Beyond pojangmacha: Edae food carts and the future of Seoul’s social gastronomy

Abstract

ABSTRACT Across Seoul, Korea, countless tented food stalls called pojangmacha have for generations purveyed cheap, tasty fare from early evening unto the wee hours of the night. The foods sold are familiar nosh that can be washed down with beer or soju. But while these foods are as popular as ever, in recent years, other sorts of street food that are decidedly more “international” have emerged. One such place is Ewhayeodae Street that leads to the front gate of Ewha Womans University, aka Edae. While other places in Seoul are better known for the quality, quantity, and variety of new street foods, it is Edae that helps us to best assess two particular facets of contemporary Korea’s ongoing social, cultural, and economic transformation: first, the status of women, such as those who attend Ewha University, and second, the rise in foreign tourists. Using inter- and multidisciplinary sources and analysis, this speculative, nonempirical essay postulates that the Edae food carts, in offering new and innovative foods that appeal simultaneously to these two groups, anticipate an urgent social reality: the future of Seoul continues to hinge on both the ongoing evolution of the status of women and the internationalization of the country.