Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Pitt Korean Culture Association Pojangmacha, November 8.


Via this excellent Korean-language travel and photo blog.

The University of Pittsburgh's Korean Culture Association will hold its annual pojangmacha on November 8th from 10:00 pm to 1:30 am in the William Pitt Union, room 548.
Spend time with your favorite people to wind down and have a late night meal. Celebrate the Korean culture by playing games and eating FREE Korean food!

The picture atop the page is of pojangmacha (포장마차) lining a street in Busan's Seomyeon neighorhood. Despite the efforts of some municipalities to sweep food vendors off the streets---paradoxically trying to enhance Korea's image while getting rid of what makes it vibrant and charming in the first place---they're a ubiquitous part of Korean night life. Pojangmacha come in several varieties: single tents, several vendors combined into a tent cluster, and canvas awnings attached to a store or under an already-enclosed arcade.

If you understand Korean, or just want to look at some pictures, Youtube has a 2007 KBS documentary in three parts about three days in a Seoul pojangmacha neighborhood, its significance in Korean culture, and the threat these places face by modernity:

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