What do you think of when you think of K.F.C.? For almost all Americans, the answer is Kentucky Fried Chicken, a restaurant known for its gravy-soaked mashed potatoes, buckets of chicken and white-haired founder, Colonel Sanders. Did you know that K.F.C. can stand for Korean fried chicken, too? While Korea is known for its wide variety of street foods, rice and noodle-based meals, and 반찬 (banchan), or side dishes, one surprising food that many Koreans enjoy is 치킨 (chikin), or fried chicken.
I tried 치킨 (chikin), or Korean fried chicken, and 피자 (pija), or pizza. In the U.S., these foods are often enjoyed separately. In Korea, however, both chicken and pizza are 안주 (anju), or foods served with alcohol. In fact, Koreans even have special words for describing how to eat these foods: 치맥 (chimaek) for the popular combination of 치킨 (chikin) and 맥주 (maekju), or beer, and 피맥 (pimaek) for the combination of 피자 (pija) and 맥주 (maekju). As a result, many people eat chicken and pizza together, too!
Eating 치킨 (chikin) and 피자 (pija) felt like living in Korea more broadly. In eating them, I was facing the familiar and the unfamiliar at once. Even though these foods sound similar to foods that people eat in the U.S., they taste almost entirely different.
