"Korea is Not So Bad!" Food Addendum

Nami has entrusted me with describing the delicious variety of snacks to be found in Korea. It's hard to know where to begin when this summer has been filled with so many gastronomic adventures. However, I'll start by saying that Koreans have an even sweeter tooth than I do.

A) Shaved Ice Sundaes. Also known as Patbingsu (a word I frequently mispronounce), Korea's shaved iced sundae is my biggest addiction. It's essentially a sundae where most of the icecream has been replaced by ice. If you're thinking of Italian ice, stop. Patbingsu is so different. They pour some sort of milk over the ice (sounds gross but it's not), then they add up to 5 different fresh fruit toppings - kiwi, strawberry, mango, banana, whatever, and top everything off with a scoop of ice cream or frozen yogurt. The most important ingredient, however, is the red bean. Red bean is a magical legume that replaces the many tablespoons of sugar and butter American desserts are so dependent on (I'm assuming the beans are healthy. please don't tell me if i'm wrong). Ok, so when you get your patbingsu, the first thing you do is mix everything together into a kind of icy porridge. It actually starts to look really gross but it's what you have to do to maximize the tastiness of each bite. Also I speak from experience when I say that you should never try to eat one by yourself. Your stomach will explode and you will die. Happened to a friend of a friend.

B) Dunkin' Donuts. I'm not kidding. The Dunks are different here. They have about twice the variety of donuts (melon, almond shavings, heart-shaped) and coolata flavors (greenteabanana). Click around on the website to see what I mean. It's fun. However, I specifically want to talk about one oven-fresh innovation Korean Dunks has going for it. It's called the "Chewisty" (a word I actually can only say with a korean accent "Cheweesty") and it harnesses the glutinous power of mochi to make the bread extra chewy. Nami and I discovered these in the Jeju airport on Sunday and we've averaged about 1.5 a day ever since. They come in fun shapes and flavors and bring light to our lives during an otherwise tedious day of SAT torture .

C) Korean Tea. There's this coffee machine at our academy where for 200 won (20 cents?) I can get a hot little cup of this korean milk tea. A student introduced me to it warning "oh, you're going to love this!" or something along those lines. He was pretty much right and my physics class pretty much turned into him watching me drink my weight in this tea. I actually have no idea what the tea is made of (I can't read the label on the button I push) but it's kind of grainy and sweet. Anyway, that's some good, unknown tea.

D) BBang. How do i even begin to recount my summer love affair with this food? I don't even like croissants or muffins that much but bbang is different. It comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Some are painted in sugar glaze, others sprinkled with spongy bread crumbs; some are shaped like bear claws, others like balls or cubes; some are chewy like chewisty, others are filled with cream or red bean. It's like Dr. Seuss invented it. That whole wheat, 30-grain, 200% DV dietary fiber stuff doesn't exist here. Only bbang. Customs is going to tear open my bag to find me smuggling a whole bakery of it into the US.

That's only the tip of the sugar cube. Korea also boasts elaborate waffle sundaes, chocolate filled cookies shaped like imaginary creatures (Nami and I are fans of the mushroom people ones), large freezers in every covenience store selling dozens of ice cream novelties, and a delicious variety of street desserts. I'll elaborate more if I get a chance but suffice it to say that if they could turn the Cheonggyecheon stream into chocolate syrup, Korea would be Willy Wonka's candy room made reality.