Another delectable dish
we don’t see in the USA is one using rice paper. Quickly dip the rice paper in hot water and it turns into a gelatin consistency a lot like edible plastic wrap. We stuffed it with meat, rice and greens, wrapped it in the sticky rice paper, then popped the whole thing in our mouths. Yum!
Next we went to Tongyeong/Geoge area and had Popbogo or rice burger as we waited for the ferry to Oedo Island. What a fun food! The sticky rice is the ‘bun’ and inside you can choose chicken, tuna, pretty much anything you want, including SPAM. Before you eat it, you smash it down with the palm of your hand, then unwrap it and enjoy.
Koreans love SPAM. This love started around the time of the Korean war. A new food, Budaejjigae, was created during that time. Buddae means army squadron and jigae means stew. When the US troops got to Korea, the people were poor and hungry, so the soldiers pooled their rations and shared their food. The creative Koreans created a unique stew from Ramen, SPAM and Korean pepper paste. The broth is red. Koreans often throw in green onions, enoki mushrooms, and rice cakes too. Kate loves it; I am still undecided. It is VERY spicy; my meat-and-potatoes upbringing never prepared me for this!
Geoge (pronounced Koh-jay) also has a wonderful street food named honey bread. It looks like a large donut hole, but inside there is a surprise: sweetened adzuki beans. The outside is so sticky with honey they usually give you a plastic glove!
Next we took a quick plane hop from Busan to the resort island of Jeju, where many Koreans go to vacation. One of our first meals there was delicious and inexpensive, a favorite haunt of the missionaries. We had meat noodle soup, ddeokalbi and bulgogi. Frank especially liked ddeokalbi which tasted like a meatloaf burger. We ate it with chopsticks, of course. Each meal cost $7,000 won, approximately $7 US dollars. What a great deal–no wonder the missionaries eat there often!
Our favorite street food, unique to the area, look like mini Easter Island statues. Called dolharubang bread or ‘stone grandfather’ bread, they are filled with clementine jelly and served VERY hot—I burned my tongue on the first one I tasted. But it was worth it!
As we hiked Hallasan, the largest mountain in South Korea, the Koreans toted up their Kimpop, which reminds me of a sushi roll with seaweed on the outside and rice meat and veggies on the inside.
Feeling hungry was a novelty for us in Korea. We ate like royalty. At our last church meeting, after 10 days of heavy dinners, for once I actually felt hungry for the afternoon meal! Never thought I’d be thankful to hear my stomach growl.
