I get a kick out of strolling through the markets. There's nothing quite like them back home. I suppose flea markets would pose a fair comparison, but most of the flea markets that I've enjoyed are seasonal and usually limited to one or two days a week, (and you'd be hard pressed to find a flea market where people are literally butchering livestock in front of you while simultaneously hocking items like socks, hiking apparel, and kitchen utensils). The markets here are open everyday of the year. There is no sign that reads "weather permitting". The scents and the scenes change every 40 steps or so and the food is plentiful and cheap.
At first glance, especially to an untrained eye such as your own, these markets all appear to be larger or smaller versions of the same thing, and to that I say...yeah, for the most part, the market places are all fairly similar. They can all be (and will be) rated on criteria such as: Food, (duh), Variety, (obscure vendors score points here), and Freaky Deaky (the main reason why I go to these places).
I'll be using an arbitrary rating scale of 1-9. I'm sick of ten being the gold standard. And an odd number makes one number, 5 in this case, the middle, therefore actually allowing the system to account for "average".
The first market I'll sample is Seonam Market which is located just west of Duryu Park, (not to be confused with the much larger and much more well known Seomun Market).
Sidewalk/street vendors like these are a telltale sign that a traditional market is close by. A dead giveaway would be the cart of flower printed pants in the foreground.
The main stretch. Surprisingly mellow for a nice Saturday afternoon.
The streets leading into the market were lined with giant heaps of garlic. You could probably smell this place from 3 miles away.
Here's a cart full of dried fish; some of it bagged, some of it boxed, and some of it just lying there with glassy eyes and mouths agape.
They were grinding these chilies into powder which noticeably altered the air quality in this corner of the market.
Not much to say about this. Just a bunch of fish.
Pajeon! (파전) Somewhere between a Korean pancake and a Korean pizza depending on which type you order. The kimchi variety, (far left, front row), is my favorite.
Rice Cakes (떡). These little guys come in all shapes and sizes and make for the perfect Market-strolling-snack. Not pictured are the ones rolled in sesame seeds with red bean paste in the middle. My coteacher brings them to school sometimes and if it wasn't rude to do so, I'd devour them all.
Just some fish on a grill.
Jokbal (족발). Boiled pig's feet. That's what you're looking at. Pig's feet that have been boiled for hours in a giant vat in some darkened alley. Sounds pretty dodgy but it's quite tasty especially when it's paired with kimchi and wrapped in a sesame leaf. Seonam Market is famous for this stuff and had I known beforehand, I would have sampled the goods. I find it hard to believe that one section of town can boil feet better than the other, but I'm not a podiatrist. I am however an expert when it comes to this:
Mandu (만두) Step aside other street foods. Mandu is my absolute favorite snack in Korea. I call it a snack because it's not really a meal even though me and someone who shall remain nameless (Josh) may or may not have (may have) devoured upwards of 25-30 of these guys in one sitting. (Don't look at me like that). That's 25-30 between two of us. An easy feat considering 10 of the smaller ones, which are filled with either minced pork or kimchi and minced pork (the best kind), are usually around 3500W (2.50 USD).
I shall refer to these as Garage Sale Stores. Every market has at least one. Some have two or three, (or more). While it looks like some post apocalyptic-roadside-gypsy camp, these are usually fairly organized establishments, (organized in a way that if you ask the owner for something, they usually have it and they usually know exactly where it is).
This picture is relevant because all over the city we've seen watermelon priced exuberantly. I'm talking upwards of 22,000W (about 21 USD). I've named this place the Mom and Pop Melon Platform/Store. You can see the actual storefront in the background of the photo. The whole place was full of melons and some of these melons, (the smaller lot), were going for a very affordable price of 4,000W (3 USD). Caroline loves watermelon so she was happy to buy one though I keep forgetting to ask her how it was.
I mentioned her excitement but did you think her head would actually turn into a watermelon?
Seonam Market
Size: Average
And now for the best part. As mentioned, I'm going to arbitrarily rate Seonam Market on a scale of 1-9 in the following 3 criteria: Food, Variety, and Freaky Deaky. I've chosen to use spatulas to represent the ratings. Why? I don't know, it was the first word that popped into my head.
Food: I've definitely seen a larger variety of foods at other markets but all of the food here at Seonam looked and smelled really good.
Score: 6 spatulas
Variety: Nothing jumps out at me here.
Score: 3 spatulas
Freak Deaky: Multiple pig foot boiling stations. One or two butchers dismantling entire hogs. Not much else though.
Score: 3 spatulas
Total Score: 12/27
Not a bad score considering this market flies under the radar. Although the Freaky score was lower than what I'd like to see in a market, I'd definitely head back to this place as the prices were more than fair and the people running shop were very friendly.
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