Busan’s street foods stay true to their origins

Overview of food alley at BIFF plaza, Busan. (Korea Tourism Organization)

Along with the spread of social media, there has been a rapid change in street food trends, from previously focusing on taste to being increasingly fixated on providing visual pleasure.

People who once enjoyed the food itself are now seeking fancy or extravagant presentations to show off on Facebook or Instagram.

Although Busan also has picture-worthy street foods, such as water drop mochi and skewered fruits covered with syrup, its food alleys in Nampo-dong -- Gukje market, Kkangtong market and the plaza for its annual Busan International Film Festival -- attract tourists with street foods that have stayed true to their humble origins.

There are three signature foods in Busan -- fish cake, gukbap (pork and rice soup) and seed-filled hotteok, among which the only true street food is the hotteok. The seed-filled hotteok did not enjoy the iconic status it enjoys today until it was shown on reality show “1 Night, 2 Days” in December 2010, whereupon singer and actor Lee Seung-gi ate it with great relish.

In the middle of the food alley at BIFF plaza are adjacent competing vendors selling seed-filled hotteok: Seung-gi hotteok, which was introduced on “1 Night, 2 Days,” and Original Mr. Hotteok, which later was seen on “Gourmet Road” as the first seed-filled hotteok vendor launched in 1987.

Earlier this month, a continuous stream of people lined up in front of both vendors. “This is the first time I am getting the seed-filled hotteok. The line always made me curious, but I hesitated to join it since I knew that I needed to wait for about half an hour,” said a local resident surnamed Park.

Seed-filled hotteok is made of glutinous rice flour and fried with margarine, which allows for a gooey and crispy texture all at the same time.

“I’ve seen this on TV shows, and this is really delicious,” said a tourist surnamed Choi from Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, adding “it’s more like nut bread rather than hotteok.”

There are plenty more street foods in the Nampo-dong food alleys, including tteokbokki, fish cake and fried tofu pouch filled with glass noodles and vegetables.

Flat dumplings with squid and cabbage with vinegar dressing. (Jung Eun-jin/The Korea Herald)

Flat dumplings, a signature food of Gyeongsang Province, are nothing like your typical dumplings. Flat wraps made of wheat flour and glutinous rice flour and filled with meat and vegetables are used to wrap up the accompanying spicy squid and cabbage seasoned with vinegar dressing for a gooey treat.

“It is more like eating chomuchim (squid and cabbage seasoned with vinegar dressing) with buckwheat crepes, because of the wrap’s gooey texture,” said a tourist surnamed Jang from Seoul.

For the young ones, water drop mochi, a bubble-shaped translucent rice cake made from seaweed and covered with chocolate syrup and bean powder, is simply enchanting.

“Look! This is so pretty,” called out a child passing by the vendor.

By Jung Eun-jin (jej2403@heraldcorp.com)