So - the pride of Korea is Kimchi which they eat at almost every meal. It is cabbage soaked in brine for a while to soften it stuffed with a mixture of peppers, spices, seafood, or whatever else that's lying around I guess. Stuffed means they push the mixture between all the cabbage leaves. They let that soak for a while and cut it up and serve it. It's not too bad, but definitely an acquired taste.
I was treated to a Korean barbeque during my first trip which was very cool. Y
ou sit on the floor of coarse, around a table with a gas grill in the middle. They brought out tons of little dishes with different types of food to try: different salads, jalapeños, small bite-sized whole crabs, radishes, pickles, anchovies, strips of pig skin, etc etc. For the barbeque they brought out thick cut unsalted bacon to fry along with onions and garlic. So the procedure was to fry the bacon, onions, and garlic, cut the bacon into bite-size pieces with a pair of scissors, and then take a piece of lettuce and make a little wrap full of whatever you want. I really enjoyed it, and yes I tried everything. Really the only weird thing was the crabs though. They were whole crabs with legs, pinchers, eyes, shell all intact. They were really crunchy, like eating sunflower seed shells, but thinner. I made sure to chew it up completely so none of the shards from the shell sliced my throat and stomach.At the hotel we tried a bunch of stuff, but the worst was the raw oysters. You'd think that anything that is going to taste 'fishy' would smell 'fishy'. Not so. They are the strongest 'fishy' taste you could ever imagine - and there's no indication until it's in your mouth. Slimy, fishy, squishy. The trifecta of gag me - plus once you bit down there was like an explosion of salt water in your mouth. Just swallow it whole and move on quickly.
We had another team dinner where they took us to a Japanese restaurant. There it was the same thing. Tons of dishes - this time much more ummm ... adventurous? I'm proud to say I ate everything - most of it was really good too. It was amazing, the setup was on the floor again with about 10 different (de)appetizers to get started with. My least favorite was the silk worms and dried grasshoppers. The silk worms looked like potato bugs only ~3 times as big - and they ate just like you would expect. Crunchy on the outside with a burst of creamy filling - they sell this stuff at the mall and shopping centers like pretzels, just grab and go. Got the munchies in your morning commute? Grab a cup of silk worms to start your day right! Mmmmmmmmmm. The grasshoppers were dried and crunchy and weren't too bad other than the fact that you were eating grasshopper - seasoned nicely, but can't you season something else? And how do they catch these in bulk? Are there little child labor sweat shops bussing 8 yr olds out to fields - whipping them if they don't catch their quota? I digress.
Anyway, the setup of this meal was the servers would bring out bowls of different foods 3 at a time - the one you were eating from, and two backups. It was all really good except for the bowl of eel strips. It was just slime with pink strips of tough, slippery eel I guess. No flavor at all, just slime. It was like the only way you knew you were eating something was feeling in your mouth of eating slime. Really weird.
We made it through about 7 different bowls of food and then it was time for the main coarse. Sashimi. It's sushi without the rice, seaweed, or anything else with it - just raw fish. It wasn't bad compared to what I had already been through. So no problem. Then they brought out the side dish. Octopus. Not just any octopus though. I'd had octopus in a curry before this meal - it looked like what you would come up with if you were to mold an octopus from clay. A bulb for a head sitting on top of eight curly tentacles that each curled into a circle in the same direction around the bottom. The octopus could just sit there on your plate. It was boiled or something. It was really rubbery when you bit into it - like biting an eraser. They were bite-size, so you just pop it in your mouth and chew... and chew. Well, the octopus at the Japanese dinner was fresh. Meaning they had just chopped it up - probably while they were carrying it to your table. It was just the tentacles on a little saucer, and those tentacles were pissed. They were wriggling and flopping all over the place. They put the plate down and the pieces were crawling off the plate and across the table, trying to get away or something. "Not today" I said quietly with a squinty twinkle in my eye. There was only one place for that deliciousnesses, and that was in my mouth. So you take a piece in you chopsticks, which is easier than it sounds 'cause the tentacle will suction right on to them trying to get away, and pop it in your mouth. Try not to get your tongue involved with the chewing process as the tentacle will grab onto it and impede the process. You'll look like you got peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth while trying to scrape it off. Not much taste again, just the feeling of something squirming in your mouth while you're trying to chase it down with your teeth. Then you catch it. It's squishy-crunchy, but never really breaks apart, that's the only way to describe it. Maybe it's because the tentacle is contracting when you bite it - because it hurts to be bitten I'm guessing - and then it relaxes once your teeth are together in an effort to play possum. Then you part your teeth and the tentacle is back in action. At this point I'm starting to understand what they mean when they say the thrill of the chase - 'cause at that point it's on. So seriously, I was still chewing that same piece of octopus for the same amount of time it's taken to type this paragraph. Anyway - there you have it.
So, good times. I didn't mean for this to be such a long post. I guess I had a lot on my chest. I'll finish it off with some pics of the fortress we visited out there. It was a wall surrounding a village at the top of a mountain by Cheongju where we were staying. I can't wait to get Tiff out there for all the fun. Anyone else who wants to is welcome to come too.
