Exotic

This exotic scent awakens every part of the body.

The mouth waters salivating for more. The skin tingles with a feeling of pleasure and pain mixed to lift up the entire body and soul. As soon as it is gone, it is missed.

Every squish and squirt reminds us of that exotic food we had once eaten but is now out of reach. Rich smells still linger in our mind. How can we dream of the exotic when we are living the ordinary? Is exotic really in the eye of the beholder?

The exotic Journey Begins

Let's take a ride on the exotic journey I call my ordinary life. I am a simple boy from the Midwest. I grew up with BMX bicycles and Nonna's mostacholes. The closest thing I knew to exotic was a Chiquita Banana.

Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Occidentally Disoriented

Moving from the Midwest in the US to South Korea meant my exotic became my ordinary and my ordinary became exotic. Orient became occident and occident became orient. One thing for certain was that every day began with Kimchi.

This is the tantalizing peppered pickle of Korea. The fermented smell would make me sick when I visited my Korean friends in America. Now this was part of my daily life. I lived with three guys and none of them wanted to cook or buy food. The kitchen only had kimchi, onions, ham, eggs, rice and soy sauce.

Kimchi in the morning

I would fry the kimchi in the morning and mix in some ham and eggs. This was the only way I could get any vegetables in my diet and the only way I could stomach the kimchi smell. I had no idea at the time that this was just the beginning of my kimchi journey.

After three months of living in Korea I was knocked out on the floor holding my stomach in pain. It took another three moths to get adjusted after that. But in six months I was a kimchi ninja ready to take on whatever hit me.

I could take on the cabbage kimchi, radish kimchi, new kimchi, fermented kimchi, extremely fermented kimchi and even fish kimchi.

Kimchi Fish

Living in the Midwest I was used to seeing fish meat frozen or processed. I never saw whole fish cooked in a pot of kimchi with bones. I felt like somebody had take a spoon of sea water and just scooped up whatever came out of the sea.

Sometimes I would see fish heads smiling at me or worse, frowning at me. Yet it was a matter of hospitality to accept this seafood dish with great gratitude. It is a special gift made for special company.

Holy Mackerel

Hae-Mul-Ttang (Sea Food Soup)

Bite them before they bite you

It took years to really appreciate all the exotic foods Korea had to offer. Some of these foods were introduced to me after a long hiking trip in a national park. When I came down from the mountain my friend said to try the wild locusts and silk worms.

I was so hungry I could eat anything. And I guess it is a normal thing to eat bugs when going hiking. Maybe it is a good way to prevent being eaten by bugs in the woods. Bite them before they bite you.

Makgeolli

At the same time I was offered a bowl of rice wine. My friend say, "It's not a drink. It's a meal. Just enjoy it." One little bowl had more alcohol than a can of beer but I did enjoy it. Instead of making my stomach upset this drink settled my stomach and made me feel real good. The Korean rice wine is called Makgeolli and is a pretty popular drink for people who work hard.

Beondegi

Play this video while reading. The rhythm patterns match. You will see.

Exotic Dancing

Now after listening to Buska Buska my stomach is ready for anything and I crave for the exotic. Raw fish and health soup is nothing. I want an exotic dance in my mouth. I want a challenge... I want to eat something that wants to eat me as much as I want to eat it.

I found my challenge in live octopus. This guy was so squirmy that I had bite and chew each piece to make sure it didn't attach it's suckers in my esophagus.

Live Octopus

These little guys dance your mouth when you eat them. They are really difficult to keep from squirming. My friends loved these with Soju. They said it helps calm down the octopus so you can eat it well.

The most important thing about these guys is not to swallow straight down. If you do that they can attach to you inside and then you can't breath. Eating any exotic foods we have to be careful.

More food surprises

Now the last exotic trip we will take is to the most southern part of the South Korean peninsula in the province of Cholla Nam Do. Here we find the South Sea and a people who have more food surprises than anywhere else on the Korean peninsula.

A man I worked with had a Cholla Nam Do accent and would tell me how homesick he was even though his hometown was just a six hour drive away.

Fermented Skate fish

After about six months he announced that his daughter got married and he celebrated by bringing a box of fermented skate fish from his home town. This is called Hong-eoh in Korean. This fish is not cooked it is just fermented until it really reeks like ammonia.

If I didn't know better I would have thought someone poured ammonia on this fish, but that's the point it is safe to eat. That's when you know it is fermented because it smells like an old out house. Taking a bite of this fish is taking a bite into Korea's exotic wild side.

Smell you later

There are also quite a few bones to chew through while my Cholla Nam Do friend is looking at me smiling. He said, "I knew it might be difficult for you so I brought you a home town drink from your hometown." Under the table he brought a big bottle of Jack Daniels. He was right the mixture was perfect. Soon I was asking for more.

Fermented Skate Fish

This is Billy. He works really hard on his Youtube every day teaching Korean. I respect his efforts bringing this exotic country and exotic language into the hands of millions.

Now it's time for the exotic challenge:

A. Try a totally new food TODAY for the first time and tell me about it in the comments.

or

B. Share a picture from the past of you eating an exotic food.