Pusan

A while back i traveled to Pusan. From Seoul (north east) it's on the opposite end of South Korea (south east). In the minds of Koreans it's rather far, 5-6 hours by car, but to me that's just a drive from home to the north shore in Minnesota.

Pusan, as it hugs the sea, is quite well known for great raw fish you can buy from fish markets - it's live and ready for you to choose, and they slaughter and fillet it on the spot. We stayed with a Korean friend's relative who lives there, a kind short portly Buddhist lady. She cooked up enoromous feasts during our stay, keeping with the custom which asks that one presents more than the visitor could ever consume. One of our meals consisted of this esteemed seafood, which was met with extreme delight other then one little exception: in front of me sat a spicey fish head soup. The relative claims Koreans find the head to be the best part of the fish, a beloved delicacy. As i wished not to disgrace my host, i indeed consumed all the weird innards of the fish head. I had to chew on the brian for its juices before putting it aside (as is the custom), and ate all the squishy textures and pieces of the eye ball. Apparently many elder Korean men love to chew on fish brain. Luckily i kept it all down and appreciate the experience, but i wont be calling home to tell mom the recipe.