Today's lunch menu consisted of rice, kiimchi, soup, and Korean blood sausage! Yuck! It's been served at lunch at my school before, but no one asked me why I didn't eat it until today. My response, "Because it's cow intestine and there's blood in there!" A gasp was heard throughout the entire teacher lunch table! Then, they all nervously asked each other, "Blood? Is there blood in these?!"
Come to find out, one of Korea's most beloved meals consists of a large amount of blood, and no one knew it! How could you not know your eating something covered in blood?! No wonder the inside of the sausage is dark red!
I started to think that maybe I was wrong... Did someone just tell me once that there was blood in there, because they were red?! So, after lunch, I headed up to my office and typed "Soondae" (the Korean name for blood sausage) into a google search, and sure enough, here are the ingredients!
- 2 cup sweet Rice
- 1/2 12 ounce package of sweet potato starch vermicelli
- 3 Garlic cloves
- 1 1 inch knob Fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
- 1 tablespoon Korean toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon Sesame seeds
- 5 Scallions
- 3 feet of beef or pork small intestine
- 2 cups of Beef or Pork blood
I have tried a lot of different weird foods while living in Asia,
but this one will never be on my list of things to order...
And after I send this link of ingredients to my co-workers, I'm not sure they will either!
Never thought I'd be the one to educate Koreans about Korean food!
