Eat the living

Even though the tentacle had been removed from its body for more than a quarter of an hour, it refused to quit wriggling. For a baby octopus, it had a lot of fight.

Finally, it stopped, and after a couple tries, I managed to secure a slippery strip between my metal chopsticks. But it was still too slick and went falling into a dish of chili sauce where the vinegar spice set the limb into a fresh wave of spasms.

Let me tell you -- it's weird to watch your food die slowly.

But there was no turning back now. Spearing the little morsel again, I shoved it into my mouth and bit down hard into the chewy flesh. Barely any taste at all, I noticed. Good.

I relaxed; stopped chewing for a moment. Bad move. The suckers on the little let suctioned to my tongue. A quick shot of soju and it was down the hatch. I hear you have eat the adults more quickly lest the suckers suck your esophagus shut. That's a little more danger than I usually like in a meal.

Five of us had congregated at the famous, seaside Jagalchi Fish market to celebrate the Fish Market Festival and offer the merchants our business. Founded during the Korean War by Korean women, the massive indoor market is known for its salty fish mongresses and their exceptional array of fresh and dried seafood.

Sea squirts, sea cucumbers, muscles, fish, squid, sea urchins and dozens of other oceanic creatures flounder and squirm in huge aquariums waiting to end up on your dinner table.

This is the sort of outing you need locals for. We perused the market with ShunMi and Dongjin picking out the best baby octopus, scallops, squid, flat fish, sea cucumber and two types of sea cucumbers. Clad in knee-high, red galoshes, plastic apron and elbow-length, bright yellow gloves, the fish monger lady deposited our lunch to be into a a blue bucket and led us toward the restaurant on the second floor.

One of the larger fish made a break for it on the second floor landing. He leaped from the bucket in his desperation but was quickly wrangled and converted into a delicious fish stew in spicy broth.

Another fish was seared and topped with slabs of tender radish, greens and a savory chunky chili paste, while the scallops were steamed without any accouterments and all the more delectable for it. The flat fish, squid, sea cucumber and octopus were all sashimied. And while it was certainly a cultural experience to try all the raw food, I think I'd only ever order the fish sashimi again.

The rest seemed to be so chewy without a while lot of flavor payoff. Still, all in all, a most memorable and delicious meal.

Check out photos and video of the meal on my Facebook page, album "Eat the living."