Markets and Grocery Stores in South Korea

Are you in need of some spicy squid sauce? Do you feel like cooking crabs, that you get alive at the market, for supper? Well if your answer is yes to either of these questions, you would love to roam the street markets here in South Korea! Here in our part of Pyeongtaek, a suburb of the city, there is a street market called the 3/8 Market. This is because it occurs every day that ends in a 3 or 8. And the best part about this market is that it is just right down the street from our apartment!

You can find about anything from chicken on a stick, to fresh and frozen seafood, to candy and dry goods, to freshly made donuts and hottueks (a fried dough with a peanut, seed, and cinnamon mix in the middle) at these markets, and this is not even the markets in the city that continue on for a couple blocks! You can even find a side-down restaurant stand if you come over your lunch hour, and many different types of kimichi for sale! I tend to go right as the market opens so that I can have a good first pick of the produce, and to beat the hustle and bustle of all the people that eventually come. But sometimes I like to go in the middle of the day to get the feeling of being in a busy, crowded market in a different country, which I will miss when we return to the states.

Daniel and I prefer to get our weekly fresh produce at the market since the prices are way cheaper and the produce lasts a long time! I do miss my raspberries but when the strawberries are in season here, they are super sweet, compared to most strawberries in the states. One stand at the end of the street has live crabs and little squids and octopus. It is fun to sometimes watch them try to escape their little tubs, and to see the stand owner corale a handful of live crabs into a bag for a customer!

The grocery stores and supermarkets here are similar (to the street markets) in the fact that there are always different seafood options and odd meat choices at times. There are also whole aisles just for rice and seaweed at most grocery stores. And I always find it interesting to see what American snacks they have or close knock-offs. The grocery stores here are very similar to the one in the states with the bakery section, the butcher and meat area, and the dry goods in the middle aisles. You just probably won't see the same selections of tofu and different flavored milk that they have here!