Anthony Bourdain, Eat Your Heart Out!

Welcome the bf- another guest blog for Man & Food:

Lunch time, Northridge CA - So there I was, in Northridge trying to think of where I should have lunch. Several places came to mind but none whet my whistle quite like the Korean market! If you haven't been to a Korean market before let me be the first to tell you that you are missing out!

I have never been to Korea but I feel like once you enter the doors to these markets you are practically transported there. They aren't like a typical American supermarket. Not at all. When you shop at a American market all you really do is SHOP. Korean markets, at least all of the ones I have been to, are like mall meets market. When you enter the "foyer" you are smacked in the face with the waft of a food court. Also in the entry are several retail stores that sell items from jewelry to toilets (yes I have seen toilets and have no idea who buys one at a market) and even perfume counters.

Anyway, even though you know you are in a market most of the signage is still in Korean. It can be quite a challenge figuring out what each dish is really about so after walking by each food vendor I decided to go with the most bland/safest choice: Udon Noodle Soup! It was delish. Although there were a couple of things that were unidentifiable. You can see one of them in the picture. They are rectangular fried rice? squid? fish? I have no idea, but they were tasty. Another thing that came up in the dish was this semi circular something. I can't definitively say what it was because the outer layer was a bright pink, more pink than anything natural. I assume it was rice based but I don't really know what it was.

I would love to know everything that I may have eaten the other day, please let me know with your comments! ** D here. I'll take a stab at it that the unnaturally pink thing was a fish cake called kamaboko.