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5 Foods you Must Try While Staying in Korea

• Posted by Gina Carter October 18, 2021 Filed in Business #Teach English in Korea  121 views
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  While teaching English in Korea, you will experience a whole new culture and tradition including its food variety. In this article, I am going to discuss five Korean foods you must try while staying and teaching English in Korea.

  

  1. Ramen - I know what you are thinking, ramen? First of all, if you go to the grocery store and go to the ramen aisle, there are enough flavors and varieties to give you a chance to try one new ramen every week during your one-year contract. Not only that but if you order it at the local kimbap shop, it will be served piping hot, with a boiled egg, sesame seeds, and sometimes rice cakes. Delicious, hot and it is about 2,000-3,000W per serving!
  2. Japchae - This is one of my absolute favorites and not something you will find often in restaurants, but you may get it served at your school on occasion, especially around the holidays. Japchae is a simple dish- Korean fried noodles, normally with spinach, mushroom, carrot, or other vegetables. You can also get Japchae Kimmari, which is like a deep-fried, seaweed-wrapped version of japchae! 
  3. Mandu - This was one of my favorites to order, not only because it is delicious, but because it is easy to say! Nearly every Korean restaurant will have some sort of mandu or dumplings on the menu. You can get vegetarian mandu, stuffed with spinach and cabbage, meat mandu, kimchi mandu, shrimp mandu- we literally had a restaurant in our city called Mandu Heaven. However, I was surprised that the prices weren’t a bit cheaper- normally around 4,000-6,000 won for five-seven pieces.
  4. Banchan - Banchan is what all those insta-worthy photos are all about. They are the little, complimentary dishes you will get when you dine in at a restaurant. Normally, they are quite good to eat on it’s own, but I will occasionally mix mine in with my bimbap or kimbap. Examples of banchan include kimchi, radish, dried fish, fish cakes, pickles, bean sprouts, black beans, green onion, peanuts, spicy prawns, sesame leaves, pumpkin, I even got crab legs at a restaurant once! Is your mouth watering yet?
  5. Kimchi - Okay, this one is obvious, but I think I slightly under-estimated the importance of kimchi in Korean culture. You can without a doubt, find it in any restaurant in Korea. Even the ex-pat favourite, Vato’s Tacos in Itaewon serves kimchi fries! There are three main types of kimchi- radish, cucumber and cabbage. You can eat kimchi with rice, in a soup, or as a side dish. We recommend frying it and putting with your scrambled eggs, or on top of cheese pizza!

  If you are looking for an English teaching job in Korea, Travel and Teach would be the perfect place to begin your journey. They receive new positions from schools on an ongoing basis; feel free to apply even if the listing does not coincide with your preferred starting date.