Removing poison — and stigma — from the world’s most dangerous bowl of soup

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.

Although it’s often claimed that pufferfish came to South Korea via Japan, Park — who is also head chef at Seoul restaurant and food lab Onjium — disagrees.

“Food culture has always been an exchange,” he says.

“Korean cuisine itself is very diverse. Rather than following strict rules, it evolves through individual styles coming together. Japan tends to standardize and systemize its culinary rules, with everyone following them precisely. In Korea, things are less rigid. We aim to express philosophy within that irregularity. In the end, the goal is a sense of comfortable beauty.”

South Korea, Japan and China all have long histories of consuming pufferfish. And, yes, many people died along the way as different groups learned about the fish and discovered that it was poisonous. As a result, some families banned loved ones from eating it, and misconceptions abound even now.

One of the most poisonous parts of the fish is its eyes. Trained professionals remove them, as well as the bones and most internal organs, ahead of cooking. As the fish’s blood also contains a trace amount of poison, it must be washed away very carefully. The skin, meanwhile, is fine to eat and considered one of the tastiest parts, plus it’s high in collagen.

“The combination of bean sprouts and pufferfish creates a refreshing, clean flavor, which is why it’s often eaten as a hangover soup,” says Park. “When cooked in a soup, there’s more volume to eat and the firm texture of fish pairs well with this cooking method. It also gives a refreshing sensation that helps settle the stomach.

The firm flesh of the Pufferfish makes it ideal for bulgogi, a Korean grilled dish featuring marinated meat or fish, he adds. “The fillets are thinly sliced, coated in starch and briefly rinsed in cold water to create a coated surface. This gives a delicate external layer while keeping the inside tender and chewy.”

Other restaurants specialize in raw, sashimi-style pufferfish, or make it into a kind of jelly.

The popularity of pufferfish — and the continued belief that it’s too dangerous to eat — has resulted in a new wave of dedicated pufferfish farms, which aim to breed out the poison entirely.

The toxicity of a fish depends on its diet. By feeding it specially controlled food without any presence of tetrodotoxin, the fish’s likelihood of being poisonous is almost zero. These days, nearly all the pufferfish on restaurant menus in Busan are from a farm, not directly from the sea.

But for Park, the appeal of Korean bokguk is about so much more than cultural mythmaking. When asked why he has spent more than two decades studying and preparing pufferfish, he shrugs simply and says, “Just one reason: it’s delicious.”

Busan on the rise

Don’t expect restaurants like Chowon Bokguk to remain local secrets for long.

“Busan’s allure lies in its unapologetic blend of rugged maritime grit and whimsical artistry,” says Rachel O’Leary, senior travel designer at Jacada Travel.

O’Leary lived in South Korea for several years and now creates itineraries for travelers there. She says that as South Korea becomes more popular, travelers are eager to explore more than just the capital. Busan, with its beachy climate, laid-back attitude, and fresh seafood, is a natural choice.

In addition to having a meal at a local restaurant, O’Leary also sends her clients to the city’s famed fish markets. The largest and best-known of these is Jagalchi Market, in Busan’s fashionable Nampo neighborhood near Busan Tower and the former Japanese concession. There, visitors can select fresh fish and shellfish straight from the tanks and then head upstairs to have them cooked to order.

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