5 Notable Korean street foods from K-dramas

ODENG (오뎅) - Anyone remember this scene from Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo?

Seeing how happy Bok Joo is eating odeng, you can’t help but wonder what it tastes like. Odeng are skewered savory fish cakes cooked in broth. You can find them at food stalls all over Korea. It’s the perfect snack in cold weather. It usually comes with a cup of odeng soup, which is the best!

Each stick usually costs around 500-1000 KRW (around 0.43 to 0.87 USD). The price varies depending on your location. This cheap yet very tasty treat will make you come back for seconds, or if you’re like Kim Bok Joo, fourths and fifths.

Click here for a recipe so you can make your own odeng at home.

2. TTEOKBOKKI (떡볶이) - It’s not hard to spot this well-loved street food in dramas. These spicy rice cakes are usually present when the characters are drinking or having a juicy gossip session.

In one episode of True Beauty, Han Seo-jun and Lim Ju-kyung had a post-photo shoot tteokbokki fix.

Tteokbokki are white rice cakes mixed with sauce made from gochujang (Korean red pepper paste) along with fresh ingredients such as green onions, carrots, and sesame seeds among others. Sometimes it’s even mixed with odeng or cheese!

Here’s a recipe video so you can prepare this snack at home (it’s an ASMR video).

3. KOREAN CORN DOG - Corn Dogs by themselves are not really unusual, but South Koreans eat them with a twist.

For the filling, you have different choices on what to add to the sausage. The most common combo is a sausage and mozzarella corn dog that’s deep fried, and then usually served with a light dusting of sugar, some ketchup, and mustard. The sweet and savory flavors end up battling for supremacy in your mouth, which makes for a yummy experience.

Check out this scene from Start Up. Doesn’t it make you crave for one from Halmoni Choi’s truck?

Here’s a video recreating the corn dogs from Start Up so you can make them at home.

4. KIMBAP (김밥) - This Korean seaweed rice roll is also often seen in K-dramas. Kimbap is a mash-up of two words: Kim (김), which means seaweed sheets, and bap, (밥) which means rice.

The possibilities for the filling of the kimbap are endless. You can add pickled radish, carrots, fish cake, spam, or any kind of meat such as beef or pork.

You can find kimbap almost everywhere. You can usually spot it in bus and train stations, convenience stores, and small neighborhood food stalls.

It’s filling, tasty, and is the perfect snack on the go. You can either eat it sliced or copy what our heroine Ji Eun-tak of Goblin is doing in this picture and enjoy it whole.

Here’s a recipe for kimbap that you can try.

5. BUNGEOPPANG (붕어빵) - Vincenzo fans will remember bungeoppang from this scene:

Imagine biting into warm bread with a delicious filling on a cold night. You can usually find your friendly neighborhood ajeossi and ajumma selling these fish shaped pastries on a cart. The filling is usually red bean, but there are some who sell bungeoppang that are filled with custard, jam, or even chocolate.