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Our favourite thing about Korea was the food, this page is about all the wonderful foods we now miss so much and some that we were glad to leave behind.

Seng seong Chorim

This was our favourite meal at the university's restaurant. A Chorim is either meat or fish simmered over a low flame in soy sauce and flavored with other seasonings until they become tender and well seasoned. We use smoked mackerel, soy sauce, ko-chu jang (Korean bean paste), sesame oil and honey to make this. When this was on the menu we were always very happy. Strangely though, it was only usually offered as a side dish in most restaurants.

Denjang / kimchi / dongtae / sundubu Tchigae

I lived on these for a year! They are the most delicious stews in the world. Denjang Tchigae can have a rather foisty quality to it if you are served a traditional version of it; denjang is just fermented bean paste, like the Japanese miso. I was given a bowl in Kyung-Ju that tasted like the contents of a portable toilet. It must be the process of fermentation that gives it this pungent quality. The restaurant under our building served a mild version, which had little crabs in the bottom, tofu, green onions and loads of hot green chilies. My mouth waters thinking about it. Kimchi Tchigae is another heady stew. It is made with tons and tons of old kimchi (fermented Chinese cabbage with chili, ginger and sometimes oysters or shrimps). This is stewed with pork, a few vegetables and yet more chili to give a bright orange broth. Many Koreans believed that eating this kind of food fought off SARS. Apart from food poisoning and backache I was never sick in Korea so maybe they had a point. Dongtae Tchigae was fish, not as tasty as the above and Sundubu is a soft silky tofu stew. I never really liked this one as it felt like I was eating flem. It was Heidi’s favourite.

Solon-tang

Ground up bones soup. Avoid at all costs! During our trip to Pusan we ventured out one night and found ourselves with two bowls of this stuff in front of us. Unsurprisingly Heidi thought it wasn’t too bad. In fairness it wasn’t that bad it just didn’t taste of anything at all. It looks like milk but tastes like water, you are supposed to season it to give it flavour. I put a pot of salt in there and then left it as it tasted like dirty sea water. No doubt there are some medical benefits to eating a soup like this (maybe you grow cow bones out of your head), but you couldn’t find a blander taste in Korea.

Seoung-song Gui

Fried fish. I think Seoung-song is one particular kind of fish and the unfortunate fish in the photo is another, but never mind. We were often given a fried fish whether we ordered it is not and it was never unwelcome. It was $3 a meal and they’d throw in a fish for free! Note the metal chopsticks they were devilishly difficult to master but they added a touch of class to the eating experience. It was with great sadness that I used my first wooden sticks again in the US of A.

Acorn Starch

A pointless foodstuff if ever there was one. This was apparently made from Acorns but if the place you are eating in is cheap they’ll make it from something else (jelly one would presume). Heidi loved it?? As you can see it was tricky keeping it from falling apart in the chopsticks. It was served with this spicy salad and acted as a coolant whist you ate.

Leaves Sticks and Grass

It was a revolution to my taste buds to discover that you can eat all the stuff I usually just trample underfoot. Every day at work we were given side dishes that looked like they’d been raked off the ground. The twigs, stems and shoots were usually soaked in a marinade or mixed with spicy bean paste and tasted so fresh and vital it was more like grazing than eating. It made us feel super healthy the whole duration of our stay.

Horror food - Dog Soup, Pig’s Faces and Live Octopus Legs.

I don’t really have a strong opinion about eating dogs. I suppose if I am willing to eat a cute little rabbit (as I did once) I can’t criticize anyone for eating dogs. It would have been me who had tried it if I had wanted too as it is said to increase a man’s libido This is obviously nonsense! I don’t have much time for these cute old wives tales you hear around the world. The idea of eating dog seems too similar to the idea of eating human in my mind. I cannot detach the meat from the mental dog so I never tried it.

Pig’s faces are strange nebulous things that pop up in the oddest of places. When we were in Spain last summer they appeared in our local Spar for a few days. Peeled fresh off the pig’s head and stacked in a neat pile next to the lamb chops. I told Heidi about them but when she went to look they had gone. What a Spaniard does with a pig’s face I have no idea. Koreans like to dry them out a bit, perhaps leave them on a table in the street for a few weeks, wait until they are black and greasy then throw them in some boiling water – jaws, teeth, eyelashes the works and declare the noxious brew a broth. There was a street between the subway stop for Insa Dong (the artsy part of town) and Insa Dong itself that was full of pig’s face emporiums. The smell was ghastly.

Live Octopus Legs, the one food even Heidi wouldn’t eat. During our time there she did manage to eat Squid, Octopus, a rotten duck egg (gone blue with decay), and a leathery nubbin that we decided must’ve been a dried heart ventricle (I’d tricked her into eating that by telling her is was a ‘hard mushroom’ – I still laugh out loud when I think about it). When this dish was served up she refused, as did the rest of us. Apparently the suckers still function and if you don’t swallow fast enough they can attach themselves to the side of your mouth. You grab one with your chopstick, dip it in chili paste and get it down as fast as you can; what’s the bloody point? Our host that day had to eat all of them.

Naeng-myun

Ice soup. Back in New York's Korea Town, Heidi enjoys a bowl of her favourite food, I’ll let her tell you about it: coming soon...

