보신탕 (Bosintang)

Another threshold was crossed in the consumption of this meal. I had psyched myself up for this days in advanced. Even as I walked to the restaurant, I knew what I was doing and at that stage I was okay with it. I sat down with an air of fake confidence and ordered the dish. The lovely Korean lady that served me checked my order a couple of times with a surprised look on her face. I affirmed.

After she hurried off to make the dish I sat there and the full weight of what was about to transpire got me. And it got me good. My appetite vanished. My stomach turned into a knot. My pulse quickened. I searched the room longingly for an easy exit; they’ve run out of stock, I’m feeling sick, a big group needs my table. But alas nothing gave me respite from my situation.
I distracted myself with the B-grade 80’s action flick Broken Arrow on the TV nearby, and whoever the main actor is. I’ve seen him so many times but for the life of me I couldn’t remember where or in what films, let alone his name.

Then it arrived.

I’ve heard the smell is strong and off putting, but not to me, I didn’t notice it.

I wasn’t hungry but I begrudgingly started my meal as I had come too far to chicken out. I slowly ate the boiling hot slightly spicey soup.
Over the next hour I slowly ate most of the meal and a few sides, plus another soup offered as ‘service’. Pausing every now and again to remember exactly what I was eating and why I would do such a horrible thing. Also to watch some more Broken Arrow – John Travolta was the bad guy.

It wasn’t bad at all, I’ll even say it was tasty. The meat was akin to beef except much more tender and succulent. The color and taste I found very similar to beef and it only looked marginally different. You could easily be tricked into eating this thinking it’s beef, but it’s not.

Once I felt like I had laboured enough as to not offend my hosts I slowly stood up and left.

Maybe it was the combination of too much soup, not being hungry, too many 80’s cliches and my mind working overtime but I felt queasy on the walk home. However that quickly subsided and so did the mental pang of what I had done.

Maybe you will hate what I have done (again) but I sleep just fine at night. I can justify it in every same way I did when I ate whale meat refer to that post if you have questions. This practice also has a long history dating back to as early as 400 AD – research it yourself. Right or wrong, good or bad, who is to say?

I don’t think I will eat it again unless I have to. Once is enough, I can now say I’ve eaten dog meat.

Bosintang 8/10 – no jokes here

튀밀복 장식 (Twimilbog Jangsig)

A fish made famous by the Japanese. More commonly known as Fugu or 복 (Beok) it is the puffer fish. The fish itself has a toxin that is deadly to humans and if not prepared properly can lead to death through ingestion. Approximately 34 – 64 people are hospitalized as a result of eating Beok every year in Japan and there are between zero and six deaths a year.. Although most deaths are from the fish being improperly prepared at home so I felt fairly safe eating it in the 복 specialty restaurant. Plus everyone in the resturant was acting fairly normal. There wasn’t people screaming in agony or a pile of bodies in the corner so I was lulled into a sense of security before ordering this dish. Turns out it was all justified and I didn’t die (spoiler alert!).

Some say they they can taste the poison but to me it tasted like fish. Pretty good fish at that. I’ve since seen these fish in tanks outside restaurants so you can pick your food.

All in all I loved the meal. I managed to make a 비빔밥 (Bibimbap) mixed rice out of the various ingredients, side dishes and fish. Would definitely eat it again, and I’m not a huge fan of fish or seafood so that says a lot.

Just don’t try making this at home.

I rate this 17/18 – the approximate number of side dishes we received.

 

Slightly chubby New Zealander in South Korea feels the height of his position in the food chain.

Our mafia man

Different cuts and pricing

I haven’t been so morally conflicted as I am now for putting something in my mouth since O’Week 2008.

I heard there is a certain delicacy enjoyed by many Koreans and Japanese alike. It’s a part of their culture despite the public outcry and backlash they received from the rest of the world. .

I had seen and heard of whale meat in South Korea a couple of weeks ago and decided to try it myself after much mental and moral arm wrestling.

On one side is the fact most whale species are endangered and near extinction. If I was to buy and consume the meat I would be in a way condoning the slaughter of some endangered species. There are people willing to put their lives on the line to defend these creatures who am I to simply eat one. There’s the questionable conditions under which whales are caught and slaughtered.

The other side of the coin is this is going on regardless. How does my onetime purchase of whale result in the direct death of a creature? There’s the old “you eat (insert common meat or insect foodstuff here) why not whale?” argument. Also there was sheer human curiosity or ‘scientific research’ as the whalers would say in trying this meat.

