Tasty

I met Sang Jae downtown for lunch. “Let’s get sam-gae-tang,” he said. Sure, I replied, not knowing what sam-gae-tang was.

It turns out sam-gae-tang is a whole chicken (albeit tiny) stuffed with rice and ginseng then boiled in a broth and served in individual bowls. Chicken and rice soup, Korean style. But only eaten in the summer time.

We ordered. The drinks came. Soda for him. Barley tea for me. The side dishes arrived. Spinach. Kim chi. Pickled radish. And a dish I wasn’t quite sure of. I picked up my chopsticks, ready to delve into the new dish. Sang Jae asked me if I knew what it was. No, but it looks good. “Chicken ass.” Excuse me? “Chicken ass. Very, very good.” And with that, he picked up his chopsticks and began to eat said dish.

I was torn. It did look good. But, somehow, it didn’t seem as appealing after he gave it an identity. As daring as I am, I couldn’t bring myself to eat the chicken’s ass. Don’t know what that says about me. But I just couldn’t.