June 26, 2009. Street Food is Delectable

One major difference between Korea and the US is that they have “fast” food in little open “restaurants” on the street. Yes, I’m sure that made you reminiscent of hotdog /pretzel stands, but this is different. Many street food places in Korea have places to sit and provide free water. I was absolutely starving today after packing my stuff back up at my friend’s officetel in preparation to move into my apartment. Instead of heading to McDonalds or ordering pizza, we decided to head to the store and eat en route.

As you can see, there is a wide array of options. I had never had this pasta thingy so I decided to try it. Besides, it was only 2,000 KRW which is less than $2.00 USD. Oh by the way, I don’t speak fluent Korean so many of the foods here, I won’t have a name for. I’ll try my best to describe it though. Back to the pasta: It looked a bit like Chef Boy R D Ravioli sauce over spongy noodles to me, so I said “what the hey” and gave it a try. S.P.I.C.Y.!!! I had no idea it would be so spicy. I can’t even remember how the noodles tasted. Naturally, I didn’t finish it, my next thing to try was the chicken sticks (which I call stickens) that you see the woman making on the grill. The stick is only 1,500 KRW.

Once the lady finishes cooking the sticken, she puts a wonderful sauce all over it. The sticken tasted awesome! I ate these pretty frequently. And let me tell you, all sauces are NOT created equally! The sauce has a very rich, slightly spicy, sweet taste- tangy yet smooth. I had a sticken from a stand once that tasted pretty bland.

One important thing to note about street food is that you have to be careful to be sure the food is fresh. Get familiar with the street-food lady and her selection. In many places that foreigners frequent, the food sits out for a very long time. My friend lives in a quiet “suburb” of Seoul on Line 7 of the subway, and I became very acquainted with my street-food lady. We reached a light conversational level of friendship and I believe she only served me the best of her selection because of that. Also, I did my best to converse with her in Korean- she loved that.

Since I’m discussing Korean, here are 3 basic words to communicate with street-food vendors and with people in general:

Hello: An nyong ha sae yo (pronounced: Ahnyohasayyo). They say this very fast and ALL of the time, so you don’t really hear the “g” sound.

How much is this: Oh mai yo? (pronounced: Ohmyyo?) There is a more proper way to say this, but they will greatly appreciate if you can manage even this basic form.

Thank you: Kam sa hab nee da (pronounced: Kahmsahmneeda). This is said very fast as well, and obviously it is a word you will be using all of the time.