To Buy a Fish: Jukdo Market (Pohang, SK)

I've mentioned Jukdo Market before (blogs on Crabs, Plump American, and Shopping), but we went again on Sunday and there are always, always new things to see.  And think about. And take pictures of.  So here are some highlights from our trip on Sunday.

This first picture shows a small tower with the Jukdo Market sign on it, overlooking a bus stop.  Note the sailor and his girlfriend just leaving the market.





This elderly lady was across the street from the Jukdo entrance, sitting on the sidewalk selling Korean melon (a relatively bland version of melon), tomatoes, and a few other things.









This was a really classy lady selling bowls of bean spouts and a few other things.  Usually the market ladies look pretty rugged and they're constantly busy peeling garlic, trimming bean sprouts, etc. - but this woman was nicely made-up and just sat and looked around. Just past her stall, a tiny woman across the way came scooting out, put her hand up to Sam's elbow to measure her own height against him, and cackled loudly to yet another woman, apparently about his giant size relative to hers.  Sam brushed it off with "Yeah.  I'm used to that."



This looked like a grandma with her granddaughter strapped on her back.  I assumed she's a relatively educated and/or wealthy woman, but I'm not sure what told me that.  Her posture, maybe, and her clothing.  Or her confident stance.  Or that she was shopping at Jukdo instead of working there.

Soon after entering the covered area of the market, we noticed this cooler of meat.  Yes, it's what you think it is, as the next picture confirms. Haunches. Paws. Hide.  We can sometimes hear barking from the dog farm that's a mile or two from campus, but I've chosen not to find it.  This gave me the willies like nothing else sold at Judko or found in nature (including snakes and spiders) ...except maybe house millipedes.

Squid on ice, about a foot long.  In other parts of the market, live ones swim around in buckets of water. Though "swimming" is too grand a word for revving up and banging into the sides of the buckets with their strange arrow tails, over and over and over.

This, obviously, is a huge stack of watermelons, which are easy to find in the stores and markets right now, but are MUCH more expensive than in the US.  A few weeks ago, a medium-sized one went for 19,000 won (about $18) and now they're down to 8-10,000 won ($9). What struck me about this stall was its single item, its large size (easily double or even triple many stalls) and that the vendor was fast asleep.

This vendor was a persistent sort who took advantage of my lingering at his tanks of enormous crabs. He tried to teach me the Korean names for the snow crabs and red crabs then pushed for me to take a picture of Nick and Sam with two snow crabs, probably hoping to make a sale. Little did he know that I don't do our cooking, so I walked away while Nick talked prices. About $25 per crab, prepared and cooked.  Not for today.

Nick's brother Paul once had a 50-gallon aquarium with lots of fish, including a large plecostomus.  Lots of the Jukdo buckets of swimming fish reminded me of his giant algae sucker, but this tank with the contrasting cardinal-red fish really stood out.

Many tanks have flounders (halibut?), and I explained to Sam how one eye migrates to the other side of the head as they grow into adulthood and become bottom-feeders (really!). Thanks to mom and dad for taking me to Alaska as a kid - amazing how much of what I learned then is still in my brain.  Not sure what the fish-eel thing was in this tank, but it was a nice contrast.  This would be a hard jigaw puzzle.


After much weaving through the market, Nick suddenly stopped and pointed to some black fish in a bucket. The vendor grabbed them out, went behind the counter, and got out a chef's knife. With the back of the knife he whacked each fish on the head to stun it, then used the blade to chop off the heads, scrape off the scales, slice the bellies open, then cut through the jaw and skull to make the fish lie flat open. Then he scooped the guts out with his not-gloved fingers. Partway through this process he put down his cigarette. I fear that I stood with my mouth hanging open as the intellectual curiosity part of my brain (which framed this experience as a strange aquarium with an unexpected dissection lab) faced off against the emotional/disgust part of my brain (which saw 3 living creatures rapidly turned into dead things stuck in a plastic bag that my husband intended me to eat).  Thus, no pictures of THAT whole experience.  Maybe next time.  Oh - 15,000 won ($14).  Oh, and during the slicing and dicing, the back of my legs kept getting splashed because some rogue fish in the stall behind me.  Oh, and Nick made a FANTASTIC fish curry sauce that we ate over rice.  All 5 of us loved it and 3 of the 5 were shocked to have eaten it.

At this stall, Nick bought a bunch of bananas and a pineapple.  Notice the korean melons (yellow striped) on the table as well as the giant pears, individually wrapped in fishnet-hose-style-foam.  They are round (not the traditional pear-shape) and have a crunchy texture with a mildly sweet taste.  Actually, that's what the melons taste like, too.

Sam (and Nick), leaving Jukdo through one of the clothing aisles where road construction is happening behind us. You can just see a female vendor on the right, shoveling dirt away from her rack of clothing.  Sam is carrying the bag of just-butchered fish.  : )