Finding Seoul in the South: A Culinary Tour of Buford Highway

Living in a smaller Southern town like Statesboro has its charms, but sometimes, a Korean girl just needs some proper jjajangmyeon. When that craving hits, my wonderful host family knows it's time for a pilgrimage. They've become great co-adventurers in my quest for the perfect black bean noodles, and our destination is a place that, on a map, is just a road, but in reality, is a whole different world: Buford Highway.

Stretching northeast from Atlanta, Buford Highway is a multi-lane, unassuming road lined with strip malls and car dealerships. But within these strip malls is one of the most vibrant and diverse international communities in the entire United States. Over several decades, this area has become a hub for immigrant communities, and with them has come their food. For a foodie and a puzzle-lover, exploring its hidden culinary gems is a perfect adventure.

Our most recent trip was a mission to satisfy our Korean food cravings. We started at a massive Korean supermarket. Walking inside is like being instantly transported back to Korea. The aisles are packed with every brand of ramyeon you can imagine, dozens of different kinds of kimchi, and fresh ingredients that are impossible to find in our local grocery store. Just the smell of the place—a mix of fermented bean paste, sesame oil, and sweet pastries—felt like home.

After stocking up, we went to our favorite restaurant in a small, crowded plaza. It’s a tiny place, run by an elderly Korean couple, that specializes in the kind of homestyle food that reminds me of my grandmother's cooking. We ordered a feast: spicy soft tofu stew (sundubu-jjigae), crispy seafood pancakes (haemul pajeon), and, of course, the jjajangmyeon I had been dreaming of. Sitting there, surrounded by the sound of the Korean language, it was easy to forget we were in the middle of Georgia.

But Buford Highway is so much more than just Korean food. On that same trip, we stopped at a Vietnamese bakery for some incredible banh mi sandwiches and strong iced coffee. We walked past Mexican taquerias, Salvadoran pupuserias, and Chinese dim sum restaurants. Every strip mall seems to represent a different part of the world.

What’s so special about Buford Highway is that it feels real. It’s not a curated, tourist-friendly "international district." It’s a living, breathing community where people from all over the world have come to build new lives, and have brought the best parts of their old ones with them.

For me, it’s a place of comfort, a place to reconnect with the flavors of my heritage. But it’s also a hopeful place. It’s a delicious, chaotic, and beautiful example of the new American South, a place where a road named Buford can also be a road that leads you all over the world, and even brings you a little closer to home.