One of the delights [and sometimes dangers] of traveling is experiencing different foods. Korean tastes in food are quite different from the USA. Of course, I knew that before making the trip. I’m not a vegetarian, but I have it on good authority that it’s not an easy place to be one. Most dishes have small amounts of beef, pork, fish, or… let’s say other critters. On the other hand, it’s a really tough place to find a big steak too. And most of the food is spicy, so you need to expect that and, um, whatever it does to your digestive system. Korea is also unique in their use of stainless steel chopsticks, which are a bit harder to use than the wood ones you’re probably used to [if you're used to any at all].

Koreans don’t seem to distinguish much between foods for different meals. Food is food and they eat pretty much the same things at any time of day. We were able to get cereal in the grocery stores and pastries [at the really mediocre Paris Baguette] for our breakfasts, though.

I just love this cereal box, by the way.

There are “global” franchises all over the place — McDonald’s, Burger King, Papa John’s, Domino’s, KFC [they call Colonel Sanders "Grandfather Chicken"], Popeye’s, etc. They have slightly modified menus though to suit local tastes. And, of course, they have Korean versions of all of these. You gotta love Mr. Pizza [and their slogan, "made for women"]. Here are the toppings on their Mr. Pizza Combo: Ham, pepperoni, beef, mushroom, corn, onion, green peppers, bacon, black olives. Yup, corn on a pizza. Kinda reminds me of the schol cafeteria menu when we had pizza and corn every week. They all end up in the same place anyway.

I didn’t try anything I would consider really strange — no live squid or dried-squid-on-a-stick, no bugs, no dog meat stew…. Probably the most unusual thing I ate was a dessert [I don't think anywhere in Asia is famous for their desserts] while in Jeju. Imagine a big bowl of shaved ice, a layer of red beans, a layer of sliced fruits (bananas, pineapple, watermelon, kiwi), breakfast cereal, corn, and beaten rice noodles coated with powdered sugar, all topped off with a big swirl of soft-serve ice cream or frozen yogurt. [We never reached a consensus on whether it was ice cream or yogurt.]

This one had a green tea-flavored swirl on top.

More later. Have a yummy weekend!

Posted by Tim