Kimbap, Kimchi, and Gochujang -- Oh, My: The Korean Kitchen

The most common question I get about living in Korea is: "Michelle, what are you eating over there?"

It's no secret I'm a vegetarian! (Unless you didn't know, in which case: SURPRISE!)

And it's also no secret that Koreans often don't know what a vegetarian is. Korean food consists largely of meat (hence, Korean BBQ and Korean fried chicken -- yes, KFC) and seafood, and meat and seafood hidden in food (which would not be a fun surprise for Michelle).

Background/Quick story time: I've been a vegetarian since I was roughly 12 years old, and out of all these years I've considered moving out of the country, my biggest concern has always been: Can I live outside the States and still stay a vegetarian?

Well, the answer is yes! BUT it is definitely a challenge for a stubborn person like me.

I'm the vegetarian who typically reads ingredients lists and tries to source from well-intentioned (yes, that's a word now) sources.

In Korea, that becomes a little harder because, as awesome as Google Translate is, you sometimes get translations like this:

Good for you, Hershey's chocolate bar. Follow your dreams.

OK, OK, to be fair, Google Translate works decently, and when you give it a few seconds to work out the language barrier, it does give you a good sense of what the language actually says. (I rely on it quite a bit and it's a huge help!)

But I do not completely trust it to explain ingredients, and that's where my biggest fear comes into play: How do I eat without breaking my personal moral code?

The great news is that it's actually quite easy.

Now, there are foods that cost a lot more here, especially international exports:

How to Win "Supermarket Sweep" in Korea:

Peanut butter: Around $6 for a normal-sized Skippy jar

Cereal: Around $6 for a normal-sized box

Cheese: Kraft American cheese (8 slices): $6

Beef at Costco: $50 to $100 (yes, really!)

1,000 Korean won is about $0.84ish USD. So, you may have some beef with these prices.

Despite some of these splurge-y prices, it is easy to find great deals on things like eggs, vegetables, (some) fruits, tofu, and other foodstuffs that make for easy meal-prepping.

For you omnivores, you could even forego grocery-shopping and eat a meat-filled meal for roughly $3 or $4 per.

But in my case, I've been happily making vegetable soups, egg & cheese sandwiches (my current favorite!), omelettes, vegan ramen, etc, and I'm learning to cook more on my gas stove (as I do not currently own an oven or microwave.)

Btw, for all your cooking enthusiasts out there, if you've got delicious vegetarian recipes that don't require cheese or beans (which are either expensive or hard to find here), throw them this way!

While I am saving money by meal prepping during the week, here are the yummy vegetarian meals I've been scoping out in Seoul during my weekend adventures!

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My very first meal in Korea: Bibimbap!

One of my coworkers at the Daechi campus helped me order, as I was intimidated by the language barrier after being in Seoul for just short of 24 hours. You are correct to assume those red flakes and sauces are spicy! And you are correct to assume that the very-red food on the right is not vegetarian, and so it was something I skipped over. (On the right, the yellow things are eggs and the potato-looking things were potatoes. The red things were some type of squishy sea animal, like squid or something equally tentacle-y.)

One of my favorite meals: A tofu crunchwrap from Lagniappe in Seongnam

Oh. My. Goodness. This restaurant is a heaven-send. Lagniappe is a restaurant run by a woman who has split her life between Korea and New Orleans. The menu consists of New Orleans-inspired food, and some Tex-Mex-style food like this. The prices are higher than normal for food in Korea. (This meal was about $12 for everything you see in the pic. No tipping because there's no tip culture in Korea.) But for that weekend splurge, it was so worth it, and I can't wait to go again.

Added bonus: Tons of ex-pats visit this restaurant. When I went, it was filled with foreigners (English teachers) having a huge, very loud gathering. Being in a typically quiet environment like Korea, it was quite a culture shock to enter the boisterous ambience of mostly-Americans talking loudly and laughing as hard as their lungs could handle. But it also felt a little bit like home.

But Michelle, what about street food?! Welcome to Myeongdong: street vendors galore.

I'd heard of these fish foods, bungeoppang, even before getting my visa. They're crepe-like pastries filled with any of the fillings listed below. I tried the banana and choco Nutella versions, and they were delicious!

I also tried some sweet potato in Myeongdong, as well as the cheese pictured below. Everything was dirt cheap. However, my stomach infection started a day or two after eating in Myeongdong, and though I can't be sure exactly where the bacteria came from, I will admit I'm too paranoid to eat from the street markets again for a while.

Anyway! These cheeses were served with an optional sweet sauce that was poured into the bottom of the cup (see the top right).

My other favorite vegan spot: Maru JaYeonSik Kimbap in Insadong

This. Place. The streets of Korea constantly smell fantastic, like fresh food cooking, even food I can't/won't eat. But I have been very excited to try Korean food! Maru gave me the opportunity to eat more than I could handle for just about $6.

Kimbap is the Korean version of sushi. The kimbap here was filled with tofu, instead of the usual meat or seafood. The kimbap was served with a little cup of soup on the side. Mashisoyo!

Not expecting the decent portion size, I also ordered tteok-bokki. This is something my students love to eat, another traditional Korean food. Not knowing what I was in for, I ordered it! (Pictured on the left. Yes, that red sauce is spicy hot!) Unfortunately, I breathed fire for a little while after eating the tteok-bokki. The ladies who run the restaurant were very kind and gave all of us who were dining free hot tea. Unfortunately, also, a spicy-hot mouth makes hot tea feel even hotter.

