Eating pap and wors in South Korea

I’ve always found it interesting that most places in the world have at least one restaurant catering to Western palates. What is it about us Westerners that makes us so keen to hold on to our food from home?

It’s good but sometimes the indigenous food of the place you’re visiting is better. Food is an important part of any travel journey. You can tell a lot about a country from its culinary choices.

There will always be some cuisines that won’t agree with you. For example, in Vietnam and the Philippines, they eat a half-developed bird embryo, feathers and all. I’d sooner eat mopani worms.

Trying local cuisine often exposes your palate to things you wouldn’t have experienced back home.

But there does come a time when you just want the warm, comforting feeling of a familiar flavour. For Americans it’s easy. There isn’t a place in the world that doesn’t have some version of pizza or hamburgers. I recall meeting an American in South Korea who went as far as saying that if he doesn’t eat a cheeseburger at least once a month he gets grumpy. He found it even there.

For a South African it’s a little bit tougher. Try explaining to another foreigner how glorious a Creme Soda is. Or pap? Or how a braai is like a religion?

Try also explaining that Nando’s is South African. I’ve had plenty of British friends laugh at me and tell me it’s Portuguese. It would come as quite a surprise then, that of all countries, South Korea has a restaurant called Braai Republic, run and owned by South Africans.

Whenever I had the chance to visit Seoul, this place was like a pilgrimage. I would go early and eat way too much food. Wors roll? Don’t mind if I do. Pap and wors to go with the wors roll? Thanks. Lamb? Yes, please. And we played some Thirty Seconds while we waited for our food.

Further afield I was happy to find that Malaysia and Singapore have the Nando’s franchise. There is even a branch at the airport in Malaysia. Did I mind having a slight layover? Never! Did I try to schedule most flights via Kuala Lumpur conveniently for the Nando’s? Maybe.

It just so happened that Air Asia, the low-cost airline, is based in Malaysia so that made the Nando’s visits even more convenient. The best part of living abroad and getting these cravings is when someone you know, or barely know, is coming to visit.

You find yourself asking this friend or complete strangers to lug the strangest things halfway across the world. For me, it’s Speckled Eggs, Romany Creams, Nik Naks, Creme Soda Nando’s sauce.

Add a Fizzer or two and a packet of Ghost Pops for good measure.

The food things we take for granted are often the things we later crave the most.