Seoul street food: streets of satisfaction

THE ORIGINAL ESSAY

Sometimes the most impressive food in a foreign country doesn’t come from a fancy restaurant or any restaurant for that matter; it comes from the street. As seedy as this may seem, street vendors, called pojangmachas, can make any sidewalk into an avenue of food and a street of satisfaction. Seoul is no stranger to such scrumptious delights.

Seoul is full of people in a hurry, but everyone needs to eat…so a healthy complement of street vendors dot its roadsides anywhere there is foot traffic. Travelers, the braver ones anyway, take such sampling of street food seriously and you too will have ample opportunity to build up an appetite as you see the sights. What’s more, street food comes at a fraction of the cost of a restaurant meal and aids you in walking off the delicious calories. You won’t be pampered at these pojangmachas, but you’ll leave soulfully satisfied and with extra change in your pocket.

All street food in Seoul starts with ddeokboggi. This odd combination of soft, chewy, sweet and spicy, opens up the palette and keeps your taste buds engaged. Once you start, don’t stop or the spice will get you. Ddeokboggi‘s spiciness comes from gochujang (red pepper) seasoning, which is added to sections of ddok (round rice cake), and mixed with sugar and vegetables. One bite and you’ll be hooked on its hot sweet taste (or maybe searching for some water). You’ll be hard pressed to find an alley in Seoul that doesn’t offer a ddeokboggi vendor.

A natural complement to ddeokboggi is sundae. Sundae (pronounced soon-dae) is a Korean-style sausage made with a mixture of glutinous rice, oxen or pig's blood, potato noodles, and more stuffed in a natural casing. Alright, alright, sound’s a bit odd, but it tastes great! In addition, the street vendors fire up their woks of oil to offer enough yaki-mandu (fried dumplings), and tuigim (assorted fried foods) to make any weary traveler or Seoul searcher drool.

As if that is not enough, there is odeng,a tasty broth with boiled fish paste; gimbap, literally, seaweed-rice, similar to a California roll, where rice is rolled in a sheet of dried seaweed laver with slices of fried egg, ham, cucumber, pickled Chinese radish or other things; or kalguksu, handmade, knife-cut wheat flour noodles served in a large bowl with broth and other ingredients. And in the winter, hotteok, which is similar to pancakes with a brown sugar filling, and bungeobbang,a fish shaped pastry filled with sweet red bean paste, will warm you up. All these foods can be had for 3,000 won or less.

Popular by day and even more so by night, pojangmachas hold an important place in Korean culture. A perfect way to wind down after a bit of late night revelry, grab a snack as you scurry somewhere, or just to try something new, the streets of Seoul are filled with savory satis faction.

From Peter’s supplied Seoul guidebook introduction, chapter 16. Original observations and historical framing are retained. PDF line-break and spacing repairs are recorded separately from factual updates. Guidebook photography and venue directories are not republished.