Korean cuisine

Korean cuisine is the set of foods and culinary styles associated with Korean culture. Built around rice, vegetables, seafood and, in South Korea, meat, it is best known for banchan, the side dishes that accompany rice, and for kimchi, which appears at almost every meal.

History

The origins lie in the prehistoric societies of the peninsula, which combined hunting and fishing with an early agriculture. From the beginning of the Mumun pottery period, around 1500 BCE, migrant groups arrived from the Liao River basin in Manchuria and brought farming traditions with them. People grew millet, barley, wheat, legumes and rice, and archaeological remains point to early fermented bean foods.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla each developed their own practices and dishes; Baekje, for instance, was known for cold and fermented foods. The arrival of Buddhism and Confucianism from China in the fourth century CE began to reshape these cultures. Foundation myths of the kingdoms centre on grains, and rice became the preferred cereal in Silla and Baekje, where it was even used to pay taxes.

In the late Goryeo period, the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century left their mark, and several dishes found today, such as mandu dumplings, have roots in that era. Under the Joseon dynasty, agriculture was pushed forward by new techniques, and American crops such as maize, potatoes, chili peppers, tomatoes and peanuts arrived through trade with China, Japan and the Philippines. The opening to Western trade in the nineteenth century brought further new ingredients and dishes.

Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945 reorganised farming to supply the Japanese empire, and many Koreans expanded the cultivation of other grains for their own tables. After the Korean War and the division of the country, scarcity gave rise to budae jjigae, a stew built on sausage and canned meat. In the second half of the twentieth century, industrialisation in the South drove meat consumption up from about 3.6 kg per person in 1961 to 11 kg in 1979, while rice consumption declined steadily.

Culture

Plain steamed short-grain rice sits at the centre of the table. Traditional meals are named for the number of side dishes that accompany it, and rice is cooked in an iron pot called a sot, a method dating back to the Goryeo period. Beyond the bowl, rice is ground into flour for about two hundred kinds of tteok, rice cakes, and cooked into porridge such as juk. Other grains feature in dishes like boribap, and soybeans, in tofu, sprouts and fermented pastes, are a pillar of the cuisine.

Fermentation shapes much of the flavour. Kimchi is made from vegetables, mainly napa cabbage and radish, seasoned with garlic, ginger, scallions and chili. Each region has its own version, and families once prepared large batches in autumn to last the winter, storing them in clay jars called jangdokdae. The making of kimchi, known as kimjang, is listed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Today refrigerators and commercial kimchi have made the custom less common, though it remains very much alive.

Soup is part of the main course rather than a starter or a finish. Guk are lighter soups, tang are more formal ones, and jjigae are thicker, heavily seasoned stews. Doenjang jjigae, made with soybean paste, is the most common version at home, and sundubu jjigae, with soft tofu, is another classic. Many dishes are shared from the centre of the table, and in traditional restaurants meat is grilled at the table, then wrapped in lettuce leaves with rice and sauces.

Regional traditions run strong. Jeonju is associated with bibimbap and Suwon with galbi, and many local dishes have become national favourites. Royal court cooking once gathered specialities from every province. Among the holidays, Dongjinal, on 22 December, brings patjuk, a red bean porridge that tradition says drives away evil spirits, and the lunar New Year is marked by tteokguk, a rice cake soup eaten on that day, when tradition holds that whoever eats it gains a year of age. On the hottest days of summer, samgyetang, a chicken soup stuffed with glutinous rice and ginseng, is the customary dish.

Alcohol accompanies many meals. Soju is the best-known spirit, but there are around a hundred kinds of alcoholic drink, including rice and fruit wines, and Korean beer, a lager, is brewed with rice. Snacks eaten with drinks, known as anju, differ from banchan, ranging from steamed squid to grilled chicken feet.

Dog meat, which has a long history in the country, has declined sharply as pet ownership has spread. A law enacted in 2024 will ban the breeding, slaughter, distribution and sale of dogs for food from 7 February 2027.

Trivia