It’s been a little more than a year since we reported on ttongsul, or Korean feces wine. And while many of our readers enjoyed sampling the beverage vicariously through the five victims brave young ladies we recruited for the taste test, others took us to task for not having our regular staff knock back a glass of dookie-liqueur.
In an attempt at penance, we traveled to Korea to snack on poo-shaped cakes.
Like a bad case of diarrhea, the flow of BM-related stories from Korea doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. For those looking for pottie-related fun but lacking the time to visit the country’s toilet-theme park, a quick trip to Seoul’s Insadong neighborhood will provide you with the opportunity to munch on poo-shaped snacks.
The stand we visited is located in a shopping center called Ssamzie-gil, appropriate as the mall’s name is only pronounceable by Westerners when straining themselves on the toilet. We found our poo cake vendor right inside the entrance, and while there wasn’t a line of people waiting to buy the uniquely-shaped sweets, there was nevertheless a steady stream of customers. As a matter of fact, the young man running the stand was so busy that he didn’t even have enough time to handle all of the multiple cakes he was cooking at once, as we noticed a few that had been on the grill too long and become hard and dry.
Thankfully, the snacks don’t contain any actual feces. They’re almost exactly the same as taiyaki, the fish-shaped sweet bean cakes sold in Japan and elsewhere in Asia. They even smell the same, with a soft, sweet aroma that was all the more enticing wafting through Seoul’s chilly winter air.
But whereas taiyaki look like cute little fishies, the poo cakes look like, well, poo. Specifically illustrated poo, with the distinctive coil shape in which the substance is always depicted in Asian comic books.
▼ If it makes you feel better, you could imagine they’re shaped like dollops of whipped cream.
With our purchase paid for, we broke off a steaming piece and placed it between our lips. The cakes are filled with lumpy sweet bean paste, and while its shape made us feel a little weird eating it, it tasted just as good as any other similar snack we’d eaten.
It turned out Ssamzie-gil wasn’t done showering us with feces-inspired fun yet, though, as among the mall’s multiple mascots you’ll find the character Dongchimee. Dongchimee seems to hail from the kimokawaii or “so gross it’s supposed to be cute” school of design that sometimes rears its head in Japan and Korea, as the character has either a poo-shaped hairstyle or a straight up turd on top of his (her? its?) head, along with a perpetually runny nose.
▼ There also seems to be some sort of exposed nipple thing going on, along with cheeks that look like someone just slapped the hell out of poor Dongchimee.
Despite Dongchimee’s less than stunning looks, the character is popular enough that it’s featured, along with the other mascots of Ssamzie-gil, at a children’s theme park in Heiri Art Village, located in the suburbs of Seoul. While there, you can even pick up stuffed versions of the character. The plush dolls are available in three sizes, and removing a flap over the character’s posterior revels the whimsical surprise of a half-formed log ready to be played with before Dongchimee decides to pinch it off. Of course.
▼ Bringing us to this story’s figurative and literal end.
Related: mydolls, i like daiki
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Insert images: RocketNews24, mydolls
[ Read in Japanese ]