An Angry Man in the Land of the Morning Calm

Had a couple of neat food experiences recently. I’ll start with the less weird one, bosingtan. Bosingtan is, simply put, dog soup. The actual taste is a lot like very soft beef. In fact, were I not informed it was dog, I would have simply assumed that it was just fatty beef. It was actually pretty good, even after knowing what it was. There was a twinge of guilt, as I do like dogs, but when in Rome…

The second was unpleasant. Earth Dragon soup. I can’t recall the korean name, but that’s the translation. It is a very old fashioned recipe, and almost completely gone from the culture, usually eaten only by the very old for medicinal purposes (same with dog, actually. Younger Koreans usually refuse to eat dog, as they associate it with pets. Incidentally, the rare women in america you see with a dog with colored hair, clothes, and little boots? That’s the norm here in Korea. I see it four or five times a day.)

Earth Dragons are a humorous name for earthworms. They collect hundreds in a jar with many herbs and spices and let them soak for several days. Then they are taken out and the guts are squeezed into a pot and boiled. Tastes just as good as it sounds.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating.  Any food it looks like I’ll love, I usually don’t, and anything that looks terrible, is usually quite delicious.  It really never fails.  This time though, was something common in America too.

I was shopping when I ran into one of the teachers from the boy’s middle school, right next to mine.  We passed by the mixed nuts when I saw it, almonds and anchovies.  I immediately register my disgust, and he looks at me like I’m crazy.

“You don’t like anchovies?”

“No”

“Have you tried them?”

“…No.”

It surprised me, I’ve grown up hearing about how bad they were from friends and TV and movies, but I never really tried to eat the little salted fish.  I’ve always come down on friends who balk at food they’ve never tried just because it isn’t deep fried and covered in an inch of salt, but here I am, decrying anchovies.  So I picked up a can.

I got home and opened it, and a strong fishy nut smell hit me.  I really wasn’t sure about this, but if you learn one thing in asia, its that a lot of food doesn’t taste the way it smells (Takoyaki smells awful, but is absolutely delicious, for example.  Fried baby octopus for those of you not in the know.)  Nuts and anchovies were absolutely made for eachother.  I ate the entire can in one sitting, it was so addictively great.  The only hurdle is one you get over quick living here, the food still has eyes.  Its really not a big deal, and they’re high in calcium, because you eat the skeleton (which is so tiny and brittle, you would never know it was bone).  I’ve actually taken to buying dried anchovies (you can find them in any asian food store in the states) by the bag and eating them like popcorn, they really are that good.

Well, I can.  Korean writing is designed to be learnable in an afternoon, literally.  But I wish I knew what I was saying when I do read.

I was at the Family Mart alone (always alone :O), and I needed some water.  I saw one large bottle, and rather expensive.  I figured because of the ornate plastic bottle, it must be artisan water or something, and decided to give it a shot.  So I buy it, and go home.

A couple days later, I’m thirsty, so I open the bottle and take a big drink.

I spit it all out pretty quick, because it was not, water, but was, in fact, soju.  Soju is a popular Korean liquor, probably best compared to the strongest, cheapest vodka you can find.  It seriously tastes like cough medicine and battery acid.  I could handle that if I was expecting it, instead of the neutral bliss of water.  I felt like all my senses suddenly shifted briefly in my brain, and was a little disoriented for awhile.  Imagine going for apple juice and ending up with a large mouthful of Crown Royal.

Korea has so many holiday, and a lot of them center around food.

Today was Pepero Day.  Pepero is that little cookie stick with chocolate on it, also known as Pocky in America and Japan.  On this day, women give pepero to their boyfriends, although they end up just giving it to everyone, really.

I ate too much, I love chocolate and cookies and especially pepero.

I learned something interesting, though.  In Korea, its typical for the girls to chase after boys, as opposed to the inverse back home.  It shows too, as the girls are extremely active and loud here, and the boys walk around with their heads down and spirits apparently crushed.  If the girls didn’t, Korea would die out as the birth rate plummeted to zero.