Squid Jerky, A Deck of Seaweed Squares and Noodles

11 March 2008
If you're an UMVIMer and or IV, you know a visit to the local grocery store is an experience, immersing yourself into your new culture.

Things look somewhat familiar, the packaging is just about the same as home, the colors appear to be the same, items are appropriately grouped but when the names are in characters completely unfamiliar, you can't be sure if you're selecting shampoo or rinse! So it was with some relief when An Na, my assistant, and Song Min, her friend, offered to accompany me to the local market yesterday for a cultural outing!

We had fun together and they laughed as I ooh'd, aah'd and yes, (I'll admit it) even winced at some of the merchandise. There must have been 25 different varities of Korean noodles - thin, thick, wide, short, round, flat, green, white, brown...you get the picture. Then came the same assortment of sauces and spices - soy, sesame seeds (in large bottles and narrow plastic tubes), and hot spices in bottles, bags and cardboard containers.

Then, came the nibble-type foods - squid jerkey, including at least 3 varities - from the whole thing to just the legs or all chopped up - all dried and ready to eat at the first twang of hunger. If you don't feel like squid, there's crunchy dried anchovy. For a real treat, you can select seaweed - naturally in a wide variety of offerings. I've eaten the kind that is paper-thin flat and cut into a square. It's packaged like a deck of cards. But there's also very long, fat seaweed in a package that, when boiled, will feed a whole family - think spaghetti with leaf shoots along the stem. ...and of course many varieties in between.

For the most part, I stuck with familiar stuff - Sprite, margarine, a carrot, a tiny head of broccoli and the like. One new nibble food was sesame covered nuts - adventurous aren't I? The squid jerkey can wait. All 7 items came to $8,560 Won - a shocker at first glance, but it's the equivalent of about $8.75USD.

This morning was trash day - a lesson in recycling...but that's another story!
JB