Korean

What it is

Korean cuisine is shaped by the peninsula’s harsh winters and Buddhist-Confucian table rituals. The annual kimjang — when families together pickle cabbage for the cold months — was added to UNESCO’s intangible heritage list in 2013. A Korean meal is built around rice and soup with banchan fanning out around them.

How it tastes

The big four flavors are jang fermentation, garlic, sesame, and chili. Gochujang adds funky-sweet heat; doenjang brings a brawnier soybean depth than its Japanese cousin miso. Sesame oil drizzled at the end perfumes everything.

Signature dishes & techniques

Korean BBQ — strips of marinated bulgogi or short-rib galbi grilled at the table and wrapped in lettuce — is the cuisine’s international face. Bibimbap turns the banchan table into a single rice bowl; tteokbokki sells chewy rice cakes in a sweet-spicy gochujang sauce on every Seoul street corner.