Korean food has earned its global reputation honestly. It is bold, communal, fermented, spicy, and extremely good. Even the most Westernized Korean city dwellers eat traditional food regularly, and the country's food culture — the YouTube channels, the cooking shows, the obsessive discussion of which neighborhood has the best dakgalbi — is a serious national preoccupation.
A Korean meal centres on rice and a soup or stew, surrounded by small shared side dishes called banchan. These arrive automatically with your meal at no extra charge and are refilled when they run out. Kimchi — fermented cabbage in a spiced paste — is the most important banchan and appears at virtually every meal; there are said to be over 160 varieties. The fermentation culture runs deep: doenjang (fermented soybean paste) and ganjang (soy sauce) are made on a similar principle.
Dishes to seek out
Bibimbap — rice mixed at the table with vegetables, a fried egg, gochujang (red chilli paste), and usually some meat; the version from Jeonju (the old name for Chonju) is considered the best in the country.
Bulgogi — thin slices of marinated beef, typically grilled at the table over charcoal or a gas flame. One of the most internationally known Korean dishes and one of the best.
Samgyeopsal — thick rashers of pork belly grilled at the table, wrapped in lettuce leaves with garlic, sliced green chilli, and a smear of doenjang. Extremely popular, very cheap, usually eaten with soju. This is the Korean barbecue experience most travelers remember.
Jjigae — stews come in many forms; doenjang jjigae (fermented soybean paste stew with tofu and vegetables) and sundubu jjigae (soft tofu stew, often spicy) are the most common. Eaten with rice, excellent in cold weather.
Naengmyeon — cold buckwheat noodles in an icy beef broth, topped with cucumber, pear, and a boiled egg. The signature dish of Pyongyang in North Korea, popular across the peninsula in summer.
Tteokbokki — rice cakes in a fiery red sauce, sold everywhere as street food. Cheap, filling, intensely spicy.
Drinking
Soju — a clear spirit distilled from rice or sweet potato, around 16–25% alcohol — is the national drink and one of the world's best-selling spirits. It is drunk in small glasses, always poured for others rather than yourself, and pairs with virtually every Korean dish. Beer (maekju) is widely drunk, often mixed with soju in a drink called somaek. Makgeolli, a milky unfiltered rice wine, is lower in alcohol and has a pleasantly sour, slightly fizzy character; it goes well with savoury pancakes (pajeon) on a rainy day.
Coffee culture is huge in Korean cities; independent cafes are everywhere, and some neighborhoods seem to have one every 50 metres.