Tteokguk: Rice Cake Soup Marks Another Year — From Traditional Ritual to Modern K-Food
Creatrip Team
7 months ago
Tteokguk (rice cake soup) is traditionally eaten on Lunar New Year’s Day in Korea to symbolize gaining a year in age. Historically, families made long rice cakes (garaetteok) by pounding steamed glutinous rice with a wooden mallet (tteokme) and slicing them thin; regional and class differences meant some households used rice with other New Year dishes instead. Early 20th-century Seoul recipes used pheasant broth or light soy-based stock before beef became the common base; egg, grilled skewered beef (sanjeok), and seasonings were suggested as garnishes. Japan’s colonial era discouraged lunar celebrations and the holiday only returned as a public holiday decades later. Today tteokguk has moved from ritual table to everyday menus and, like tteokbokki, may evolve into new K-Food variations for the 21st century.
