Soups & Hot Pots

In the Namdaemun market, one of the oldest markets in Seoul, soup stalls dot the alleys. Bits of vegetables, offal, and green onions in large stainless steel bowls are stacked twenty high at the ready. Apron-clad aunties call to passers-by to come sit at their rickety tables. As soon as a customer sits down, a ladle is submerged into a cauldron of stock with hunks of meat A bowl of rice and some kimchi complete the quick and satisfying lunch.

Soup is a very important part of a Korean meal. “If there is rice there is soup,” Taekyung says. She likes to dip her spoon into a rich broth and then spill it over a tiny section in her rice bowl mixing the grains and soup together. Like rice, soup is served at breakfast, lunch or dinner.