Korean Traditional Market – Experienced as a Local

Shopping and visiting a Korean Traditional Market is a must thing to do for all the foreigners. It is the simplest way to embrace the culture and the beauty of the people.

Since I moved in Jochiwon (almost 2 hours of distance from the capital) I developed some kind of habit of shopping at Korean Traditional Market for the sake of saving some money. The first time that I experienced it I was little confused with so many things that I did not know. Besides I was also afraid because you mostly find old people working in there and I thought maybe I could have problems to communicate. However it turned to be a really amazing experience!. Since then I go to the korean traditional market very often and I always have a great time there.

In korean traditional market you can find not just vegetables and fruit but fish and seafood, meat, pork and chicken, cloths, cosmetics, household and even some places to enjoy simple food. My favorite place in here is where I can buy Banchan (??) or better known as “side dishes”. I really do not know how to cook any Korean food, not even the side dishes but I can find them  easily. Lucky me!! The variety of dishes is huge!! And ingredients as well. Even better is that most of them are very healthy, so I always buy at least three different side dishes. My favorites are sweet squid, small fishes and black beans.

When it is about the prices, anything compared with the one in the super market, is sooooo cheap. Although sometimes is a little complicated because there are so many things I never saw before and then I do not know about the taste, but after a while I just gave a try to most of them and eat and cook in my own way. It turned that nowadays I eat healthier than ever and I am also eating food that I never imagined I could eat. And I just love the fact that the vegetables and fruit are so fresh.

However among all those good things about the experience in Korean traditional market, the best is of course the people. I have the opportunity to meet really nice and hard worker Koreans. Like always they are very generous and noble. I have so many stories where Koreans give me some advice in cooking, give me something to try or even give me something for free as gift. I am always glad to visit them back and buy more stuffs from their stand and feel that they are someone familiar.

So I took my friend to korean traditional market to show her around and share the amazing experience with her. I challenged her to spend just 10.000 won in the market and the result was perfect! We ended up buying potatoes, rice, lettuce, tangerines and even a nail polish. But since I wanted to share it also with more people I decided to take my camera with me and record all our adventure. Have a look to the video and enjoy the traditional market experience in Korea like me and my friend.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyzK9RFelUA[/embedyt]