Korean Convenience Store Food! GS25 Spaghetti & Meatballs

Some Korean interpretations on international foods are perfectly fine, especially in recent years. The number of burger joints is increasing, and with it, the quality. In this part of the peninsula (in Gimhae, a short lightrail journey back in Busan, the second largest city in South Korea), I can be sitting in front of a hot, delicious plate of fish & chips in about an hour.

A good cup of coffee is not hard to find (coffee in general is very, very not hard to find. But, that does not necessarily equal quality).

And then there are international food choices that are… not exactly perfectly fine? I guess it depends on whom you ask and what threshold for “It’s not that terrible” to “dear God, make it stop” your constitution may be located. No matter, one thing that should be universally agreed upon is some of these interpretations are often interesting.

Potato salad on a sandwich, anyone? Thousand Island dressing in a burrito? Corn on pizza? I don’t care what some of my friends said when I bitched about that last one a while ago. They grew up in places where you could only get Pizza Hut and Domino’s. I grew up in New Jersey. Ignorant jokes about my home state can be filed in the comments section.

While 2014’s food selections are better, the choices more robust, it’s still not hard to find something that’s a little not quite right. A great place to start are South Korea’s ubiquitous convenience stores. Whether it’s a CU or GS25, 7-Eleven or Mini-Stop, you’re covered at any time of the day or night.

Recently, I had about three hours to kill before meeting friends for Gamjatang (here, in fact. I recommend it). I had just finished work and was hungry enough that the thought of waiting another three hours to eat was not delicious. So, I did what anyone in a similar position would do: I went my nearest convenience store.

And bought this.

GS25’s finest. “Italian” spaghetti and meatballs.

What would I find when I opened up the package, thrust the contents (in their probably not safe for microwave container) into the microwave and zapped them to life? Check out the video at the top of this post to find out, my cherubs.