Breakfast in Korea

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    What is a typical breakfast like in Korea?






    I remember eating white rice, kimchi of some sort and fried eggs…our Korean moms in the neighborhood thought this would give us lots of energy for the day…



    I have had very light breakfast for years. What is it? haha, coffee! Coffee gives me energy to start my day very energetically. I sometimes drink fat free milk and grape fruit juice along with coffee. Basically all are liquid. : )

    Anyway, long time ago when I lived in Korea, I used to cook breakfast everyday for my family and myself. Doenjang soup (soybean soup vegetables), cooked rice, kimchi, bean sprout side dish, spinach side dish, steamed egg, roasted small fish..etc… I never cook bulgogi for breakfast which is too heavy.

    Rice and soup! That’s basic breakfast in Korea.



    Whenever mom’s friends would come over for breakfast, they would expect to have rice and kimchi-jigae. A side dish or two might go with it, but usually the stew was enough. One thing I did notice that when eaten for breakfast, more emphasis was placed on the broth than the meat or kimchi.

    So I’d go with soup and rice with maybe a side dish.

    Me personally, I’m a grab and go girl. Instant coffee, a bagelful or kashi breakfast bar and I’m out the door.



    it’s usually a lighter soup (bean sprout soup or tofu soup) with simple side dishes… i remember when we were kids we would have cream soup and bread for breakfast too…

    but yeah… a lot of ppl have “merican style”breakfast these days… like cereal or egg sandwich… :D



    I remember eating soup and some rice before going to school but as my brother, sister, and i got older it was fried egg sandwiches or grilled cheese and fried egg sandwiches but mainly toaster strudels or toaster scrambles.



    As a korean child born in the states, the idea of eating Korean food for breakfast seems bizarre to me. But now that I think of it, whenever I was sick, my mom would make me a very simple Korean breakfast: rice porridge (“juke”?) and a side dish of like a pulled beef in soy sauce (anyone know what this is called?) and some sort of kimchi.

    Is this a breakfast typically made in Korea for when you have the cold/flu?




    That dish you’re thinking of is JangJorim. :) Jook is very common to eat when your tummy isn’t well enough to handle more substantial food any time of the day.



    Eh. When I was growing up we got toast, cereal, fruit, pancakes, etc. for breakfast…I thought it was weird that other Korean people ate…Korean food for breakfast. “It’s a dinner food!” 8P



    Come to think of it, sometimes we’d get soup – tomato soup, usually, but a soup – very Korean!



    when i lived there, we pretty much just ate leftovers.. we had soup, several kinds of kimchi, some side dishes and some fish or meat and rice, of course.

    i remember one time, my boss’s nephew bought some cakes (like chocolate cake) and some tomato juice. i was like EEEEWWWWWWWWW lol but i ate it anyway, so i wouldn’t look rude.



    A bowl of steamed rice , (it’s the bread of korean diet)

    soup(light soup, like bean sprout soup, light doenjang tofu soup)

    (we don’t eat jjigae for breakfast. it’s for at least lunch or dinner )

    with ordinary banchan right out of the frige.

    (no to less meat. we usually don’t eat samgyupsal in the morning)

    ->that’s a traditional korean breakfast.

    Takes more time and enthusiasm than cereal & milk

    but it’s called “Mom’s Love”



    Hahaha, I feel weird. I grew up in San Diego with a Korean mom and I was never a big breakfast girl. I usually had my mom’s homemade salsa, tangerine or an avocado and a bowl of Rice! Talk about fusion of cultures!


    When I was touring Korea this summer, I stayed with two host families. They both gave people from my group and me rice, soup (Miyuk Guk/ Birthday Soup ^_^ or an egg soup) and a lot of banchan (about 10 different dishes such as japchae, kimchi, quail eggs, Kim, etc.). I’m pretty sure they were up at 6 making breakfast for at least an hour for us.

    The picture is part of one of our breakfasts. They actually made these mini burgers that we just called Asian burgers.


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