Korean-American Friendship Festival

This weekend was the Korean-American Friendship Festival on the Strip near Osan Air Force Base. The Strip is a walking mall right outside Osan's main gate. It has tons of restaurants and stores of all sorts. Thanks to the Strip, I've had Thai, Mexican, Turkish, Brazilian, Chinese, and Japanese food (in addition to American and Korean) since coming to South Korea. There are also carts and booths set up in the middle, where you can buy more food, souvenirs, and bootleg DVDs. The Strip is kind of a cool downtown area, though one that is best avoided on Friday and Saturday nights when the military personnel are all heading to the bars. Here's some pictures of the Strip on a regular weekday.

The Korean-American Friendship Festival took over the Strip and the surrounding streets on Saturday and Sunday. There were tons of booths set up with food and other items for sale. There were also some rides available for children. It reminded me a little bit of a "mini" state fair.

I went with one of my roommates, Kari, and we had a lot of fun walking around, talking, and eating a lot of food. We went right after church on Sunday, and it wasn't very busy. We had been in the area Saturday night for something else, and it was packed. It was nice to be there without the crowds, as we were able to walk comfortably down the street and we didn't have to wait in line for food. The festival had all sorts of food, including several varieties of Korean and American food. For American food, there was everything from burgers, hot dogs, and brats to snow cones and funnel cakes (yum!). I even found corn on the cob (on a stick, no less).

For Korean food, they had kimchi (of course!), fish, squid, rice, and other tasty treats, including one Korean delicacy: silkworm larvae (see picture below). Most of the Korean food booths had plastic examples of their food displayed, which is typical in Korea. Restaurants in the food court do it too. It can be hard to tell if it is plastic or not, but the food in the display pictured below is plastic.

I had two Korean dishes for lunch, both very tasty. The first was a meat popsicle; it is just meat on a stick. I had one made of chicken that was covered in some sort of sauce.

After that, I had something that I believe could be the next hot food item at the Iowa State Fair. It meets both criteria for popular state fair food: deep fried and on a stick. It is called the Potato Twist.

It starts as a regular potato on a stick that a machine cuts into a spiral pattern. After the potato has been "twisted," it is deep fried. Once it is cooked, the potato twist is rolled in salt and seasoning so that it coats the outside of the twist. It is delicious! It's just a deep-fried potato, so it tastes somewhere between a potato chip and a french fry. Wouldn't that go over wonderfully at the state fair?