Gukje Market Food Alley
Get off at Jagalchi Station on Subway Line 1, walk past the movie street in Nampo-dong and the flashy shopping street in Gwangbok-dong, and pass by Semyeong Pharmacy on Pharmacy Street, and you will come across Gukje Market, a traditional open-air market that represents Busan.
Compared to the gorgeous streets we just passed, this place seems a bit cluttered, but its open-air market vibe and its untidy appearance give it a unique, common people's feel. As we entered the alley, we came across a long line of food stalls. Here, hot, steaming food exuded a winter vibe.
It is said that the best business is the food business. This is because humans cannot endure without food no matter how hard they are, and the food business is a business that can be started without a large capital investment, with just a taste. Mokja Alley in the International Market once again confirms the absolute value that "humans must eat or die."
As economic conditions improve, food culture develops, with regard to the environment and how one eats, but here it is still far from such elegant eating and drinking. When you squat down on the bench, not caring if people passing by see you, the place becomes a dining table, and you bring your chopsticks to the food heated in the frying pan and quickly put it in your mouth. As you do this, the person next to you also takes a bite.
Representing the food culture of the common people
Elegant, respectful and respectful meals are the etiquette practiced by upper class society, who have already overcome the basic problem of eating. For ordinary people, who need to immediately resolve their hunger, food is nothing more than food to satisfy hunger. At the nicely arranged dining table of a high-class restaurant, one must be conscious of interpersonal relationships and one's own dignity, but eating and drinking here relieves such burdens and allows one to enjoy natural freedom. It is also the taste and atmosphere of home that one has long forgotten.
Sundae, tteokbokki, seaweed rolls, sweet potatoes, oden, tempura, sweet sake, pumpkin porridge, bachuk, soybean porridge, kil(road) coffee, etc.
The shabby, cheap shops in Gukje Market are selling traditional Korean food that is disappearing due to fast food and snacks. You can easily satisfy your hunger for just a few hundred won or a few thousand won.
Through the Korean War and the difficult times of industrialization, Mokja Market has been able to satisfy the hunger of day laborers, housewives and mothers who went shopping, and the unemployed who were looking for work. Compared to those difficult times, there are not as many customers now, but there are still many couples and students with little money who come to enjoy the youthful atmosphere of the young town.
The steam from hot food seen over the arms of young people squatting on the veranda and picking up various things will keep you warm this winter.
A cultural garden for ordinary people that transcends time and space
When you stroll through a large open-air market like the International Market, you feel like time is passing very slowly, in contrast to the rapidly changing outside.
While the constantly changing merchandise in the large sales areas seems to be racing towards the front, the merchandise here has a sense of old comfort, like clothes that fit perfectly to the body. Old stores dealing in clothing repair, shoe repair, watch repair, second-hand furniture, Ameyoko, shoes, clothing, hardware, stationery, glasses, lighting, wallpaper, etc. have taken root in their traditional forms in each alleyway, with the slow flow of time. As I recall, these stores were in the same places ten, twenty, or thirty years ago.
After liberation, we set off at Dodegi Market.
Gukje Market was created when Japan, fearing air raids by the Allied forces during the Pacific War, demolished the densely populated residential areas and shopping districts in the center of Busan, creating a large vacant lot. After liberation, when the US military was stationed there, a market naturally took shape in the vacant lot, but the only goods that could be considered merchandise were items left behind by Japanese people and clothing, food, and daily necessities smuggled by the US military.
Back then, people called this place "Dotegi Market," which means "buying in bulk." The word originated from the fact that retailers and general buyers would buy everything one person brought. This means that goods were traded at a premium and the amount was not that large.
Showing the tough lifestyle of ordinary people
During the Korean War, the Gukje Market was a base for refugees who were penniless and had to start anew, and during the Liberal Party era, it was a place where smuggled goods such as fabrics, cosmetics, watches, and jewelry were traded. Four major fires occurred between 1950 and 1968, leaving the crowded shack-style shops in ruins, but in 1970 a new concrete building was built and it remains today.
The atmosphere of Gukje Market, which once reflected Busan's robust vitality, is gradually fading into the past, as piles of clothes are piled up and customers are invited in with messages such as "Come in! Take whatever you want!" Busan's commercial district has diversified, with the transportation hub dispersed to areas such as Dongnae and Seomyeon, and large discount stores have been built here and there. Although the economy is not as good as it used to be, many people still visit Gukje Market in search of the atmosphere of the old market.
| spot name | Mokza Alley (Eat Alley) in Gukje Market! |
| Address | Changseong-dong 2-ga, Jung-gu, Busan 2nd place XNUMXnd place |
directions: Take Subway Line 1 to Jagalchi Station, exit 7, cross the crosswalk and go straight until you see Lotteria. Turn left at the corner and you will see PIFF Square. Go through PIFF Square and go straight. The archway to the Arirang Street entrance next to Semyeong Pharmacy is the Gukje Market Food Alley.
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