Street food in Korea has always brought great interest to non-Koreans with Myeongdong District attracting many tourists from all over the world to try Korea’s best street food. Just a couple years ago, Korean corn dogs were the hottest new food to try when one of the Korean franchises, Myungrang Hotdogs, came to Los Angeles. So many people would line up outside of the singular store, similar to America’s reaction when Popeyes fried chicken sandwich came out. When I looked up “Korean street food” on Youtube, pages upon pages of videos would come up about “traditional Korean street food in Busan South Korea”, “all you can eat Korean rice cake, ramen and bibimbap buffet”, “tornado omelette master/Korean street food”, fried chicken popular in the market”, “cheese bacon kimchi roll”, “sausage cheese egg bread”, “Myeongdong Hamburger Toast”, and the list goes on and on. The list of the street food ranges from sweets like bingu (shaved ice dessert with milk, red bean, and a number of toppings) to savory dishes like tteokbokki (spicy rice cake, usually served with spicy fish cake). Surprisingly, based on history, Korean street food is not something that is made up of recent development or present popular culture. Most of them is based on the traditional Korean food that most Koreans cannot live without such as tteokpokki, kimbap (hand rolls filled with vegetables and your choice of protein like bulgogi—marinated sliced beef—or spam), eomuk (skewers), bungeo-ppang (fish-shaped pastry stuffed with sweetened red bean paste), kimchi jeon (kimchi pancake), hotteok (Korean pancake filled with brown sugar, honey, peanuts, and cinnamon). Most of these delicious street foods are found not only in Myeongdong, but also Jogno, Hongdae, Itaewon, Hangang, Gangnam, and other cities in the country—these are the ones that are the most well-known. Most of the street foods are being served all day long, but some of these foods differ depending on time and place. For example, most of the street foods available during the daytime are for snacks or in-between meals food. During the nighttime, however, the number and kind of menu increases. The most essential and defining element at the Korean street food during evening or nighttime is the alcohol, especially soju. There are also places called pojangmacha, or for short “pocha”, which literally means covered wagon and refers to a street food vendor. People sit down and order alcohol while eating savory meals with their drink. It’s a common hang-out place—its characteristics being similar to that of a bar—where young adults and older go to chill with their friends. Overall, Korean street food is a main source of attraction and reasonably so as the food is notably delicious. And if you ever go to visit and you want to kick back with a nice drink with the food, head over to a pocha where you can order great street food and drink comfortably with your friends.
Cultural Artifacts:
https://thesmartlocal.com/korea/pocha-streets-seoul/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbofhUfQ1p4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FouuCLjp8zs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjaWS187tsc
Replies
Hi Erica, this is also my presentation topic! I am so glad to see more detailed information about korean street food. I have also visited Korea before in order to try different street food. I really like all the food you mentioned in the post! I hope I can eat them again!