Beondegi

As with any city around the world, Ulsan offers a wide variety of street cuisines to choose from when one is wandering around downtown. One of the more "distinctive" Korean street-food specialties is beondegi, which I've had the lack of sense to try two or three times. literally means "pupa" or "chrysalis" in Korean, and it is just that: silkworm pupae which are boiled or steamed and seasoned. It is one of the oddest foods I've ever eaten (and I've even eaten camel before!). One of the best descriptions I've heard is that it tastes like "moldy dust." Certainly, it has a strange texture inside, but there really isn't much taste to it beyond whatever seasoning it has been prepared in. Depending on the city one is in, it can cost between 500 and 2,000 won for a small paper cup full of pupae. I've never been able to finish an entire cup, but just a few can actually be quite appetizing from time to time. Impromptu polling of my students and friends leads me to believe that one either loves it or hates it, and there seem to be equal numbers on both sides of the debate. There is also tinned beondegi available in most grocery stores, but I haven't been brave enough to try it yet.