By Lilit Marcus, Erica Hwang, CNN
Busan, South Korea (CNN) — In a 1991 episode of “The Simpsons,” Homer goes to a Japanese restaurant and eats fugu, or poisonous pufferfish. He becomes convinced that he’s going to die, so he crosses off as many of the items on his bucket list as possible.
There’s one wrinkle — the skillful chef managed to remove all the poison, so Homer’s totally fine and has to keep living his life.
Pufferfish, though, still has a dangerous reputation.
Yes, it’s poisonous. Even a tiny amount of the tetrodotoxin it contains can be lethal.
However, the fish can be prepared in a way where the poison is safely removed. In Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city and a major seaside destination, pufferfish restaurants abound.
While seafood is popular all across South Korea, pufferfish is a Busan specialty. The fishermen who have long lived in this part of the country easily catch them in the surrounding waters. The seaside Mipo neighborhood in Busan is known locally as “Pufferfish Village.” Several of Busan’s pufferfish restaurants have been recognized by Michelin, which debuted its Busan guide in 2024.
Pufferfish chefs require special training and need to pass an exam before they’re licensed by a national government department. Nervous diners can ask to see these certificates, which are usually hanging on the wall inside the restaurant, to be sure they’re in safe hands.
One of the most famous pufferfish restaurants in Busan is Chowon Bokguk — bokguk means pufferfish soup in Korean.
Although the restaurant is in an unassuming brick building on a typical side street, it comes with significant prestige: founder Kim Dong-sik was the first licensed pufferfish chef in Busan.
At lunchtime, visitors can order a set menu where the fish is prepared in a soup. The rich broth contains vegetables like bean sprouts, white radishes and water parsley, while deep-fried pufferfish fritters are served as an appetizer.
The meal arrives with a full set of banchan, Korean side dishes, that include two different kinds of kimchi, water spinach and rice. The most basic of these sets costs 18,000 won (about $12).
Soup with a side of scandal
Chowon Bokguk’s reputation, though, goes well beyond its menu offerings. Ask any local Busanite about it, and they’ll tell you that the restaurant was the site of a significant political scandal decades ago.
A group of Busan political officials, including the city’s mayor and police chief, were having a meal at the restaurant in 1992. Unbeknownst to both them and the restaurant’s owners, Chowon Bokguk had been bugged.
It was a classic case of political espionage. Figures linked to the Unification People’s Party eavesdropped on high-ranking government rivals from the Democratic Liberal Party as they plotted to influence presidential elections.
The tapes dropped like a bombshell just three days before the election, causing a major scandal. The “Chowon Bokguk incident” led to a landmark legal case that, ironically, saw members of the Unification Party convicted of trespassing for planting bugs without permission.
Today, Chowon Bokguk is to Busan what Watergate is to Washington D.C., and these days the restaurant prefers to keep a low profile, letting its food do the talking.
The restaurant is popular for workday lunches, with an attendant helping cars maneuver in and out of the small lot in front of the building.
‘A sense of comfortable beauty’
Pufferfish consumption has long roots in South Korea. It was a specialty food for the Joseon dynasty, Korea’s final dynasty, which spanned from the 14th through the early 20th century, but Korean food historian Park Sung-bae believes it was eaten well before that.
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