Korea may not be first on your list of culinary destinations to visit. China and Japan are always popular choices for American and European travelers, as are Thailand and Bali (Indonesia). Yet Korea has some wonderful culinary delights and really, truly different culinary experiences, that will delight Western culinary travelers.

Once you get past the barrage of Western chains in the Seoul airport (if you arrive into Seoul), which you are unlikely to see much of after you get outside the airport, you are cast out into a beautiful countryside reminiscent of the Northwest coast of the United States. Yet something is very different: the language. There is enough signage in English so you can get around during your stay, but a pocket electronic translator does come in handy. If you don’t speak much English, then we suggest you bring a translation guide from your language into English, if you cannot find one from your language into Korean.

I was fortunate to be the guest of Mr William Jeong, a professor of tourism at Keimyung University in Daegu. Daegu is the 3^rd largest city in Korea. It reminded me of a very small San Francisco with a modest range of mountains encircling the town. Daegu is quite pretty, and of a manageable enough size that you can easily get around on the subway or very affordable taxis. Mr Jeong is passionate about culinary tourism and proud of his city of 2.5 million, which also has the distinction of having the highest number of restaurants per capita in Korea. In fact, Daegu is home to not one, not two, but three separate dining districts. The districts are reminiscent of the Las Vegas strip, but with various kinds of restaurants as far as the eye can see in both directions.

In Korea, dining is so much more than just about the food. First, there is the ceremony of the meal. Upon entering a restaurant, you remove your shoes and are shown to a table that rises just about ¼ meter off the floor. You are giving a refreshing moist towlette, as you may have experienced on an international flight. Then you place your order and an endless array of foods adorn your table. The first night we went to a “tuna shop”. Don’t let the simplistic name fool you. This was a type of restaurant that serves only the highest grade tuna, along with all of the accompaniments, including kim-chi, salads, noodles and egg soup. Diners are given a very small bowl with a bit of salt in the bottom. Then sesame oil is poured over the salt. My favorite Korean tradition is to dip the meat (not just tuna, but wonderful Korean beef too) into the salty sesame and quickly raise it to my lips. Be ready for the wonderful medley of flavors that coat your tastebuds. At the moment, Koreans favor Australian and local Korean beef, as opposed to American beef. You may have heard about some of the riots in Seoul against the import of American beef. It is a heated issue and one American visitors are advised to avoid (you will be asked).

Chopsticks are the utensil of choice here. However, Koreans, unlike other Asians, also use long-stemmed spoons with their meals. Forks and knives are uncommon, but the spoons are stored in a box with the chopsticks right on the table. I was very grateful for the spoon, as I was not terribly adept at the use of chopsticks when I arrived. But rest assured, a few days in Korea will cure even the clumsiest of diners of the inability to use chopsticks, as I found out by the end of my stay.

Korea is known for its local wines, but not wines like we know in the West. Plum wine is the most common, and other fruit wines exist as well. If anyone has ever tried a fruit wine from the United States, you are used to fruit wines of irregular quality probably also a bit thick and syrupy. However, Korean fruit wines are fresh and refined, almost like flavored sake, and a delicious accompaniment to your meal. I also tried a ginger root wine, which I was told is a costly delicacy with curative properties.

Koreans appreciate beauty in their cuisine. Excitement grows at the table as beautiful dishes are presented at the table in all their glorious color. Fish is sliced and stacked in neat little rows. Kimchi and other vegetables are presented in small, manageable bowls. The bulgogi (typical Korean meat dish) ingredients are stacked artfully high before they are cooked right before you. Then the act of cooking at the table, with all the wonderful smells and sights, heightens the overall culinary experience even more.

Despite the proliferation of sesame oil and red meat, Korean cuisine is healthy by Western standards. Koreans eat much more fish than we do in the West, and they also eat many, many more vegetables than does the typical American. There is also something of a health tradition in Korean food. Many of the recipes evolved over centuries of experimentation. For example, one afternoon Mr Jeong took me to a restaurant in Daegu known for its “healthy chicken soup”. The soup was quite tasty and in addition to including the chicken bones (healthy protection against a cold, as you may have heard), plenty of healthy roots with curative properties are also are found in the soup. The restaurant, whose name I cannot transliterate, is located in the district where the herb/health stores are found. There is also a museum of Korean medicine, which shows how herbs, roots, animal parts and even minerals and metals, have been used over time to cure all kinds of diseases. Unlike in the West, herbs in Korea are prescribed by doctors and the locals know they work.

Mr Jeong and his students were wonderful hosts. I left Korea with a strong respect for, and appreciation of, Koreans and their cuisine. I’m already planning my next trip (really, I am).