For this cultural post, I will talk about Korean spicy food. I think Korea is known for some of its spicy food. I really love eating spicy food even though my tolerance for spice isn't that high. It is almost like an addiction. I always crave spicy food especially Korean spicy food. I'm sure there isn't anyone who doesn't know about the Korean fire noodles. The fire noodle challenge was very popular on YouTube, and even now you can see many YouTubers even non-Korean YouTubers eating them. The fire noodles are by Samyang, and in Korean the noodles are called Buldak bokkeummyeon. The regular one looks like this.
These noodles are very spicy. There's actually an even spicier version called nuclear spicy noodles, and there are also a bunch of different flavors. Some of the most popular ones are the cheese and carbonara. My brother eats the regular ones all the time, but I don't like it that much anymore. You can get these at any Korean grocery stores and online like Amazon. Also, there is now a Buldak dipping hot sauce.
Another well-known dish is Yeopgi Tteokbokki, which is just spicy Korean rice cakes, but this place puts it into a giant bowl, and drizzles cheese on top. This is also very spicy. I don't think I can ever try the challenge level, even the normal level is pretty spicy, and I have heard that for some people, even the mild level is extremely spicy. Before I had Yeopgi teokbokki, or yeoptteok for short, I never realized how good cheese with spicy rice cakes is. It is a great combination. Yeoptteok is based in Korea, but they have two locations in Los Angeles, and I think another one in New York as well.
The next one is something I have never tried. It seems too spicy. It is called Songju Fire Naeongmyeon. A few of the pictures I've seen scare me a bit. In some pictures, the color of the sauce looks extremely bright red. Here is a picture of a Mukbang YouTuber eating it. Naeongmyeon literally means cold noodles, and there are various types like there is one with cold broth and one without broth and just sauce you mix and even Pyeongyang (North Korea) style naeongmyeon. The spiciest food I have ever had was actually naeongmyeon not the Sonju one though. I think the place I went to was in the Jamsil area in Korea. I searched it on Google and found it. It is called Haeju Naengmyeon. Don't add in too much of their red sauce. It is very spicy. I added too much, and I almost died, but it was still very good. I really want to go there again. It was also the best naengmyeon I've had in general. Their hot self-serve broth was also extremely good. It was perfect with the naengmyeon, and sometimes I think about how good it was and remember that I can't eat it unless I go to Korea.
This one isn't exactly traditionally Korean, but I still want to mention it since I'm sure only Korea has extremely spicy tonkatsu, or pork cutlet. Here's a picture.
I don't think I could ever handle this.
Comments
These pictures are making me hungry at the moment...I really enjoy Korean spicy food, but I didn't even know there was spicy tonkatsu. I actually recognize the Korean mukbang vlogger in the picture, and I sometimes watch mukbang vloggers like her whenever I'm craving spicy Korean food. I've had the buldak bokkeummyeon with my friends and it's really good in my opinion, but I still haven't been able to get Yepgi tteokbokki. Hopefully I can have it while I'm in Korea over winter break!
I really like Korean food, especially the korean spicy food! So I really like your culture post! The extremely spicy tonkatsu looks so good and I really want to have a try! I have actually tried various types of Korean spicy food. One of them is the fire noodles. And I think it taste really good because korean spicy food tastes really different. Thank you for your recommendation! I am gonna try Yeopgi Tteokbokki when I go to NewYork!