garden of eatin' (featuring dotorimuk)

from my experience thus far, the food at the community garden is the bomb ... and they are nice enough to make the veggie pancakes for me without all the tentacles (octopus) that you'd usually find up in it.

last weekend they had something different on the menu, and they insisted that we try it. dotorimuk salad. ok, salad is good & generally safe for a vegetarian.. but what is dotorimuk? the lady assured me that there was no meat involved, so we said, "sure!"

when it was brought out to the table, i realized that it was something i had eaten several times. ...but never served up as nicely as this!

dotorimuk -- i now know -- is "acorn jelly" in english.




according to wikipedia, it was widely eaten in korea during the korean war, when millions of people were displaced and starving. it consequently became associated with poverty, and most people who could afford to would eat other jellies instead (such as buckwheat). however, in recent years it has been rediscovered as a health food (acorns are a good source of protein). hmm.

well, it was a nice addition to the wonderful salad (especially washed down w/ some makgeoli) but, personally, i'm not too crazy about it on its own.