So, you all may be wondering what this picture is and what it says. Well, the Korean isn't as important as what they are serving. You all know I love me some chicken, especially boneless chicken tenders. Well, guys and dolls, this place takes that love of boneless fried chicken tenders to a completely new level. This place, located on the streets of 이대 (Ehwa Womens University), has bite-sized boneless fried chicken mixed together with rice cakes (떡) in a sweet yet spicy sauce, complete with some tater-tots. I swear to god, this is both the best thing ever created and the worst: the taste rivals the most expensive food but the calorie and fat intake, dear lord, has to be terrible. This is actually one of many more cart food places that serve the same thing, counting 4 within a 2 mile radius. However, on a much larger scale, these places that serve food on the street (street food if you will) are both a cultural gem and a legal conundrum. If you include the food and the street vendors that sell clothing, shoes, accessories, etc. that can be found lining the streets of Myeongdong, Shinchon, and any number of places, it would seem as if it were completely legal. In all actually, until recently, all of it was illegal, on a massive scale. There is this notion in Korea that space is not easily owned, and so public space belongs to whoever stands there and sells things first. Because this has grown into such an embedded concept in Korea's daily practice, it cannot easily be 'legalized' given the current Korean legal system. So, from what I've noticed, there seem to be certain days, at least here in 이대, where all the vendors go on 'vacation', which happens to coincide with the same day police patrol the area. Only recently have I seen some vendors with official government seals and carts stamped on them, indicating that they are trying to legalize some of these vendors. But the vast majority still operate completely outside the law. Imagine if hot dog vendors could just plant themselves anywhere they wanted in America.... we may just run out of hot dogs!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Day 60: Illegally Legal
So, you all may be wondering what this picture is and what it says. Well, the Korean isn't as important as what they are serving. You all know I love me some chicken, especially boneless chicken tenders. Well, guys and dolls, this place takes that love of boneless fried chicken tenders to a completely new level. This place, located on the streets of 이대 (Ehwa Womens University), has bite-sized boneless fried chicken mixed together with rice cakes (떡) in a sweet yet spicy sauce, complete with some tater-tots. I swear to god, this is both the best thing ever created and the worst: the taste rivals the most expensive food but the calorie and fat intake, dear lord, has to be terrible. This is actually one of many more cart food places that serve the same thing, counting 4 within a 2 mile radius. However, on a much larger scale, these places that serve food on the street (street food if you will) are both a cultural gem and a legal conundrum. If you include the food and the street vendors that sell clothing, shoes, accessories, etc. that can be found lining the streets of Myeongdong, Shinchon, and any number of places, it would seem as if it were completely legal. In all actually, until recently, all of it was illegal, on a massive scale. There is this notion in Korea that space is not easily owned, and so public space belongs to whoever stands there and sells things first. Because this has grown into such an embedded concept in Korea's daily practice, it cannot easily be 'legalized' given the current Korean legal system. So, from what I've noticed, there seem to be certain days, at least here in 이대, where all the vendors go on 'vacation', which happens to coincide with the same day police patrol the area. Only recently have I seen some vendors with official government seals and carts stamped on them, indicating that they are trying to legalize some of these vendors. But the vast majority still operate completely outside the law. Imagine if hot dog vendors could just plant themselves anywhere they wanted in America.... we may just run out of hot dogs!
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Tim, I don't know if you've heard the reason why the cops look the other way. It's because the the vendors pay "protection money" to "an entity" which "suggests" to the police a good time to patrol the street for vendors.
ReplyDeleteIt may be partly due to that, but I think Koreans would seriously be up in arms if all of a sudden all the street vendors were shut down. Part of the appeal of Korean shopping are these street vendors, it's part of Korea's 'sparkle' for Japanese and Chinese to come visit. It's money, but it's also culture.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds soooo delicious... *drools* I'm guessing this is a recent food fad? Don't remember seeing these when I was there
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