Food

Ask anyone in Korea about Boseong food and you’ll hear one word: 꼬막 (cockles) from Beolgyo (벌교). The town sits on rich tidal mudflats that produce some of the country’s most prized cockle clams. What to know What it is. Small, plump cockle clams with a clean, briny-sweet taste and a slightly chewy bite — a true regional specialty. When. Cockles are at their best in the cold months (roughly late autumn through winter), when they’re fattest. A festival celebrates them in season. How it’s served. The local way is a cockle full-course (꼬막정식): lightly boiled whole cockles you pry open yourself, plus cockles in seasoned soy, cockle bibimbap, pancakes, and more — one clam, a dozen ways. Tips for visitors Eat it in Beolgyo if you can — freshness is the whole point. Pair a tea-fields morning with a Beolgyo lunch; the town is an easy hop within the Boseong area. Beolgyo is also known in Korean literature (the novel Taebaek Sanmaek), so the old town has a quiet historical feel worth a short wander. Source: Korea Insider — Boseong & Beolgyo cockles