Sometimes after work, I get the munchies. I'm lucky that it happens here because South Korea has street food everywhere you look. So sometimes I go to a vendor across the street from the school to buy a bite to eat. I have a favorite, and it costs me 500 won (which is about 45 cents Canadian).
Basically, most of the deep fried stuff you see from street food vendors need to be re-fried when you want it. So you pick one, give it to the vendor and he/she will deep fry it for you and put either sweet sauce or hot sauce on top after it's re-fried. My favorite snack has sweet sauce.
Since it's across from the school after classes have ended, some students have inevitably spotted me buying a snack once in a while. A few of them were amazed. "Teacher, do you know what's in that?" (quotes have been edited for grammar and clarity ;) )
I shrugged. "I don't know. But it's yummy, and that's all that matters."
The students then informed me that it was sticky rice mixed with pig's blood and cow lungs and intestines, all deep fried and put on a stick.
I shrugged again. "Oh well."
The students gaped at me. "I just told you what it's made of. Aren't you afraid?"
I looked at the students for the longest time. "Well... no."
"Why?"
I paused. "Well, first of all, I'm Chinese..."
I've mostly stuck to mandu, but if you say it's good I guess I might have to try it. What does it look like?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how to describe it, since my only criteria for trying out food is how unspicy it is (since I'm a weakling when it comes to spicy food). It's fried and on a stick, obviously... kind of chunky-shaped, and not too long but not too short either.
ReplyDeleteMy girlfriend is the same way about the spicy food, but we keep getting tricked about what is spicy and what isn't. We've been holding back on the street food because it is a big unknown, but we will have to venture into it some more.
ReplyDelete"Big unknown" is a good way to put it.
ReplyDeleteIf not for the Korean food's notorious reputation for spicyness, I would just randomly choose anything on the street or on a menu and go with it. But instead, I'm being ultra-careful about what to eat...