Squimy, Chewy, Wet

and smelly...

Entering the Noryangin Fish Market is an awe inspiring experience sure to alert all the senses. Over 700 vendors in 66,000 square meter warehouse selling everything from shrimp, crab, flounder, eel, and live octopus to the exotic spoon worm, sea cucumber, and sea Ray. The shear expanse is intimidating and quite often you have a hard time believing people would actually eat some of the creatures on display. You may even wonder if they aren't in fact imported from another galaxy! If you've seen Andrew Zimmern's Seoul episode of Bizarre Foods, you get an idea what I'm talking about: http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Bizarre_Foods/Episodes_Travel_Guides/Episode_South_Korea

Shwa, Karen, Jessie, and I (friends that teach here in Seoul) along with some visitors of Shwa and also Paul Fricano (one of my friends visiting for the week) undertook this experience together. It started out with basically shock and awe. Lots of "Good Lord, what is that?" and "Is this for real?!" But, it didn't take long before we were jumping right in and haggling for the best price.

Each of us bought one of the tasty sea creatures and then we made our way over to a restaurant in the corner of the warehouse. We simply handed them our catch and they proceeded to prepare it for us while we enjoyed some yummy beverages.

The meal started out with steamed crab and scallops (alive only a few minutes ago!). A safe and comfortable beginning to what would prove to be the craziest meal of my life. Like none I've ever had before the scallops and crab were unbelievably tender and tasty. Highly recommend!

Shortly after, our waitress brought out the sannakji, or live octopus. Definitely a challenging delicacy! The octopus is first cleaned and then sliced up, but the nerves in the octopus don’t die right away, so the tentacles squirm around like crazy on the plate! You eat it by dipping in a salt and sesame oil sauce so it has a chewy, nutty, sea flavor. Aside from the mental battle, the most challenging part proved to be getting the darn things in your mouth. The little suckers gripped the plate, then the chopsticks, and finally the inside of your mouth! All in all, an accomplishment I won't soon forget...

We were also sure to get a rockfish for the Korean specialty, Hwae. The rockfish was picked out of a huge tank like a zoo aquarium. Our vendor took a big hook and brought the fish up from the tank by the gills. He looked at us for approval, slammed the fish onto a cutting board, smashed the fish over the head with a hammer and filleted it right there into nice rectangular pieces of sashimi. Now that is fresh!

Hwae is any raw, sliced fish (usually Kwango [flounder], Wooruk [rockfish], or Nongo [Sea Bass]) We placed the sliced rockfish on a leaf of lettuce and then topped it with raw garlic, green pepper, and Korean vinegared red pepper paste. Seriously yummy!

We ate all this and then some with a plethora of different side dishes typical of Korea. The meal ended with a big bowl of Maeuntang, which is like a spicy Bouillabaisse. I made the mistake of wondering what had happened to the octopus heads, and as karma would have it, they reappeared in the soup still Breathing!! Of course the challenge of the night became to stomach an entire octopus head in one mouthful (of which I couldn't bring myself to do). But kudos to Paul and Jessie!

The fish market = SUPER amazing! Top five travel experience thus far. A fantastic cultural experience as well as a serious mind and body challenge not for the faint of heart!