Avoiding spicy food while touring South Korea
My tolerance of spicy food is below average for westerners. Can I avoid spicy food while visiting South Korea, preferably without eating all the time at McDonald's?
I plan to mainly visit the touristy parts of Korea, as opposed to going off the beaten track, as I will be travelling solo and will only have limited knowledge of Korean.
Wikivoyage's Eat section for Korea mentions the spiciness of Korean food, but doesn't have advice aimed at those wanting to avoid it.
Best Answer
There is no reason to be worried. I have read the same kind of articles before going to South Korea. Once on the ground, I noticed that you can indeed find spicy dishes, really spicy ones. But you will also naotice that a huge majority of Korean dishes are not spicy. If you don't touch the Kimchi that is served in virtually any restaurtant as a side dish you should be fine.
I spent quite some time in non touristy places and there was never a problem in this reagrd. My experience was that when I tried to order something spicy, the waiters tried very hard to explain me (by any means whatsoever) that a certain dish is spicy and sometimes even to dissuade me to order it.
To sum up, I can totally agree with what your Wikivoyage article also says:
A common perception amongst Koreans is that foreigners simply don't like spicy food, so you might have to spend some time convincing people otherwise if you really want to eat something hot. Also, while Korean food undoubtedly has the neighboring bland-dieted Japanese and northern Chinese breathing fire, if you're accustomed to (say) Thai or Mexican food you may wonder what the fuss is about.
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Does Korea like spicy food?
Various ingredients for creating that spicy kick are used in Hansik, but Koreans most often eat spicy food seasoned with red chilis. A lot of Cheongyang red chilis are sold in Korea because of unique Korean recipes. What is the attraction for this hot taste that burns the tongue and makes you sweat profusely?Can you train yourself to tolerate spicy food?
"Let's say you can't handle a certain spicy dish, but you can handle something just beneath that ... continually practice just below the level you want to achieve." That's backed up by the scientific consensus: You can train your tongue to be desensitized to capsaicin, the component that makes things taste spicy.How can I not be affected by spicy food?
The volume that a starchy food brings can also be advantageous while eating spicy foods since it can help act as a physical barrier between capsaicin and your mouth. To put some starch between this sneaky molecule and your pain receptors, try eating a piece of bread, some rice or a tortilla.What Korean food is not spicy?
13 Non-Spicy South Korean Dishes Worth Trying- Bulgogi. Bulgogi is one of Korea's signature dishes, having become popular worldwide for its sweet marinade of soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and ginger. ...
- Donkatsu. ...
- Kimbap. ...
- Japchae. ...
- Pajeon. ...
- Seolleongtang. ...
- Jjajangmyun. ...
- Korean fried chicken.
More answers regarding avoiding spicy food while touring South Korea
Answer 2
Yes, you can avoid eating spicy foods. There are mainly three types of solutions in avoiding spicy foods in South Korea.
Restaurants
Some of the foods there are not spicy as much. These include Samgyetang, Kalguksu, Seolleongtang, etc... Kimuchi is always served as a side dish along with some more, but you can leave them untouched.
Almost all waiters in local restaurants don't speak even a basic English. In my experiences learning a basic Korean won't get you much rewards since you don't understand their response. For example suppose that you say you don't like spicy food, and a waiter said something like "This is not spicy so do you try?". How can you know what the waiter is talking about? Add to it the fact that Korean language, an isolated group of language families, is notoriously difficult for any speakers around the world.
Fortunately many restaurants in touristy places display photos as well as English descriptions in its menu, so it should be a decent clue for you. I may recommend that you memorize some non-spicy foods in advance, in Korean as well as English.
Cafes
South Korea is full of cafes (including Starbucks). Especially Seoul has arguably more cafes than any cities in the world. Many cafes are open after midnight in hot places such as Hongdae, Gangnam, and Dongdaemun so you can eat even late at night. You can order sandwitches, pancakes, a variety of cakes, waffles, breads, even salads, pastas and lasagnas (but rare) but some of them may be too sweet for everyday meal (actually I do, though).
Convenience Stores
Like China and Japan, South Korea is full of convenience stores. It is clear to see which food is spicy from the packages.
Since you know much about Japan, I will share my tips in regards to the difference between the two.
Unlike Japan, where leaving food may not be appreciated by some people, you should feel free to leave the food in Korea.
Most people in both countries speak little or no English, but while most Japanese people try to understand your English with smirking faces, many Korean may not reply in English and instead speak Korean so fast. Some might even ignore you. This would rarely happen in touristy places like Myeongdong, Dongdaemun, or Garosugil but did so often on me around the Gangnam station and the entire Incheon.
Compared to Japan, especially Tokyo, there are far fewer Western restaurants in Korea; most are local Korean restaurants with some, but not many, Japanese ones. There exist some Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Italian restaurants but you shall search for them in advance as just walking across the street won't get you any of them easily.
The acceptance of a credit card should be 100% with the government regulation, so you can just hand in your card and then don't need to bother to care about the charge.
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