Eating Sannakji The Dancing Live Octopus in South Korea

I knew about Sannakji (live octopus) from a colleague who had tried it in South Korea and loved it. My knowledge of Sannakji ended with his description, but not my curiosity to try it. So when we had the chance to eat it at Noryangjin Fish Market in Seoul, I knew I had to.

The thing is, I had never seen Sannakji before. Not on the TV and not in real life. And I almost jumped off the tatami when they served it in front of me in the restaurant above the fish market. I squealed, and so did my best friend. It looked… Aiyo, it’s moving!! Like slimy worms.

The Saga of Sannakji

I didn’t think I could eat it. It kept moving as if it was trying to leave the plate. I was all weirded out. I tried to squeeze the Sannakji between my chopsticks and the tentacles wrapped around it. Eww!!

I stopped. Maybe this was my limit.

But how could I stop now? How could I go to South Korea and not eat live octopus tentacles?! It was on my travel culture list! If I don’t, it would be like when I went to Amsterdam and didn’t try weed all over again, which I regret until today.

While my internal battle was going on, I saw Vi take the Sannakji, dip it into the soya sauce, and put it inside her mouth. She screamed a little, survived it, and declared it lovely.

So yeah, how bad could it be?

I took one and dipped it in the sauce to dampen its moves. To “kill” it. And put it in my mouth. But it didn’t die.

It was wriggling in my mouth.

I chewed twice and swallowed it. I DID IT! I put something that moves into my mouth! And it tasted delicious! How? I had no idea.

We finished the whole plate of Sannakji, made a video, and sent it to my parents. Appa, the bat eater, later called me, “You are my daughter. You eat anything and everything!” You guys, a father-daughter moment is defined by eating food that is still moving.

And that’s that. Maybe I will tick off Beondegi from my Korean food list next.

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