Name: bungeoppang 
Description: These are cakes shaped like fish (for luck) and filled with red bean or custard. They are usually bought in bags of five or ten.
Memory: A friend introduced it as “fishy bread.”
Where You Can Find It: South Korea
Best Eaten: During the winter
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes

Name: tall ice cream
Description: soft serve ice cream that’s about 32 cm tall
Memory: Seeing two people share one cone
Where You Can Find It: Seoul, South Korea
Best Eaten When: Strolling around
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes

Name: kimchi fried rice (kimchi bokkeumbap)
Description: Kimchi and fried rice had a baby and it was wonderful.
Memory: In a cafe in Insadong
Where You Can Find It: South Korea
Best Eaten When: Really hungry
Vegetarian Friendly: Usually no (because of the egg)
Number of Calories: 200 calories per serving

Name: soju
Description: Soju is a rice-based alcoholic beverage. 
Memory: I received a box of this a week before seollal, the Korean New Year. 
Where You Can Find It: South Korea
History: This dates back to the 13th century when Mongols invaded Korea. [Via Wikipedia]
Best Drunk: After eating spicy or fried foods
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Number of Calories: 540 calories per bottle

Name: beondegi
Description
Memory: Walking into markets. I like imagining that they’re alive and waiting to walk away from their paper prisons.
Where You Can Find It: South Korea
History: It was widely eaten years ago when there wasn’t enough food in Korea. 
Best Eaten: As a snack, or if one is feeling adventurous
Vegetarian Friendly:

Name: tornado potato
Description: This is a deep fried potato cut in a spiral shape with a machine, dusted with cheese powder, and eaten on a stick. 
Memory: One winter afternoon in Myeongdong, Seoul
Where You Can Find It: South Korea
Best Eaten: After shopping
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Number of Calories: 212 calories per stick

Name: kimbap
Description: Kimbap (or gimbap) is steamed rice (bap) mixed with other things such as cucumbers, spinach, carrots, and radish rolled in seaweed (kim). 
Memory: I made this with a group of students.
Where You Can Find It: Seoul, South Korea
History: It is derived from Japanese futomaki sushi. [Via Wikipedia]
Best Eaten When: Having lunch
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Number of Calories: 331 calories per roll

Name: egg bread (gyeran bbang)
Description: Gyeran bbang is a small muffin with a whole egg cooked inside or on top.
Memory: My friend bought me some while walking around Seoul. 
Where You Can Find It: South Korea
Best Eaten When: You are hungry. There’s an entire egg (yolk included) in there, so don’t go crazy and eat too many!
Vegetarian Friendly: No
Number of Calories: 130 calories each

Name: bbopki
Description: Bbopki is a traditional Korean candy made from caramelized sugar and baking soda. It is usually formed into disks with a shape stamped into the middle. It is a game; the goal is to eat around the shape without breaking it. If you manage to do so, you win another one. 
Memory: Walking into Chinatown in Incheon, I spotted a vendor making one. 
Where You Can Find It: South Korea
Best Eaten When: You need a quick snack
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Number of Calories: around 85 calories 

Name: yakgwa
Description: Yakgwa is a soft flower-shaped cookie made primarily from honey, sesame oil, and wheat flour. 
Memory: I received a box of this a week before seollal, the Korean New Year. 
Where You Can Find It: Seoul, South Korea
History: It was eaten as early as the Unified Silla period of Korea. Because of the healing properties of honey, yakgwa is known as “medicinal confectionery.” [Via Wikipedia]
Best Eaten When: Having a cup of tea
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Number of Calories: 150 to 172 calories per cookie

Name: tteokbokki (or toppoki or ddeokbokki) 
Description: Tteokbokki is a dish with rice cakes, fish cakes, some vegetables, and sweet chili sauce. Variations include those with meat, seafood, or noodles. Levels of spiciness vary—don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Memory: My first serving of tteokbokki gave me a nosebleed. I was clearly not prepared. But I got used to it and now I love it.
Where You Can Find It: Seoul, South Korea
History: Tteokbokki used to be a royal dish and mildly flavored with soy sauce. But in 1953, after the Korean war, Ma Bok-rim of Seoul’d Sindang-dong neighborhood added spicy chili paste.  [via Chosun Ilbo]
Best Eaten When: When it’s cold, when you are stressed, when you have a cold and want to clear out your sinuses
Vegetarian Friendly: No
Number of Calories: Allegedly 226 calories for 108 grams 

Name: hotteok 
Description: Hotteok is a pancake usually made out of wheat flour, water, milk, sugar, and yeast, and filled with brown sugar, honey, peanuts, and cinnamon. Alternatively, you can find vegetable hotteok.
Memory: My first encounter with hotteok was love at first bite. The gray of the season gave way to jumping blobs of color.The streets were freezing, and the chill made my heartbeat slow, but that hotteok made me so happy. 
Where You Can Find It: South Korea
Travel History: It is believed that Chinese merchant immigrants brought the hotteok to Korea after the late 19th century. Unlike Chinese pancakes that are savory, hotteok is stuffed with sweet fillings to suit local tastes. [via Wikipedia]
Best Eaten When: During the winter season
Vegetarian Friendly: yes
Number of Calories: varies, but around 250 calories (I hope)