black tofu is not black tofu

If you are traveling to a foreign country whose language you do not speak, I advise being very open to new cuisines. In fact, you must be open to complete mystery. Ryan and I have become accustomed to smiling and nodding a lot when we go to a restaurant and don't understand any of the dishes on the menu we are familiar with. With the smile and nod we are hoping to convey: "we do not understand you, please bring us something you think is good." Fortunately, this has gone surprisingly well. For the most part, Korean food is made up of rice, noddles, and soups with lots of red chili sauces, vegetables and meat.
The only problem comes with strange additions to these simple bases. This of course is only strange to an American who is not accustomed to squid and octopus tentacles, dried fish jerky and silk worm larvae.
Often a safer bet is to point at another customers food that looks appetizing and again smile and nod. Ryan and I got a tasty boiling soup one morning for breakfast with lots of vegetables and something that looked very much like black tofu floating at the bottom. "It must be some sort of tofu made from a different bean," Ryan said. I didn't think so. Tasted bloody. After a nice conversation of broken English with a man seated next to us after finishing our soup, we asked him what it was. Oxen bladder. That's right. Oxen bladder.
Not so bad actually, but next time I might say "anyo" to the black tofu.