Korean street food

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Location: Seoul, Korea

If you're in the US and you suggest that Koreans eat dog meat, people are quick to tell you that that's an inaccurate and offensive racist stereotype.

But it turns out that Koreans have eaten dog meat for millennia. It's controversial now, but a small percentage of Koreans today still eat dog meat, and it's available at a small number of butcher shops.

At one point, I was walking around downtown Seoul with my friend Claire. We passed by a butcher shop. She gestured at it and said, dejectedly, "you still see that sometimes."

I didn't know what she was talking about. She had to back up and point directly at the skinned dog in the display window. It was at ground level, probably so that it wouldn't attract too much attention. The meat was the same color as all the other red meat in the display window. There's no way I would have noticed it if she hadn't pointed it out.


Location: Seoul, Korea

Seoul has a bunch of street food vendors. A popular combination of street food is a paper cup full of dukbokki (small cylinders of rice cake served with red chili paste) and another cup full of beondegi, which are silkworm pupae.

The silkworm pupae are cooked in a large pan over an open flame. They make popping sounds as they cook.

Claire insisted that I try them, and I did. I thought they were pretty bland. A bit crunchy. I was glad they didn't have any discernible heads or legs. I didn't dislike them, but I wouldn't seek them out.

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