From the Market at Six in the Morning to Pickled Oriental Melon: A Trip Through Gunsan's Traditional Markets and Local Food

Walk a little northeast from the old downtown and Gunsan Public Market at 18 Singeum-gil and Sinyeong Market at 36 Dongsinyeong-gil face each other side by side. Gunsan Public Market, open 09:00–20:00 (closed on the first and third Sunday of each month), is an all-purpose market. In a modern arcade building as tidy as a department store, long-running shops and a youth mall sit together.

The Gunsan specialty travelers look for first here is, without question, pickled oriental melon (narazuke). It is a pickle made by salting oriental pickling melon, a fruit of the gourd family, then aging it while burying it again and again in the lees left over from brewing clear rice wine. It has a crisp texture and a subtle sweetness. Right next door, Sinyeong Market has tongue sole and yellow croaker fresh from the West Coast and dried chewy in the sea wind, along with blue crabs and salted seafood, piled high in every alley. It is ideal for buying dried seafood and side dishes.

If you want to keep tasting the sea right after the Haemangno museum belt or Jinpo Marine Park, walk to Gunsan General Seafood Center at 216 Naehang 2-gil. It is open 07:00–20:30 and closes every Tuesday.

Besides live and fresh fish just landed from the West Sea, you can compare and buy cleanly trimmed, vacuum-packed half-dried tongue sole, all kinds of dried seafood and processed seafood in one place. Ice box packing is readily available, so it suits a last stop just before heading home.

The places to meet Gunsan people's everyday life most vividly early in the morning are Yeokjeon General Market in Daemyeong-dong (13-1 Guam 3.1-ro) and Myeongsan Market in Myeongsan-dong (461-3 Wolmyeong-ro). Both keep their lights on 06:00–20:00 (Yeokjeon General Market is open all year round; Myeongsan Market closes on the first and third Sunday). They have long supplied hearty breakfast tables for residents around the old Gunsan Station site and the neighborhood below the Wolmyeong-dong hill.

If you want to buy fresh farm, livestock and fishery products harvested that day by Gunsan farmers, along with processed foods, at fixed prices, Gunsan Local Food Complex Center at 103 Guam 3.1-ro in Gyeongam-dong is the answer. It is open 09:00–20:00 all year round. You can confidently pick white waxy barley, Gunsan's signature grain, and snacks made from local produce.

Each traditional market has different closing days, so check the day of your visit first. On Tuesday the Gunsan General Seafood Center at the inner harbor rests. On the first and third Sunday of each month, Gunsan Public Market and Myeongsan Market close.

By contrast, Yeokjeon General Market and Gunsan Local Food Complex Center are open all year, so you can stop by anytime. Half-dried tongue sole, live fish and pickled oriental melon need refrigeration. The wisest route is to buy them on the afternoon of your last day at the Public Market, Sinyeong Market or the Seafood Center and leave right away.