seoulsearching

I‘m Josi, 20 and currently on exchange in Seoul. Join me while I struggle with veganism and Korean. Feel free to ask me anything!

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Okay little update on the vegan CU vegan food line. I tried the burger yesterday and it was really nice. They put some sweet chili sauce on it and the patty was quite tasty as well so I’m very pleased with it. Of course it’s still a convenience store burger so you either have to eat it cold or heat up the veggies on it which I guess is a bit of a minus.

Good news tho: A lot of the people have been complaining about the plastic spork that comes with the pasta and they REPLACED IT WITH WOODEN CHOPSTICKS. Honestly, I’m quite impressed by how fast they changed it, the line was only introduced about a week ago so wow. They seem to actually care about what people think.

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Fall at Korea University 🍁

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My outfit from the Seoul African Fashion Show last weekend. It was such an important experience for me to see how African culture and fashion in particular are represented in South Korea.

I felt so at ease with everyone at the event. When I wear Bantu knots at uni I do it with knowledge that most people won’t understand what it stands for and just disregard it as a ‚weird hairstyle‘. Just knowing that I don’t have to explain myself to anyone at the show made a big difference for me.

Thanks to everyone at the event and shoutout to my girl Vene for rocking the runway!

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NB2 club in Hongdae. The energy there is unreal, especially when it’s not that crowded. Easily one of my favorite places in Seoul.

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Great news for all vegans in Korea: The CU convenience store FINALLY introduced a line of vegan meals. 7/11 will follow with their own vegan meals in a few days. Products include burgers, kimbap, pasta and dumplings and... words can’t describe how happy and excited I am.

I had the chance to try the pumpkin pasta yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised. The meal consisted of sweet pumpkin, chickpeas, pasta with basil pesto, mushrooms, black olives, a few pieces of mock meat and tomato. Although I still don’t understand the desire of this country to make EVERYTHING sweet, it was a very delicious and balanced meal. I even bought it a second time and heated it up, which was good as well.

One major downside is that it does have a lot of packaging and a plastic spoon, so it’s not the most environment-friendly option out there (that’s a general issue of convenience store meals tho).

Big shoutout to CU and 7/11 for taking the step of making the convenience store experience more vegan-friendly. I‘ve been really desperate for an option like this in a while and frankly it really hasn’t been easy to maintain my diet in Seoul.

(For anyone trying to find the meals, I bought them in Hongdae, one at Hongik Station and the other down the street from NB2. They don’t have them at every CU, but with a bit of luck it should be easy to find.)

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Hongdae, one of Seoul’s most infamous party areas.

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Shaved ice with green tea ice cream, sauce and brownie bits. Unfortunately not vegan so I didn’t have any, but the gif still seemed worth sharing.

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Being vegan in Seoul has proven to be moderately challenging. I am starting to get a feeling for what I can eat and not eat very slowly. Top picture is a full vegan dinner I had with my friends. It was soooo good! They had some sort of mock chicken with a really good sauce that I still dream about. Bottom picture is vegan bibimbap served in a hot stone bowl at Lotte World.

For anyone wondering which Korean dishes can be made vegan, these are the ones that I have most frequently:

Kimchi (김치) - is usually vegan but sometimes has added fish sauce.

Bibimbap (비빔밥) - is usually made with egg and meat. If you ask them to leave it out it’s still a pretty good dish, can recommend. I think the idea of having it cook while you eat is just genius.

Kimbap (김밥) - comes with all types of fillings. It is somewhat similar to sushi but more often done with meat instead of fish. Go for the veggie option.

Tteokbokki (떡볶이) - they’re mostly prepared with fish products but I have found a few places where they do them vegan.

If you purchase packaged product in a store watch out for anything that says 고기 (meat), such as 닭고기 (chicken) or 소고기 (beef), also 우유 (milk) and 계란 (egg). It’s usually easier to check the bold allergen warning with XYZ 함유 (meaning ‚contains XYZ‘).

Hope this helps anyone!

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I went to a Gangnam 4-star hotel yesterday. One of my friends was staying there and it was a bit of a surreal experience but I had a really good time! This part of Seoul is still a bit of an enigma to me but I‘m also quite curious how much truth there is to the ‚Gangnam style‘.

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Bless this country for selling transportation cards with Sehun on them. Ya girl is obsessed.

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Yesterday was pretty cool. Had some vegan Bibimbap with my friend and went to the university’s stationery shop. I’m starting to be obsessed with this country.

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Went to Gangnam today and the library at COEX mall was really something.

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My first few days in Seoul have been such a ride! There are so many new experiences and impressions, it’s all a little bit overwhelming, if I’m honest. Also it’s a hard for me to speak Korean and I get so shy that I always whisper. But overall I’m really grateful I get to be here after dreaming about it for so long. Above is my attempt of finding vegan food at the convenience stores in my street and a little picture from a nightly walk (I couldn’t sleep cause I’m still jet-lagged).

Update: The pretzels had beef powder. Ugh.