But life is all about taking risks, and trying new foods sometimes requires bravery! I learned a valuable lesson about gochujang sauce. The ladies at the restaurant were so nice and could tell I had entered a world of hurt, but hey, it was worth it.

My happy place: Pizza at Lotte Mart

The department store across the street from my studio houses not only clothes, shoes, books, and perfume, but also a grocery store and several food markets! If you know me, you know I would happily eat pizza every day for the rest of my life. It's one of my desert island foods.

This is not a cheap pizza (about $8 for the portion pictured below), but it sure is filling for the stomach and the soul. What else can I say? The heart wants what it wants.

The best Mexican food I've ever had: Taco Amigo in Itaewon

Bienvenidos al paraiso vegetariano en Corea! After a long hike up and down Namsan (N Seoul Tower), after meandering down the layered streets of Yongsan-dong and Itaewon, I finally came across this haven.

I usually rely on Happy Cow to locate good veg restaurants, and this place immediately went on my try list.

I ordered a hard and soft taco with soy meat, but getting the chips, beans, and rice (all included in the price!) was a very pleasant surprise.

I wish I could eat this meal every day for the rest of my life. Maybe it's good I live an hour away!

The girl who took my order was an inspiration, by the way. Originally from Venezuela, she's now conversational in Korean after attending university here for a while. Imagine hearing someone speak three different languages within a three-minute span. She is amazing!

My favorite Korean food:

I went out to dinner with a few coworkers to a pajeon place that had a couple vegetarian options. If you're love Trader Joe's, you've probably tried their pajeon (green onion pancake) (which is delicious, by the way!). I'd been excited to try the real-deal thing since I got here.

First, I tried gamja-jeon, which is the potato pancake equivalent you see pictured to the right. This is my all-time favorite Korean food so far. As a Jewish person, I love my potato pancakes, and I love tasting how different cultures craft it in their own way. Nothing quite compares to the way my mom and grandma would make them, but the Korean version is a solid meal in my book.

To the left is the actual pajeon, complete with scallions and veggies. It was delicious, had an unexpected kick of spice (which, for me, unfortunately, is still a bit of a 1-1-9 emergency). But it is so fun to try new foods. Plus, Korean restaurants have a little call button on the side of the table that you can hit in case you need more water or perhaps more gamja-jeon!

Traditional Korean meals

After hiking Inwangsan with a few friends recently, they took me to this local restaurant (where President Moon Jae In had also recently eaten). After explaining I'm a vegetarian, my new friend (not the president!) helped me order a potato dumpling soup and more gamja-jeon (yay!).

We also drank makgeolli (the milky drink in the bowl in the left photo), which is a rice wine and an old, traditional Korean drink. In the left photo, you'll see vegetables and the famous kimchi. (These were not vegetarian, so I did not partake, but they are very popular foods to eat!)

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I've gotten questions about some of the odd foods I see here in Korea.

I have yet to witness beondegi for myself, the silkworm pupa that people will sometimes eat straight out of a cup. Some of my students are brave enough to have tried it.

One of the strange foods I've heard of and didn't witness until recently at my local fresh market was live octopus.

Seafood is a huge thing here. All around the streets, you will see fish tanks on the sidewalks, filled with medium- to large-sized fish. I became a vegetarian because of my empathy for animals. It is certainly heartbreaking for me to see huge fish in tanks they can't swim in, where they can barely turn themselves around. Real talk: I personally struggle between respecting these cultural differences and feeling angry at how cruel humans can be.

There is a famous fish market in Seoul that I'd heard of, which was also featured in Conan's hilarious Korea trip series. Yes, this is the episode in which Conan purchases an octopus from Noryangjin Fish Market and donates it to an aquarium.

That was all I could think of when I was in this grocery store. After the walls of vegetables and grains, I noticed something moving in a bag and bubbles rolling to the top. Inside the two bags were live octopus. If my heart broke for fish, imagine seeing an intelligent, cognizant animal trapped in a bag. They're being sold for about $30 each. It was tempting to pull a Conan. Regardless of beliefs or practices, these are the sorts of moral dilemmas anyone can be faced with in any society, domestic or foreign, vegetarian or not. I guess I wasn't ready.

Michelle, this is depressing. Can we get back to the fun food?

Of course! I promised I'd be real in these posts, and it's hard for me to talk about food without bringing up these difficult questions and emotions.

I do want to close off with something uplifting, but I don't want it to trivialize the realness I sometimes face in a new country (or sometimes, even, my own). I realize I'm an idealist, looking to make a difference in the world, but I'm also a realist, understanding it's impossible to change it all in one day.

I suppose I can cap off by focusing less on the differences between cultures and highlight the things that do bring us together: sweets.

The good news is there is indeed a Krispy Kreme in Lotte Mart. Nothing cheers me up like a delicious $2 donut. (Especially when strawberries aren't cheap, as is!)

My photo mentor recently explained that food is one of the defining parts of a culture. He has challenged me to devote a photo session solely to shooting food, in whatever context I see it. I can't think of a people or culture that doesn't value food as a pillar of pride and tradition. There will certainly be more food posts to come.

I'm curious to hear what other questions you guys have! Feel free to leave them in the comments below or send me a message/email. Hearing your thoughts may change my perspective as I was hopefully able to shape yours, at least a bit!