Korea Driven.

Korean culture is having a big moment in the West right now. It’s an interest that’s been simmering for a while, from when Gangnam Style was the latest inescapable Macarena-esque fad, to K-Pop and BTS becoming enough of a household name that they can have their own meal at McDonald’s, to the cinema of Bong Joon-ho and now Squid Game.

As often happens when a particular culture has more time in the spotlight, it’s food culture gains more attention also — in fact, the Oxford English Dictionary has recently added a selection of Korean words, many of them food related, in a nod to their new level of importance. There’s a word for this newfound fascination with Korean culture — hallyu — and also a selection of words relating specifically to food. Here’s a quick run-down of some you might have heard, and some you might not have.

Bulgogi — Literally, “fire meat.” Has been readily available in the West for a while now, but is still a mainstay in Korean cooking. Most commonly beef, but can easily be pork or chicken.

Chimaek — The perfectly balanced pairing of moreish Korean fried chicken and crisp, thirst-slaking beer. A classic combo that many of us have been lucky enough to try already, but nice to have the official name to hand.

Dongchimi — Ever had kimchi, the spiced, fermented Korean cabbage? Yes? What about dongchimi? It’s the same concept, but instead of cabbage, using radish.

Mukbang — Roughly translating to “eating broadcast,” it’s pretty much what it sounds like — people eating food on video. Often in high resolution, with highly sensitive ASMR microphones. Slurpy.

Banchan — “Side dishes” — that awesome, uniquely Korean selection of snacks, pickles and assorted other odds and ends that come out on their own at the start of a meal.

Kimbap — Looks like sushi, tastes a bit like sushi, isn’t actually sushi. The main difference between sushi and kimbap is the Korean version is seasoned in a sweeter fashion, as opposed to with vinegar, and is more likely to contain cooked fillings than raw ones.

Ram-Don — The deliciously saucy looking beef and noodle preparation from the movie Parasite that had Western audiences taking to Google in droves to find out of what the hell they were looking at, and how they could get it. In actual fact, ram-don is a name totally fabricated for the English subtitles, meant to capture the meaning of the dishes Korean name jjapaguri — itself a portmanteau of the names of two famous noodle brands, Chapagetti and Neoguri — “chapa-guri.” Even so, the dish in the film is in fact nothing like real jjapaguri, which is a cheap and accessible comfort food made simply by combining the two different brands of instant noodles, in what happens to be a pleasing combination. The addition in the film of top quality sirloin (Korean Hanwoo beef, priced similarly to Wagyu or Kobe) is something that in reality would never be added to jjapaguri, and would be somewhat comparable to adding white Alba truffle to your Kraft Easy Mac. In the context of the film, it’s a joke at the expense of the wealthy family, who have so much more money than sense that they are inclined to such flagrantry wasteful displays (and whose spoilt son incidentally eats the noodles and picks the steak out.)

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