Korean Kronicals: International Food Festival

One of the great advantages to now living in Seoul as opposed to Incheon is the numerous festivals and events that are being held in Seoul almost every weekend. It is not that attending these festivals was impossible living in Incheon, it is just that it was not nearly as convenient and it was extremely difficult to learn about these events living outside of Seoul as well. This past weekend was an International Food Festival held in the unofficial "international district" of Seoul; Itaewon. This is an event that I had wanted to attend for the last two years, but only learned about after the event had passed. Friends of mine would say, "Oh, I went to this fun International Food Festival this weekend," and I would be disappointed for another year. This year that was not the case, as I ride a bus through Itaewon everyday on my way to work, I saw the advertisements and made sure I was going to attend.

So this festival was really fun, and I made sure to make the most of it. Up and down this very popular street were tents and each tent represented a different country from around the world. At these tents you could purchase food that represented that country. There must have been around 20 different countries represented. Some of them were commonly eaten cuisines such as Thai, Indian, and Mexican, but others were more exotic such as Moroccan, Uzbekistani, and Iranian. They even had a Singapore tent and I was really excited to hopefully try some of the foods I so dearly miss from my previous home country. However, I was disappointed upon approaching the stall to see they only sold ginger chicken, which is not uniquely Singaporean nor is it really a popular dish. I was hoping for some beef hor fun, or some char siew wanton noodles, or even some chicken rice, but no such luck. The American tent was a real treat though! Buttermilk chicken biscuits. I got to teach my Korean friends a little bit about my culture and share stories of my grandmother, MaMa, cooking fresh buttermilk biscuits almost every morning when we visited her. I boasted that I had never had a biscuit that could compare to those, but upon eating this biscuit I have to say it was very reminiscent of MaMa's. These small and rare reminders of America, my childhood, and my family are special when living abroad. You learn to treasure them.

The festival included other things besides just food. There was a parade, which my brand new rugby team I had just joined literally earlier that day was in the parade and I had the chance to participate in it, but not having any of the team gear and already having made plans I was reduced to just watching the parade. There was also music throughout the festival. They had one stage set up for different DJs to show off their DJing skills. Electronic music is not really my scene and I really don't understand the "skill" involved in DJing enough to appreciate it, so I didn't spend much time there. There was another stage showing cultural performances from different countries, which, from the few I saw, seemed interesting, but honestly I spent most of my time bouncing from food tent to food tent trying as much food as possible. I definitely ate enough to make up for the last two years when I missed the festival.