cynicalxcharm asked: Hello! I'm moving to Seoul next month to teach, but I'm worried about the availability of spices for baking and cooking (especially Italian food). Is there anything you recommend that I bring over with me, from your experience?
Parsley, basil, oregano and rosemary — you’re golden. As long as you don’t mind dried. They’re pretty cheap and available everywhere. Pretty much everything else that isn’t based out of Asia, however, is difficult to impossible to find. Although (and I’m not sure if this is to do with the FTA or not — I’m not that educated about it) recently there I’ve noticed a huge increase in general of foreign products available in common marts. So who knows what’s to come.
My biggest recommendations would be to grab some cilantro (although apparently people have found it fresh here, I haven’t found it even in a dried state), cumin, pumpkin pie spice and apple pie spice. Cinnamon is also all over the place and cheap, but I haven’t seen, for example, cloves. And although red chili flakes are all over the damn place here, I recommend bringing some cayenne pepper, because it’s pretty different and will give dishes a totally different flavor. If there’s anything I missed out, feel free to ask me about specifics and I’ll do my very best to answer, although I am still learning my way around in this area actually.
