When my wife and I first moved from the United States into our apartment in Seoul, a middle-aged bachelor was living with his mother on the ground floor of our building. The mother never ranged far from home, but we never met. I met the bachelor on two occasions. On the first occasion he mentioned that he worked for a packing company. The company, however, was relocating to South Jeolla Province, and he was moving there with it.

Now, the southerners in that region have a well-known liking for hongeo, or stingray, he went on to say, a fish eaten fermented and reeking with the smell of ammonia. I had heard of hongeo. The smell is such that when customers enter a restaurant, they are given the option of sealing their overcoat in a plastic bag. Few in Seoul have a taste for it, but those who do swear...

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