In the end the latter side one out, love me or hate me for it. It’s done. I can sleep at night.

So I asked my girlfriend, to find us a place in Busan as a quick Google revealed it’s the place (apart from Ulsan) to go for whale.

We found a lovely little place only a quick walk from our base in Busan. We came upon the tiny little restaurant nestled among many other similar looking ones. The only thing that indicated this one was different were the words 고래 고기 (Gorae Gogi) whale meat and a cute cartoon of a friendly, smiling, some wearing a sailors hats -which I’m still suspicious about.

Unfortunately the place we chose was closed at the particular time we went but a quick phone call and the owner was happy to open shop slightly early on our account.

The owner arrived a short time later in a new model Bentley giving me the impression he was part of some kind of whale meat mafia. He turned out to be an awesome and more than accommodating host, forthcoming with information on our meal.

So let’s get to the nitty gritty what did it taste like and do I feel like a terrible human now?

We first off this was the priciest food item pound-for-pound I’ve bought in Korea. You can see the tiny slithers of meat we were served. The entire meal came to 50,000 won our about NZ$50. Previous I usually payed NZ $6-10 For a much more wholesome meal.

The taste was different, much different and not for the faint hearted. As you can see in the photos there’s a lot of fat. The actual flesh tastes and has the same texture as beef, if with a slight fishy taste. The fat is a different story. It’s super oily, it searches out every nook and cranny of your face and fills it with its distinctive whale flavour. It’s different. Words fail to describe it. You also have to consider all the different cuts of meat too. We were served four different cuts each from a different part of the whale and each with a slightly differing taste.

In truth I actually enjoyed the unique flavour it had to offer. I expected having to grit my teeth and persevere through sweat and possible gagging to finish the meal but I completed it with relative ease. Even after my girlfriend opted out, she didn’t enjoy it.

Now I sit here debriefing on the way home struggling to decide if I’ve reached a moral low point or an adventurous high point. I’m not sure.

Anyway it’s done now. Curiosity satisfied. I don’t need to eat it again and I probably won’t.

I suspect this won’t be topped until I try other Korean morally questionable meals such as k9 variety.

4.5/5 for taste.

5/5 for making you question everything about yourself after consumption.

And do I feel like a terrible human? Of course. But that’s not whale meat related.

 

 

청국장 Cheonggukjang

Don’t be put off by the smell of this dish. Some have likened it to the smell of wet socks or feet, but this is a really good meal. One I would highly recommend to others.

It is soup made from fermented soybeans, 두부 Dubu (tofu), chilli and several vegetables. The chillies give it a lot more flavour and spice but not in a destroy your taste buds and strip your stomach-lining kind of way.

If you were to say it doesn’t look too appetizing, I could almost forgive you. The appearance of a milky beige soup with beans, tofu and a green vegetable (which I am yet to discern) is not the most appealing but trust me the taste more than makes up for it.

A bit higher on the adventurous foods scale for me – I didn’t eat a lot of tofu before Korea, let alone soybeans. This has become a constant in my Korean culinary repertoire.

I rate it: 86/86 – the probable number of soybeans that went into making my serving of Cheonggukjang.

돌솥 비빔밥 Dolsot Bibimbap (Hot stone pot mixed rice)

Or known more simply as 비빔밥 Bibimbap (mixed rice) has become a staple in my Korean diet. A consistently great meal, it never disappoints.

Bibimbap is a selection of seasonal vegetables served on top of rice in a bowl or hot stone pot (돌솥 dolsot). With the hot stone pot version there is usually a raw egg served on top that cooks when mixed. It’s also customary to mixed red bean paste in which adds a bit more salt, flavour and a bit more spice, I personally love the red bean paste.

They don’t call this dish mixed rice for nothing, you need to mix it well, and then mix it again. Cooks, servers and sometimes randoms will either tell you to keep mixing or just skip that and mix it for you if they feel you haven’t given it justice. After you’ve mixed it twice, mix it again. As a rule of thumb I don’t stop until after a Korean at the table has stopped.

A relatively safe choice in terms of being reliably good and liked by pretty much everyone, Bibimbap is a great meal worthy of your time and tastebuds.

I rate it 160/180 – The recommended number of seconds you should mix your bibimbap before you should eat it.