Various countries around the world have their own cultures and customs for spending New Year's with their precious ones. From eating specific types of food to playing typical games, each country and each group of people has its unique way of celebrating the newly starting year. One of Korea's unique cultures is eating Tteokguk. Tteokguk is a traditional dish in Korea. Tteok (rice cake) is cooked in beef bone soup with vegetables (mostly green onion). Even though the culture of eating Tteokguk on New Year's is the same all through Korea, different regions of Korea have their own version of Tteokguk. The difference can be minimal as a garnish to the difference in main ingredients cooked together from the start.
Firstly, the Tteokguk of the Gyeongsang-do region includes fried beef and thinly sliced tofu as a garnish on top of the Tteokguk. It is called Ggumi-Tteokguk in standard Korean and Ggimi-Tteokguk in the Gyeongsang-do dialect. One iconic fact about Ggumi-Tteokguk is that all the ingredients are cooked simultaneously, including the egg which is usually cooked first and added as a garnish when the dish is finished.
Next, the Tteokguk of the Chungcheong-do region includes different types of Tteok compared to the standard variation. Most Tteokguk uses Garaetteok, a white, long, and thin rice cake in round stick form. Whereas, Chungcheong-do uses Saeng-tteok, which is rice cake by kneading non-glutinous rice in hot water. It allows you to put tteok right away in the pot without any previous steps beforehand. Additionally, Chungcheong-do’s region Tteokguk includes a lot of seaweed, which is the reason why it is called Miyeok-saeng-tteokguk (Seaweed saeng tteokguk).
Third, the Tteokguk of the Gyeongsangnam-do region includes oysters as the main ingredient in the Tteokguk. Even though it is a region included within Gyeongsang-do, it is closer to the sea, which allows easier access to ingredients such as oysters and maesaengi. This characteristic of the region encouraged their people to include those ingredients in their dishes, such as Tteokguk.
Last but not least, the Tteokguk of the Jeolla-do region has the very iconic color of the soup. Varying from the white soup of most regions of Korea, it has yellowish-colored soup. Unlike the standard Tteokguk recipe, Jeolla-do’s Dalgjang-tteokguk uses chicken meat to create the soup and soy sauce later to add the taste. The history of the Dalgjang-tteokguk starts with using pheasant, which was later replaced with chicken due to lacking number of pheasants.
These were four different variations of the Tteokguk of Korea based on different regions of Korea. Each region’s variation includes ingredients and recipes that show the special characteristics of the region such as easy access to resources in the ocean. Next time you visit Korea, I highly suggest you visit different regions of Korea and try their variation of food to truly learn and understand about their region’s unique differences and culture.
Works Cited
정혜윤. “지역마다 다른 설 떡국...특징과 의미는?” YTN, 11 Feb. 2021, www.ytn.co.kr/_ln/0106_202102120322260906. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.
“끼미떡국 - 대구역사문화대전.” Grandculture.net, 2018, www.grandculture.net/daegu/toc/GC40008301. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.
The-K 매거진. “The-K 매거진 202201 Vol.53.” The-K 매거진 - 한국교직원공제회, 2022, www.thekmagazine.co.kr/data/theK_2201/sub3_04.php. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.