K-Drama Food Pairings

Ramen is so popular in Korean dramas, you’d have to search high and low to find a foodie drama that doesn’t feature a scene with the main characters slurping away.

Jajangmyeon (자장면) is covered with a rich but slightly sweet black, bean sauce (the jajang) and then usually topped with diced pork and mixed vegetables.

While there are plenty of ways to serve and enjoy the tasty little rice cakes, the most famous is tteokbokki (떡볶이), a rich stew cooked in gochujang. It is a little sweet and a little spicy and comes with plenty of vegetables to soak up all the intense flavors.

In Korea, if you learn three simple syllables, bap, juk and tteok, you’ll never go hungry. Bap, or cooked rice, can be served steamed or it can be fried or mixed with other ingredients. Rice can also be boiled into a porridge-style dish known as juk. Finally, there’s tteok or tok, a hearty rice cake is somewhat similar to mochi.

The only-in-Korea Budaejjigae (부대찌개) stew has been a highly sought-after meal for more than 70 years. Also known as Army Base Stew, Budaejjiggae’s Ingredients vary significantly but usually include some form of American processed food, such as Spam, hot dogs, canned beans and even American cheese slices.

Here are a few more simple Korean words that will help expand your dining options. Guk is essentially a brothy soup that usually results from cooking simple ingredients for long enough for the broth to pick up their flavors. Guk soups generally consist of a brothy base and are generally, but not always less, less spicy than other Korean fare.