One day, while walking through Seoul, Matt and I walked past one of the many street vendors. However, this particular vendor caught my eye with a rather strange delicatessen. Cut in the round, I saw the item featured below.
What do you suppose it is? I thought it was cheese, honestly. A cheesey wedge of delicious goodness with... beans on it. Well, no one ever accused Koreans of knowing how to use cheese. Europeans now, they know cheese.
Of course I had to investigate.
So I bought a wedge. It was strangely spongey and not at all cheesey.
This is me about to poke it:
You can't tell from the picture, but my finger entered that mound, submerged completely, and bounced back out without braking the surface. In short, its mass consisted of the same density as Homer Simpson's stomach.
Which means it was definitely not cheese.
I sniffed it. It smelled sweet and inviting, like cake. Indeed it was porous like cake also. It was bright yellow, wedge-shaped and shiny, and had beans on it: not like any cake I had ever seen before. Being in Korea, I suppose I should have been thankful it didn't have corn on it. However, that's a story for another time.
By this time I had pretty much figured out it was bread of some sort, with beans on it, a bean-bread if you will. I thought of my sister Cheryl. Hey, Cheryl, how've you bean? Haha!
There was nothing left but to taste it. Here's me about to take a bite:
My ear looks suspiciously pointed in this picture, but don't let that detract from my beautiful bean bread. The beans were slightly fermented, I think, but no matter.
Korea is full of delightful little treats to be found on every street, around every corner. There is even a van with a chicken rotisserie installed in the trunk. This van parks on a corner near our appartment. Sometimes he is not there, and I am sad. He has become an integral part of my neighborhood. I don't have a picture of him yet, but if he is there tomorrow I will get a picture and post it up on the blog for all of you to see and enjoy.
P.S. pot in Korean means "bean" and bbang means bread. Hence the Pot Bbang. I need to upload a Korean font to my blog font selection; if anyone happens to know how that is done, I would appreciate the info.
6 comments:
It looks suspiciously like a Peep...ha!
We didn't get your T-shirt while you were here...*sniffles*
Tiffawee, "What did one bean say to the other bean? How ya bean??!!!". that will always remain the best Laffy Taffy joke I have ever read.
Anyway, that there is a Korean rice cake and they always put awesome beans in them. That was one of my favorite foods that Oh Jeungg-ae provided for me on my mission. They come in all shapes and sizes and are usually pink, light green, or yellow. Mostly yellow and pink. I am envious that you have been enjoying the spunginess.
Next, you should look for some Korean rice sticks, cabbage, and hot red bean paste (with a little vinegar and sugar) and make Korean Junk Food.
In addition to cheese wedges, they should make this stuff in the shape of a Peep! Wouldn't that be coolest?
Speaking of Peeps, I was at the grocery store yesterday and I saw pumpkin-shaped Peeps. They looked so tasty, but inside I knew that they would just taste like a bunny Peep... ~sigh~ Maybe they would taste good if I added rice sticks, cabbage, and hot red bean paste (with a little vinegar and sugar) to make Korean-American Junk Food. Mmmm.
Now that sounds delicious.
Seems like a fair enough solution to me. But then, I love the taste of Peeps.
Hmm...a pumpkin one, eh? Ala Halloween? They have those here too...I actually don't like those ones. They are decidedly NOT Peep in flavor. I don't know what they are. Nasty is what they are. And take it from me...I'm the Nasty Butler so I know what Nasty is.
Maybe if they were left out they might taste better...
If one must eat Peeps at all, stale is the way to go. Definitely stale. Peeps are like a good cheese: the more they age, the better the flavour.
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