Street Food in Korea

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 (sushi), to flash fried rice or silk work 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.

The big pojangmachas (street stalls) ones often run out of a truck or some sort of trailer. They have plastic stools and sometimes seats and table and they have power. The more traditional street vendors are those with a bit of a wagon or a one burner stove and they are boiling "bundegee" - silk worm larvae. You can get some great treats at these street vendors.

Some of my favorites are: (*these sound phonetically right to me - whether it's the actual romanization of the word or a very butchered attempt, forgive me, do your best and hopefully someone will understand what you are trying to say)

ojinga twegum - deep fried squid tentacles (calamari)
duk bogi - rice noodles in a red pepper paste sauce, to go is served in a plastic bag
mandu - deep fried wontons
ssaeng nakgi - live octopus
odaeng - fish gruel on a stick (sounds bad, tastes great)

Give it a try, and when you do, add to this article and share your story or your description.

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