Food Expo at COEX Exhibition Center

On Sunday Eric and I took the Metro to the COEX mall. First, I wandered around the food court. A special Red Mango with self-serve bits of fruits to top frozen yogurt. Pinkberry in Southern California is a spawn of Red Mango. I always wondered who created such an odd name for a frozen yogurt place. Now it makes sense, given Korea's penchant for off-the-wall English names. The frozen yogurt is sour and low in calories.

Each fast food place had its own water cooler.

Here is the peaceful, airy food court.

Next, I headed to the Food Expo, while Eric explored a cycling expo. I paid 3,000 won to look at foods offered by different vendors. It was the perfect event for a food service manager. Many people were taking photos of the products, so I felt at home.

A few items stood out.

Red yeast rice:

Black Garlic:

Fresh Rice Cakes:

Carefully bagged lettuce locked in a display case:

Mixed rice and seafood cups:

Traditional Korean Rice Cake Display:

Seoul Food Festival: Namsan Tower & Namsangol Hanok Village

"Slow food" is the opposite of fast food. No, it's not food served very slowly. Actually, it's healthy food served quickly. Great idea, but perhaps a different term should be used. "Slow food" brings back negative memories of frustration and hunger when receiving slow meal service!

The Seoul Food Festival included free food samples at various places around Seoul. We watched ajummas prepare bulgogi at Seoul Tower, which featured popular modern foods. We sampled tteok (rice cake) and soup at Namsangol Hanok Village, which served peasant fare.

When Sandy bought some water, a Korean lady handed her a paper cup of cold, sweet mi-sook-kar-u. (I'll do a post on this drink soon.) The woman had noticed we were foreign and bought Sandy the drink to be nice! She asked where we were from and introduced her husband. It's not the first time that Koreans have given Sandy free food or drink. We're still trying to figure out why she always gets the freebies.

A professional photographer asked to take our photo with the rice cakes. Often time event brochures and websites include photos of foriegners. Maybe we'll be pictured on next year's website!

Good Advertising?

Here is a picture of an outdoor eatery at the Gangjin Celadon Festival. I've noticed that many restaurants place animal legs, hides, or live seafood at their entrances. I assume that the legs prove the meat's origins and that the seafood shows freshness. Perhaps these items even attract people to the restaurant. As for me, I find myself wary about eating meat when I see a squashed carcus.