was quite delicious and I would eat it again (yeah flame me, so what).
All in all the whole trip was a wonderful cultural experience and I would absolutely visit south Korea again. The people are great and it's a very interesting culture. Highly recommend it if you can ever get there.
So, I just returned from a trip to Korea, which was fantastic. I ate at so many street vendors and little hole in the wall restaurants. I swear, I think two out of three businesses in south Korea are restaurants there are so many of them!
I had a lot of excellent things to eat while I was there, and only one thing that I would refuse to eat again. The only thing I tried that was completely disgusting was silkworm pupae. They smell like rotten zombie feet and they come served in their own yellow slimy body juices. I tried them anyway because that's just how I roll, and they were every bit as nasty as they looked like.
Let's see, things I had that were delicious: almost every banchan (side dishes of kimchees and such) was quite good. They're served with any sit down meal you order, sometimes many of them. The most banchan we got with one meal was 15. Yum! Sometimes we didn't know what it was, but they were so tasty we didn't care. Then there was bulgogi (beef with rice), dolsot bibimbap (stone bowl rice and meat/vegetables), Korean barbecue where you grill your own meat right at the table and wrap it in leaves with rice and kimchee, haemul pajeon (seafood pancake) which was a real favorite of mine, live seafod we picked out at the fish market and had cooked right there in front of us, all sorts of street food which I don't know the names of but look kind of like variations on dim sum, a sort of organ meat sausage, all sorts of different noodle dishes, kimbap (looks like sushi but it's not), etc.
But the most unusual thing (besides the silkworms) that we had was a full kaegogi meal. We were walking in a traditional street market deep in the southern part of the country. It looked like the dark street scenes of Blade Runner sans the flying cars where I'm sure they almost never see western faces and we came to a little restaurant tucked away where an old woman was cutting up sides of freshly butchered meat out front -- dog meat, actually. So we pointed to the meat and asked "Kaegogi?" and she smiled widely and pointed us into the restaurant.
We went inside, sat on the floor at low table, and ordered dog dinner from a server that spoke no English. She finally understood what we wanted, and turned to the other two workers in the store, and they all three had a good laugh at the westerners who had fallen downthe rabbit hole. Not laughing on a bad way, but more like great surprise and humor at what we were wanting to try. The other patrons of the place pretty much had a good chuckle at the odd site as well. I'm not sure they had ever had Americans in there to eat dog before.
Anyway, it was served very well cooked along with a lot of banchan including steamed dog offal of heart, kidney, tongue, liver, marrow bones, and skin. The server was very sweet and showed us with much pointing, hand waving, and giggling Korean which sauces went with what bits. The dog meat itself was ribs which were so tender the fatty meat was falling from the bones. It was quite delicious and I would eat it again (yeah flame me, so what).
All in all the whole trip was a wonderful cultural experience and I would absolutely visit south Korea again. The people are great and it's a very interesting culture. Highly recommend it if you can ever get there.
Very cool, thanks for sharing. Korea sounds pretty awesome, overshadowed by Japan but sounds like a spot worth visiting.
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I'm glad that you had a good time on your trip, but I've got to tell you, I feel VERY sick that you ate dog meat. I have a dog. He's my baby, not my meal.
I'm glad that you had a good time on your trip, but I've got to tell you, I feel VERY sick that you ate dog meat. I have a dog. He's my baby, not my meal.
I totally agree. I'm all for experiencing cultures, but that's just sick.
Glad you enjoyed your trip. I spent a year in South Korea and it was a great assignment. I miss some of the regular dishes I used to eat like bibimebap, the banchan side dishes, especially the cucumbers, my favorite beef bulgogi joints, and of course the "beef on a leaf" restaurants where you order your meet raw and they bring it out to you to cook on a grill on your table.
One thing I really liked about dining in Korea was the buttons at each booth that you could press when you wanted service. Typically a red button that would set off a light above the booth, similar to when you're requesting service during a flight. I thought that was a great touch and could be useful here in the states, although lot's of customers would probably abuse it.
I never tried dog while I was there, but I do recall seeing a couple pecking away at a live octopus in a bowl of water and eating the squirmy bits off their chopsticks. That seemed cruel and unusual, but no moreso than how we treat cattle and poultry here in the U.S. If people knew what went on at these chicken farms they'd probably never eat it again. Don't let anyone make you feel bad about the dog, at the end of the day it's another animal that is only as loyal as it's next meal. No different than eating a pig or a goat.
I've been wanting to try dog for quite a while now. I hear the meat is tough and is mainly slow-cooked -- stews, braises, etc. How were the ribs prepared? Any other cuts? How were they?
I was interested in the dog eating part! =P I have always been curious as to what it tastes like. I was told it was similar to venison. I plan to try it someday.
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