Snacks Wrapped in Trash
Korea has some of the best sweets on the streets. They have these amazing caramelized sugar patties, red bean walnut balls, roasted nuts, cream waffles.. the list goes on and on… Ugh, I love it.
I had a pretty funny experience recently with street snacks. I was on my way home and I smelled something amazing coming from a side street. I ventured down this little road and came across an old woman behind a greased up flat top grill. When I say greased up, I mean there was a layer of butter thick enough to swim in. (ew… sorry) The woman behind it looked like she was homeless. She was dressed in rags, she had only a few teeth left and was wearing a winter coat (it’s summer now). She was frying up these doughy globs of red bean filled gunk. She would cook one side, flip it, and smash down the other side. I kept wanting her to say Bam!… She didn’t though.
Some people may turn away in disgust at the sight of a seemingly homeless woman frying up alien fritters on a dirty side street in a major city. Not me! It was all too colorful. I wouldn’t want to say I didn’t.
I ordered a mystery pancake, waited and watched. The woman reached over to a small day-by-day calender and ripped off a page from December. I was perplexed and then I realized what my special treat was going to be served on. I handed her my ₩1,000 bill and just sort of took it all in. I stared at my snack for about three seconds and raised my head back up to her slowly. We were both silent for a moment until she suddenly let out a giggle that said “Yeah, I just served you a snack on trash and it’s gonna‘ be delicious”. I laughed back at her and walked away.
Before I came to Korea I worked in restaurant kitchens. One thing I learned was that a dining experience is all about presentation. You gotta’ make the customer’s dinner look pretty. I threw out everything I ever learned in those kitchens the day I ate a fried red-bean fritter out of calender paper in Korea. It was one of the best snacks I’ve ever had. If you ever find yourself in this situation, don’t run away. Pay the woman your dollar and enjoy yourself.
Submitted to 10 by Mike Durkee of mikedurkee.com.
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