A guide to all the exotic food in Squid Game

this south korean netflix show is taking the world by storm

안녕하세요, 광대들!

If you’ve read the newsletter for long enough, you should know exactly what that greeting says. You don’t even need to be able to read Korean.

How’s it going? Remember our pop-up I mentioned last week? Well, the damn thing was a smashing success. Davida pitched in to help, and our small crew of volunteers killed it. Crust Fund Pizza raised over $1,200 for The Friendship Center (which is a local food pantry), people were full of pizza and donuts, and everyone left smiling. Including us. It’s not often a plan goes so smoothly, but everything just sort of fell into place on Monday night. Thank all of you so much.

This pizza photo is of Davida’s very first pizza from start to finish, and it’s a beauty, isn’t it?

We enjoyed it the next day, and it was perfect. John and I are hoping to do more of these pop-ups sometime soon, so keep your eyes peeled for more announcements if you live in Chicago. Remember to move quick; pre-orders on this one sold out in about two minutes. Our pop-up was part of a running series called Monday Night Foodball presented by the Chicago Reader, so if you’re around the city, please make sure to check out what’s coming, because it’s all gonna be awesome. A good friend of mine, Ethan of Hermosa Restaurant, is doing his pop-up next week.

Now, onto your regularly scheduled programming.

If you keep up with pop culture these days, you’ve probably heard of this relatively new Korean miniseries on Netflix called Squid Game.

Avoiding any mentions of it on social media is pretty much impossible. People have been talking non-stop about Squid Game since it came out, and it’s on track to become the most watched show in Netflix history. That’s wild. What can’t Koreans do? First, poo bread, K-pop, and now Squid Game? Being Korean is fucking amazing!

As your resident Korean expert and the greatest food writer in all of history, I decided to take a tiny break from cooking and show you the cultural significance of the exotic Korean food depicted in Squid Game. It is my responsibility to tell you all about Korean food, because I am the world’s foremost expert on everything. I’m also an expert butt surgeon, lawyer, architect, you name it, I know everything about it.

And don’t worry — no spoilers ahead.

Davida and I finished the series last night, though, and I do recommend watching it. You’ll be clutching your ass the whole time.

Since taking screenshots of the actual show will get my testicles sued off by Netflix, I’ve decided to hand-illustrate the important food in the show.

As you can see, Davida helped as well. We’ve written our names on each illustration so you know who drew which food, using an ancient technology known as Microsoft Paint.

In one episode of the show, the characters are given eggs to eat. In Korea, eggs are known for being round, and a kind of food. If you weren’t aware, Koreans must eat food to survive. An egg is a kind of food you can eat so you do not die of starvation. However, you cannot eat the outer shell, so you must crack it to get to its edible contents. Now you understand the cultural significance of an egg in Korea.

Let’s move onto the next food, which is corn.

There’s a scene in Squid Game where all the characters eat corn, because they are hungry. In Korea, being hungry is a good indication that you should probably eat something. And in Korea, corn is considered a food. Its unique shape allows you to eat the edible portion of the corn, which is on the outside of the corncob. If you take the kernels off, you can eat those separately if you like, then when you’re done, you can shove the cob up your ass, just like you can do in America!

Davida drew this one. It is milk! Does that say malk?

In Korea, milk comes from cows and is placed in bottles for consumption. You can drink it from any number of vessels; in Squid Game, the characters drink milk during breakfast, straight from the bottle.

You may consider this a unique cultural phenomenon, but if you look all around you, many cultures enjoy beverages straight from a bottle. If you ever see me drinking something from a bottle, like milk or beer, you may think it’s due to my unique cultural upbringing, but no. It’s because I have trouble drinking liquid that’s been deposited straight into my hands. Seeing how food culture can be similar across countries really brings us closer together, doesn’t it?

Speaking of cows, Davida drew this very realistic depiction of a grilled steak.

There’s a very important scene where some characters in Squid Game eat steak. You may be familiar with this dish. It’s a cross-section of a cow that’s been heated to the point where it is safe to eat. In Korea, people typically cook meat before it is eaten so they do not die of foodborne pathogens. Americans generally try to avoid dying (though this whole anti-vaccine thing may render my argument invalid), so it’s really cool to see that both cultures enjoy cooked steaks for the same reason.

I drew a potato, which is another food that’s eaten in Korea, and also in Squid Game.

Much like steaks, Koreans prefer cooking potatoes prior to eating them. Potatoes are culturally significant in that they also grow in the ground in Korea, and are placed in the mouth prior to ingesting them. In Squid Game, some characters eat potatoes for their caloric content and nutritious qualities.

This has nothing to do with Korea, but sometimes I like to see how many potatoes fit snugly up my ass, though I do prefer them to be raw when I’m doing it.

And finally, here’s a food that many Koreans enjoy, and that is fish.

One of the characters in Squid Game gets fish from the market to bring home and eat. Specifically, mackerel, which is an oily yet delectable specimen when prepared. Fish is an aquatic species of animal that’s harvested by boats in Korea. As you know, fish like to swim, even in far flung regions of the world!

In Korea, the edible portion of the animal, the flesh, is eaten. It can be boiled, steamed, fried, roasted, smoked, you name it, before it is consumed. Sometimes, Koreans enjoy fish raw. But watch out! Koreans avoid eating the bones.

Hopefully I’ve taught you guys something today about Korean food culture by way of cultural smash hit, Squid Game! There’s a lot to be learned from different food cultures across the world, and I hope I could bring some knowledge your way. Because when you know more knowledge, the smarter you become.

Let me leave you this week with a bonus fact: the Korean title of Squid Game, 오징어 게임, translates into the words “Squid Game.”

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Well, there you have it. Please applaud my cross-cultural knowledge by sharing my newsletter across social media, because I’d like other people to understand Korean culture through food and television as well:

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