Korean Cornbread and Other Street Snacks

The blustery cold, about 15 degrees fahrenheit that night, didn't stymie the street food vendors or the steady stream of customers on a bustling pedestrian-only street across the road from the big Lotte department store in Seoul. That night I dined on snacks.

My favorite was the hot cornbread with a hard-boiled egg in the middle (above).

Skewers of mixed sausage were sold by several vendors. The sausages were on the sweet side, and some consisted of sausage casing with a bit of meat wrapped around a chewy rice cake, sort of a Korean reverse pig in the blanket.

The longest line was for the grilled chicken skewers. I joined the line and had me a Korean kebab.

As I was walking around I kept seeing these tables with dried octopus tentacles and other dried seafood. Finally I picked up one of those paper cups full of dried octopus slices. A woman took it from me and heated the pieces up, I think on a charcoal grill, and returned them to me, warm and smoky. Octopus chips.