By jlee4946
Hi everyone! So this week is actually a really long break in Korea because of 추석 (Chuseok), Korean Thanksgiving. So while the holiday is technically 10/3-6, 10/2 is a Monday so the government made Monday a holiday, and then 10/9 is 한글날 (Hangeul Day) to honor the creation of the written Korean language. Therefore, basically Koreans have 10 days of vacations that started Saturday, and I took advantage and am currently in Hanoi, Vietnam! But here are some of my favorite Korean foods that I'm excited to eat for the rest of the semester:
• Fish cake (오뎅): for me, it's not necessarily the fish cake itself, but more of the environment of standing around the street food cart eating fish cake off the skewers, drinking the soup and conversing with the cute lady in charge of the cart. It's probably one of the things I was looking forward to the most about being in Korea and I wanted to wait until wintertime when it's really cold but gave in 2 weeks into my time here.
• Spicy rice cake (떡볶이): this is a dish that is served as street food as well as in proper restaurants. The first 떡볶이 I had in Korea was from this little restaurant next to my aunt's apartment complex and even though I'd had 떡볶이 hundreds of times over, nothing can quite beat the 떡볶이 in its takeaway box (other than my mom's).
• Korean sausage (순대): this is another dish that is often served on the streets and if you couldn't tell, I really really like street food. 순대 is basically a Korean sausage stuffed with various ingredients such as vermicelli noodles. It's definitely less meaty than American sausages and hits the spot when looking for a midnight snack.
• Different kinds of 비빔밥: in the US, it's pretty easy to find 비빔밥(bibimbap). In fact, most Korean restaurants probably have it. But Korea has so many different kinds - salmon sashimi, raw fermented crab, assorted fish, and more that I've yet to try. The variety of food options in Korea will never cease to impress me and saying that I'll miss it is the greatest understatement of the year.
• Kimbap (김밥): getting 김밥 in Korea is possibly hands down the most convenient thing you'll ever come across. And guess what! There's a million different types of it too. Different shapes, different flavors, you name it, you'll find it. You want 김밥 at 3 AM? They have 김밥 at 3 AM! By they I mean this chain restaurant called 김밥천국, or Kimbap Heaven, that's open 24/7. I like to believe when people said studying abroad is the peak of their undergrad experience, things like these are what they were referring to (just kidding but at the same time not really).
These are just a few foods out of very many that I found to be rather enjoyable in Korea thus far. Everyone is also a huge fan of chicken, and maybe I've just been eating the wrong chicken but I think I prefer my carb heavy street food dishes. Either way, cheers to the next 3 months filled with delicious foods like these! See you all next week!