Destination: Korea Food Expo (2010)



Finding your way wasn't as difficult as the signs made it look. While the Korea Food Expo intended to show off Korea's food to the world, that world didn't seem to notice. A shoutout goes to Matt from On My Way to Korea - who showed up early to try out all the makgeolli samples :)



Different colors of rice cakes - this was more for show than eating, although the varieties you'll be able to buy elsewhere can be for either purpose.



Plenty of ginseng for sale - still not sure precisely how these plants are graded - any ginseng aficionados out there that can fill me in? I've heard that the more it looks like a person and the older it is, the more valuable it supposedly is...



Before drinking makgeolli (a milky-colored rice wine), you'll want to shake it first. This gentlemen looked as though he had plenty of experience shaking his white bottles of rice wine.



Squid soondae, anyone? If this looks like something from Fear Factor, it wouldn't surprise me.



Tomatoes and olives make a Korean flag.



I didn't see anything to identify these foods... but the lighting was nice.

Another section of the expo was more about artistic display than sales:





I couldn't help but feel like I was at the Seoul Design Fair all over again - beautiful designs, but seemingly only there to allow people to live vicariously. Sure, it's pretty, but I'd rather spend my time eating, not designing.



I wondered about the timing of this cornucopia of fall harvest-time veggies with the American Thanksgiving just around the corner.



Take all the oysters, take out the pearls, and replace them with cherry tomatoes. Why? Who knows - it's art!



With time running out, one booth showed a few dishes in much the same way some restaurants show off their offerings.

While the displays were interesting and the samples plentiful, there was almost zero English available. There was supposedly an English-language version of the floor guide - on the first floor. What, having some by the entrance at the third-floor information desk wasn't possible? It was a fun walk-around, and would have been an interesting place to spend a day if you were so inclined. Now that it's over, you'll have to go back to learning about food from blogs like ZenKimchi and Seoul Eats, vlogs like Maangchi, or websites like KoreaTaste.org.

Ratings (out of 5 taeguks): How do I rate destinations?
Ease to arrive:


Foreigner-friendly:


Convenience facilities:

Worth the visit:

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