During this Thanksgiving break, I traveled to Washington, DC with my friend and hung out with Jenna. We went to a big Korean market together and had 떡볶이 (tteokbokki) and 감자 핫도그 (potato hotdog) in the market. 떡볶이 is spicy rice cakes that are white and short. The ones we had were cooked in a long shape and then cut into small pieces when served. In the Korean dramas I've watched, they were cooked with the spicy red sauce only, but the one I had was served with beef, noodle dumplings,어묵(Korean fish cake), veggies, and an egg in a big pot and was a portion for two. I like it so much even though it was a little bit spicy for me.
I also had 감자 핫도그 (potato hotdog). It was a fried hot dog covered with crispy diced potatoes and a little bit of sugar. It tastes very good with the crispy potatoes on the outside and soft hotdog inside. I also tried dipping it in the 떡볶이 pot as Jenna recommended, and it was even better. The sweetness of the sugar cover makes it taste less spicy with the sauce than the 떡볶이 and is very flavored. When I searched on YouTube, I found that there are also ones that are filled with cheese, and those seem to be really popular.
My very first impression of street food in South Korea came from K-dramas, where the teenage students would have some street food with their friends on their way home. This time when I researched about it, I found that there are so many different kinds of street food. Besides 떡볶이 and 감자 핫도그, they also have 튀김 (fried), 김밥 (kimbap), 붕어빵 (fish-shaped pastry), and so on. I watched a lot of videos of them and I found that a majority of the shops are located at 시장 (traditional street market), where there are a lot of food shops on the street and people can order some when walking by and then hold the food while they keep walking. This setting explains why most of the street food is made in small portions and thus easy to hold. The shops are also really small, sometimes they are just kitchens on wheels, so they can move around and change locations more easily. I found this very interesting to know, and I really want to try more kinds of it next time I travel to South Korea.
Sources:
[한글/ENG] trying KOREAN STREET FOOD! | korea mukbang vlog | 한국 먹방 브이로그 - YouTube
최고의 한국 길거리 음식 및 시장 가이드- IVisitKorea
만득이 핫도그 만들기 : 네이버 블로그 (naver.com)
감자핫도그(feat.명랑) | 뉴스트림 (newstream.kr)
Tteokbokki with a massive fried squid and beef brisket toppings! : SeoulFood (reddit.com)
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