Swallow a live octopus?

The Koreans are big believers of eating the freshest seafood. I know this may not go down well with some of you but they even eat live octopus! Try swallowing an octopus that’s wriggling inside your mouth, its tentacles trying to pry open your jaws and those little suckle thingy sticking to your tongue. Gulp! I find it hard to swallow, not that I would ever try of course….

Then again, I love eating seafood but I baulk at the idea of selecting live animals to be slaughtered for my dining pleasure. Yet I gamely followed our friends to the seafood center in Seoul to check out the huge array of fish and crustacean for sale. This is not an aquarium! The poor creatures you see will end up on someone's dining table....

Overview of the seafood centre which opens until late at night. You can pick any creature and the restaurant there will cook it for you.
Bag of live clams. These are often cooked in the Korean spicy hot pot.

Did you know the Koreans make kimchi out of everything, including anchovies and fish roe?

Never knew baby hammerhead sharks can be eaten...

Octopus and snails.

Live crabs in all shapes and sizes.

Dried stingrays!

Attention! Don't they look like toy soldiers?