Comments on: Hongeo 홍어 – The Hardest Thing to Swallow in Korea

By: Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern: South Korea | ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 09:20:31 +0000

[...] Hong-eo – Fermented skate [...]

By: ::A Geek in Korea:: » Blog Archive » Fatman returns…sorta

::A Geek in Korea:: » Blog Archive » Fatman returns…sorta — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:02:43 +0000

[...] which does a lot more daring food that I would never, ever want to try. (Seriously, eating Skate? [...]

By: Tom Aarons

Tom Aarons — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:19:05 +0000

It looks so innocuous, and peaceful, and pleasant. You’d never guess that it’s actually smelly fish. The South East Asian smelly fish dishes all have the decency to look like they’re going to hurt!

By: SeoulLife.net » Blog Archive » A smell not even Skynyrd would sing about*

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:34:28 +0000

[...] ZenKimchi’s post about eating the Korean dish 홍어 reminded me of one Hong Kong anecdote that I’d forgotten to blog about. [...]

By: MigukNamja

MigukNamja — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:28:28 +0000

I had some in Busan recently, and it wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t _good_ and it was definitely ‘urine-tasting’, but it wasn’t that bad. I had a few pieces of it throughout the meal.

However, I can imagine not all 홍어 is the same. Perhaps I had some better-quality 홍어 or I don’t mind the taste as much.

By: annamatic

annamatic — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:41:29 +0000

I kinda like cho dofu! I also like natto. But I still hate hongeo …

By: ZenKimchi

ZenKimchi — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:18:49 +0000

Yeah, I can handle Beondaeggi, no problem. This is much harder to swallow.

I’ve been wanting to try the Chinese rotten tofu.

By: R

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:45:22 +0000

I was in Korea for 3.5 years and I never heard of this stuff. I guess I wasn’t hanging out with enough adjummas.

Worse than Bondagi?

Have you tried the Chinese dish ‘cho dofu’ (fermented tofu)?

Vile, vile, vile.

By: ZenKimchi

ZenKimchi — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:54:49 +0000

Well, at least you tried it two times. I just tried to get through as much as I could in one sitting.

By: Aaron (idiots' collective)

Aaron (idiots' collective) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:12:33 +0000

I’m with you: “fermented” is not a problematic description. “Smells and tastes like urine,” however, certainly is.

I make an effort to try every food and drink at least twice. Sometimes, with new flavors, the initial taste is so shocking that you can’t actually pay attention to the food, so you’ve got to give it second go-round when you’re actually prepared for what’s coming. Even after going a couple rounds with Hongeo, though, I have yet to develop a taste for the stuff. Good on you for getting through as much as you did.