Following my blog about a snack that I could, and often do, enjoy on an unscheduled and uninhibited basis I figured it would be appropriate to comment on a recently discovered street food I'd rather not become accustomed to: pig snouts.
Prior to my departure I vowed to eat most anything that I came across during my travels abroad. I am, however, not an entirely foolish man...most of the time...and luckily, came prepared with a short set of valid and binding ground rules:
1) Eat, and hopefully enjoy, any food that is offered to you provided that rule 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 stand
1-1) Eat any food offered by a trusted Korean
1-2) Eat any food that is offered or suggested by anyone if they are willing to eat it along with you
1-3) Not required to eat or even entertain the idea of food offered by a stranger or a street vendor
2) If asked if you want it "spicy" you must request that is it made "as spicy as possible"
3) There are no limits to what you can, or must try...once! After it has been tasted there is no requirement to ever eat it again!
I am happy to say that I have yet to dive face first into a pile of boiled pig snouts like these, which I found in a seedy back alley in Itaewon. I can also gleefully report that when I asked my Korean friends about their experience with the dish, they all 'turned up their noses' at the though of ever savoring such swine.
So it would seem that I'm off the 'hoof' for this one...at least for now. If anyone dares to dive in to this dirty dish along with me, I'll have no choice but to succeed. But, be weary of what that entails. It's never appetizing to bite into more than you want to chew.
("Can you smell what the Hock is cookin'?")
