For Heuksan Island residents, hongeo is both a delicacy and a living

Food & Travel

Published: 23 May. 2024, 14:42 Updated: 23 May. 2024, 14:55

For Heuksan Island residents, hongeo is both a delicacy and a living

A fisherman holds up a freshly caught hongeo, otherwise known as skate, at Heuksan Island in Sinan County, South Jeolla. [JOONGANG PHOTOS]

HEUKSAN ISLAND, South Jeolla - At 7:00 a.m. sharp on a recent Friday, an auctioneer on Heuksan Island in Sinan County, South Jeolla, began taking bids from some two dozen islanders lined up behind hundreds of freshly caught hongeo, otherwise known as skates, splayed out on a warehouse’s concrete floor.

Among the island’s confluence of seafood, this flat-bodied ray fish is the bestselling delicacy widely known for its odiferous stank. The fish is most commonly served raw and fermented, otherwise called sakin hongeo.

To the islanders, though, hongeo is more than a smelly, expensive fish - it is their way of life.

The pink and white semiopaque rectangles, neatly served on a plate, look innocent enough — but the piercing stink soon hits. Upon sinking your teeth into the fish's rather firm and chewy flesh, that funk fills all the airways so powerfully that it makes you subconsciously jolt. Even many locals have difficulty approaching the dish.

Sakin hongeo hoe, otherwise known as fermented raw skate [JOONGANG PHOTOS]

“It’s definitely an acquired taste, but that stench becomes kind of addicting after a few tries, sort of like blue cheese,” said avid hongeo eater Park Jung-hyun, 37.

For a subdued odor, the hoe is widely enjoyed in the form of ssam (wrap) with hongeo, steamed pork slices and kimchi, collectively called hongeo samhap.

But hongeo hoe on Heuksan Island is more often eaten sans fermentation, simply because islanders have immediate access to fresh skate.

Skates naturally ferment as they lack a bladder and excrete ammonia through their skin. This prevents them from rotting, but when fishermen during the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910) carried the fish over long distances to sell them, they were always left with the fermented version. It thus became customary for those outside of Heuksan Island to eat hongeo hoe in its fermented state.

An auctioneer takes bids on freshly caught hongeo at a Heuksan Island warehouse on May 10. [LEE JIAN]

Hongeo, for many islanders, is a way to make a living. Fishermen catch tens of them daily and sell them across the nation with prices as high as 400,000 won for a single skate. Nearly all restaurants on the island offer some variation of hongeo. The business is known to be quite profitable, and many are looking to jump in.

Those specialized in cutting skate, for example, can reportedly earn up to 100 million won ($73,670) annually. Making hongeo requires knowledge of the fish's anatomy and the skills to pull the flesh from bone, according to the county's website, and even the most experienced hongeo cooks take around 40 minutes to cut and plate the fish.

Discovering the rugged appeal of Korea's lesser-known Heuksan Island

Students at the hongeo cutting school on Heuksan Island practice slicing skate. [JOONGANG PHOTOS]

The county, since 2020, has been encouraging more of its residents to obtain a license to cut skate by establishing a hongeo cutting school on Heuksan Island, which teaches willing adults how to take apart and slice raw hongeo for free. Students include people in their 30s to those in their 70s.

The program has grown especially popular over the past few years. These days, there are even a few who come from as far as Mokpo on the mainland, a two-hour ferry ride away.

But back in the warehouse on Friday, the auction was over in nearly an hour. The buzz of biddings disappeared as satisfied buyers silently collected their slippery skates and slid them into clear plastic bags.

Over the quiet hustle, a man abruptly called out: "Hey! That's my 5-kilogram [11-pound] hongeo!"

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]