Seaweed

I spent 18 years in California, hating that annoying marine shrub that wounds itself around us every time we went into the beach. But, nearing the ripe old age of 23, I've discovered a healthy appreciation for what we call Seaweed. And who knew it tasted so good?


The top picture is of gimp, a dried and salted piece of seaweed. Koreans eat them like potato chips out here. I know it sounds wierd, but its the most delicious thing I've discovered (aside from Barbecue that is). The seaweed is paper thin but crunchy. The main danger of eating too many is you can get lots of green stuff stuck between your teeth.

The bottom picture is of beepembops (that's the phonetic spelling) and I eat at least one every day, usually for lunch. They cost about a buck and consist of seaweed, rice, and a filling of some sort of protein. They come wrapped up in a ball and you microwave it for a minute or two and then kind of smash the ball open with your chopsticks. Usually the center is tuna or chicken, but this particular beepembop came with Kimchi, the fermented cabbage I mentioned earlier. Not my favorite Korean staple (if you think dried fruit made you gassy, try being around people who eat fermented cabbage for at least 2 meals a day, every day...) They come wrapped up in a tin foil ball with writing I don't understand on it, so I never really know what I'm going to find in the middle. Kind of like a cereal box. It's just rice and seaweed, so the only flavor is what the center provides. It's not the most delicious food I've encountered here, but it's so cheap and filling I really enjoy it.

*Sidenote. Korean food in general is incredibly healthy. These both cost between one and two dollars and the main ingredients in both are seaweed and rice. I find it interesting that the cheapest food options in Korea consist of such healthy ingredients while in America, our cheapest food is whatever is on the Dollar Menu at McDonalds.