In Which the Octopus Makes a Great Escape Attempt.

Last night I went to dinner with one of my korean friends, he took me to his friends seafood restaurant. Now, seafood in Korea can be very interesting, my fish always have the bones and skin intact, and when frequently I feel as though the food i'm eating is still alive... so needless to say I was a little apprehensive about this seafood.

Seafood restaurants in Korea are interesting, they often have giant fish tanks in front of them displaying that days catch, which is cool until you realize that the cute little octopus swimming around is most likely going to be your dinner.

We entered into the restaurant and my friend ordered something, it was all in rapid fire Korean with words I didn't know so I just sat smiling, expectantly awaiting whatever was going to happen next. The first course was boiled mussels with spicy peppers, which was delicious. There was a spicy red sauce that you could dip little guys in that only added to their already delicious flavor....mmmmm. Following this the waiter brought over a gigantic metal tub filled with mussels, clams and all manner of seafood that I have never had the opportunity to try. I got really excited as the guy inserted the big metal tub into the center of our table and lit the gas stove beneath it. he left the lid off and walked away. I was excitedly examining the contents of this tub, already entertaining thoughts of the deliciousness I was about to enjoy. Suddenly the waiter returned and stood at my right shoulder, I got a glimpse of a red basket when something large whooshed past my right ear, I started and glanced at the guy then followed his arm to observe him place a LIVE octopus in the center of the metal tub and slam the lid shut. My mouth fell open and my eyebrows disappeared into my hairline.

A live octopus had just landed in my dinner and I didn't quite know how I felt about it. I glanced at the guy and he laughed outright at the shocked expression on my face. I shook my head and tried to compose myself. As I was doing this I heard a noise and glanced down at the table, my chopsticks were sitting on the table next to the edge of the lid. I squeaked and jumped back in my chair, sticking out from under the lid of the metal tub were tentacles! The damned octopus had crawled its way up the side of the tub and was attempting an escape with the assistance of my chopsticks. The waiter banged the lid of the tub on the tentacles and they were quickly retracted. He than placed a pot on top of the lid and smiled at me. My face was frozen in a mixture of terror and horror.

A few minutes later the guy came back and mimicked to me that the octopus had gone to heaven and that it was done! He lifted up the lid and I slowly peaked into the tub. Sure enough my dear friend the octopus was pink and ready for eating. The guy picked up it's head, took a pair of scissors and chopped off it's head! Placed the head in a separate bowl and began cutting up the tentacles. He was about halfway done when he took a tentacle piece, dipped it into sauce and fed it to me. I hesitated for a split second, "When in Rome" was all I thought as I shut my eyes and chowed down.

Turns out octopus is actually delicious.

The guy finished cutting up the tentacles and turned to the head, he cut all the skin off the brain and removed chunks of head and brain, placed them in a special tub and stuck them back into the metal tub, but not before offering me the special first bite of brain. Yes, octopus brain. How could I say no? So I shut my eyes yet again and chowed down. Turns out octopus brain is also delicious.

I am thankful that I now know that I enjoy octopus, I will just hope that in the future my meals come to me fully cooked and don't make any sort of escape attempt...

Anyeong!