My breakfast is eaten at home, though I always get a vending machine instant coffee with the bits of change in my pocket.

For those more in tune with breakfast, there are loads of breakfast cereals and toast and spread and fruit selections available. Traditional Korean breakfast is seaweed soup with turnip and often fish, served with rice and kimchi.

Lunch for me is something from a "pojangmacha" (side street cart selling food stuffs) or a quick "ajima" (Korean mother) cafe or "shik dang" (hole in the wall restaurant) where I have a soup or noodles or kimbab (kimpop) or virtually any plate of food for anywhere from 2000 Won to 5000 Won ($2-5USD).

Although Korea is officially a Buddhist country and although practitioning Buddhists are meant to be vegetarians, it is difficult to get a dish that doesn't include meat in some form.

Koreans rarely understand what "vegetarian" means and although there is a word (Chae Shik Joo We Ja) they usually don't believe you or don't think it's possible.

There are big and small street vendors in Korea.

I believe the actual name for them is pojangmacha but there could be several different words for them depending on what they serve, how big they are, where they are at and a host of other sub-culture taxonomy conventions.

The long and the short of it is there are loads of people on the street who sell anything from deep friend chicken feet, to steamed fish sticks, to sashimi, to flash fried rice or silk worm larvae.  That short little list doesn't even graze the surface of the choices available to you and some of these choices are seasonal, all of which makes eating on the street loads of fun!

Drinking is virtually a national sport in Korea, and there seems to be virtually no stigma attached to getting stinking drunk in public, particularly for men.

There are no shortage of drinking establishments, from sidewalk tents to trendy nightclubs, and this seems to be the recreational activity of choice for many English teachers in Korea.

What better way to immerse yourself in Korean culture than learning how to cook Korean food?

Korea has a culinary tradition distinct from Japanese and Chinese cuisine - traditional Korean cuisine is heavily influenced by Mongol culture. Koreans are the only Asian culture that eats rice with a spoon. Interestingly, the pepper, a mainstay of all Asian cuisine, was introduced to Asia by the Dutch in the 17th century - the pepper plant comes from the Americas. It is hard to imagine any Asian cuisine without this mainstay.

Chinese and Japanese are the foreign cuisines most common in Korea.

Most Chinese restaurants in Korea are modest affairs that serve jajangmyung (noodles with black sauce) and tang su yuk (sweet and sour pork). Japanese restaurants are generally more expensive and dishes usually include twigim (tempura) and sashimi (raw fish).

Tap water in Korea’s cities, although not necessarily overly tasty, but in general will not make you sick. It may not be the best stuff in the world, but it probably won’t kill you. Many Koreans, particularly in the summer time, get water from local mountain springs. You can get bottled water delivered to your home quite cheaply - with delivery service a five liter bottle of water will cost you around USD $6.

Korea has all kinds of eating establishments, ranging from street vendors (pojangmachas) and hole-in-the-wall shikdangs (small restaurants) to high-priced, formal restaurants will full-course meals. In between you can find many types of medium-sized places offering a wide range of food types, including traditional Korean food, fast food, Western and other non-Korean dishes. Happily, tipping is not customary in Korea.

Sure, we’ve all been down to our last 5,000 Won - and with a hankering for a bite to eat.

Take heart - there are places where you can grab a hearty meal to tide you over for that amount. Short of splitting the cost with friends, ordering a satisfying meal alone can often be costly.

by Tamara Povarchook, Placement Coordinator for Korea & China

Food culture is one of the most exciting and enjoyable aspects of traveling. Eating as the locals eat is essential to truly experiencing another way of life.

I’d like to share some of my favourite dishes and dining experiences from my time in South Korea.

Donkas: this is the first meal I ate when I arrived in Korea. It is a pork cutlet (essentially a schnitzel) topped with sweet barbecue sauce and typically served with rice and pickled radish, and/or various other side dishes.

Mandu: this is what I lived off of my first few weeks in Korea. It is inexpensive and can be purchased in large quantities at E-Mart (Korea’s version of Wal-mart). Mandu is the Korean equivalent to Chinese Dim Sum or Japanese Gyoza, or what we Westerners refer to as a “pot sticker.” There are many variations of Mandu, but the dumplings are usually filled with meat or tofu, and vegetables.

Doenjang chige: (“dwen jong chee gay”) is a delicious stew made with a soy-bean base, complete with zucchini, tofu, green onions, hot peppers and clams (or other seafood/meat). “Chige” means stew, and there are many different types of chiges in Korea. Kimchi chige is another very popular one. Chiges are served with a side of rice, and many people order one to share at Korean barbecue.

Bi bim bap: this is my absolute favourite dish! It consists of rice, topped with marinated beef, seaweed, mixed veggies cooked in sesame oil (usually zucchini, carrots, oyster mushrooms, and bean sprouts), topped with a fried egg and sesame seeds. Most people also mix in hot chili sauce to taste. That all probably sounds like an odd combination to you, but it is very yummy! Or in Korean: mashisoyo (delicious).

Korean barbecue: this is the dining experience that Korea is most famous for in the Western world. It involves cooking a variety of different marinated meats (beef, pork, chicken, duck, prawns, etc) right at your table, dipping the meat into various sauces and wrapping it in lettuce or sesame leaves with rice, mushrooms, onions, radish, garlic, and whatever else you so desire. Along with the barbecued goodness, you get endless banchan (side dishes) including salads, fish cakes, quail eggs, marinated potatoes, and various types of kimchi.

Kimchi: (“kim chee”) is a traditional fermented Korean side dish made of vegetables and a variety of seasonings. The most common type of kimchi is made with cabbage, but many other vegetables like radish, scallions, or cucumbers are used. (My personal favourite is the cucumber kimchi.)

There you have it: a brief look into the delectable world of food in South Korea. I encourage you to try all of the dishes I have described and more – if you are open-minded when it comes to food, you will not be disappointed. One more thing to note: the traditional way to eat Korean food, even at a restaurant, is with your shoes off, sitting around the table on cushions on the floor! Mat it gye deu se yo!

(Stay tuned for Part 2: Bizarre Korean Food…)

by Tamara Povarchook, Placement Coordinator for Korea & China

South Korea has certain epicurean traditions that some foreigners might find quite strange, but you should definitely partake in at least a few of them to truly experience the food culture.