Random Shots

Quail Eggs

Little Octopus

Our favourite thing about Korea was the food, this page is about all the wonderful foods we now miss so much and some that we were glad to leave behind. Seng seong Chorim This was our favourite meal at the university's restaurant. A Chorim is either meat or fish simmered over a low flame in soy sauce and flavored with other seasonings until they become tender and well seasoned. We use smoked mackerel, soy sauce, ko-chu jang (Korean bean paste), sesame oil and honey to make this. When this was on the menu we were always very happy. Strangely though, it was only usually offered as a side dish in most restaurants.
	Denjang / kimchi / dongtae / sundubu Tchigae I lived on these for a year! They are the most delicious stews in the world. Denjang Tchigae can have a rather foisty quality to it if you are served a traditional version of it; denjang is just fermented bean paste, like the Japanese miso. I was given a bowl in Kyung-Ju that tasted like the contents of a portable toilet. It must be the process of fermentation that gives it this pungent quality. The restaurant under our building served a mild version, which had little crabs in the bottom, tofu, green onions and loads of hot green chilies. My mouth waters thinking about it. Kimchi Tchigae is another heady stew. It is made with tons and tons of old kimchi (fermented Chinese cabbage with chili, ginger and sometimes oysters or shrimps). This is stewed with pork, a few vegetables and yet more chili to give a bright orange broth. Many Koreans believed that eating this kind of food fought off SARS. Apart from food poisoning and backache I was never sick in Korea so maybe they had a point. Dongtae Tchigae was fish, not as tasty as the above and Sundubu is a soft silky tofu stew. I never really liked this one as it felt like I was eating flem. It was Heidi’s favourite.
Solon-tang Ground up bones soup. Avoid at all costs! During our trip to Pusan we ventured out one night and found ourselves with two bowls of this stuff in front of us. Unsurprisingly Heidi thought it wasn’t too bad. In fairness it wasn’t that bad it just didn’t taste of anything at all. It looks like milk but tastes like water, you are supposed to season it to give it flavour. I put a pot of salt in there and then left it as it tasted like dirty sea water. No doubt there are some medical benefits to eating a soup like this (maybe you grow cow bones out of your head), but you couldn’t find a blander taste in Korea.
	Seoung-song Gui Fried fish. I think Seoung-song is one particular kind of fish and the unfortunate fish in the photo is another, but never mind. We were often given a fried fish whether we ordered it is not and it was never unwelcome. It was $3 a meal and they’d throw in a fish for free! Note the metal chopsticks they were devilishly difficult to master but they added a touch of class to the eating experience. It was with great sadness that I used my first wooden sticks again in the US of A.
Acorn Starch A pointless foodstuff if ever there was one. This was apparently made from Acorns but if the place you are eating in is cheap they’ll make it from something else (jelly one would presume). Heidi loved it?? As you can see it was tricky keeping it from falling apart in the chopsticks. It was served with this spicy salad and acted as a coolant whist you ate.
Leaves Sticks and Grass It was a revolution to my taste buds to discover that you can eat all the stuff I usually just trample underfoot. Every day at work we were given side dishes that looked like they’d been raked off the ground. The twigs, stems and shoots were usually soaked in a marinade or mixed with spicy bean paste and tasted so fresh and vital it was more like grazing than eating. It made us feel super healthy the whole duration of our stay.
Horror food - Dog Soup, Pig’s Faces and Live Octopus Legs. I don’t really have a strong opinion about eating dogs. I suppose if I am willing to eat a cute little rabbit (as I did once) I can’t criticize anyone for eating dogs. It would have been me who had tried it if I had wanted too as it is said to increase a man’s libido This is obviously nonsense! I don’t have much time for these cute old wives tales you hear around the world. The idea of eating dog seems too similar to the idea of eating human in my mind. I cannot detach the meat from the mental dog so I never tried it.
	Pig’s faces are strange nebulous things that pop up in the oddest of places. When we were in Spain last summer they appeared in our local Spar for a few days. Peeled fresh off the pig’s head and stacked in a neat pile next to the lamb chops. I told Heidi about them but when she went to look they had gone. What a Spaniard does with a pig’s face I have no idea. Koreans like to dry them out a bit, perhaps leave them on a table in the street for a few weeks, wait until they are black and greasy then throw them in some boiling water – jaws, teeth, eyelashes the works and declare the noxious brew a broth. There was a street between the subway stop for Insa Dong (the artsy part of town) and Insa Dong itself that was full of pig’s face emporiums. The smell was ghastly.
Live Octopus Legs, the one food even Heidi wouldn’t eat. During our time there she did manage to eat Squid, Octopus, a rotten duck egg (gone blue with decay), and a leathery nubbin that we decided must’ve been a dried heart ventricle (I’d tricked her into eating that by telling her is was a ‘hard mushroom’ – I still laugh out loud when I think about it). When this dish was served up she refused, as did the rest of us. Apparently the suckers still function and if you don’t swallow fast enough they can attach themselves to the side of your mouth. You grab one with your chopstick, dip it in chili paste and get it down as fast as you can; what’s the bloody point? Our host that day had to eat all of them.
	Naeng-myun Ice soup. Back in New York's Korea Town, Heidi enjoys a bowl of her favourite food, I’ll let her tell you about it: coming soon...
Random Shots
	Quail Eggs

	Little Octopus