Tips for ordering
Korean food is often prepared with meat and fish broth and many restaurants don’t have separate menus prepared for vegetarians. So if you are a vegetarian, it's best to clearly inform the server about your diet in advance and provide detailed instructions on ingredients that need to be excluded. Sometimes, language barriers may hinder communication so it's helpful to prepare Korean phrases such as “I am a vegetarian” or “I cannot eat meat, eggs, and seafood” in advance using a translator.
Food recommendations for vegetarians
Temple food
This is food for practicing Buddhist monks so it does not use any meat at all. Recently, temple food has been highlighted as a healthy food, which has led to an increase of many temple food restaurants. Temple food can now be found outside actual temples and has become a popular recommended meal option for many vegetarians traveling in Korea.
Bibimbap
This dish is made of mixed vegetables and rice with gochujang (hot chili paste) or soy sauce. Most bibimbap menus include meat and eggs as toppings so ask to exclude these ingredients when you order.
Gimbap
Gimbap is rice rolled with many different ingredients on a sheet of laver and served in bite-sized slices. If a gimbap contains a special ingredient that is usually not found in regular gimbap rolls, you’ll be sure to know by its name. For example, “chamchi gimbap,” or tuna gimbap, contains canned tuna and “cheese gimbap” contains cheese. Vegans are recommended a basic vegetable gimbap (“yachae gimbap”), which mostly consists of carrot, burdock root, spinach, and seasoned radish. Depending on the restaurant, even vegetable gimbap may contain ham, eggs, and crab-flavored meat so check with the restaurant before making your order.
Kongguksu (noodles in cold soybean broth)
This is a popular summer menu that adds noodles to cold soup made of ground beans, and is a suitable dish for vegetarians. Take note that eggs may be placed on top as a garnish.
Chaeso jeon (vegetable pancake)
Jeon is a Korean-style pancake made with various ingredients mixed in a flour batter. Besides chaeso jeon, which uses thinly sliced vegetables, there are also other jeon options available for vegetarians such as gamja jeon (potato pancake), pajeon (green onion pancake) and beoseot jeon (mushroom pancake). However, take note that some recipes may call for adding eggs in the batter.
Muk (jelly)
Muk refers to a jelly-type food ingredient that is made from acorn, buckwheat, or mung bean starch. It is usually served as is with a dipping sauce or as a salad after it’s been mixed with other fresh vegetables and seasoned with soy sauce to taste. Dotori muk muchim (acorn jelly salad) is the most common muk dish, regarded for its subtle spiciness and the incorporation of crunchy vegetables.
Bean curd
Bean curd, or tofu, is a highly nutritious food item that it is even referred to as “meat from land.” Not only is it nutritious, it is also very versatile and can become a part of your diet in a variety of ways. Vegetarians are usually recommended to eat soft bean curd as is accompanied by a soy sauce or simply pan-fry it in slices. Other Korean menus that use bean curd, such as soft bean curd jjigae or dubu jorim (braised bean curd), mostly add in salted shrimp to enhance flavors.
Vegan Certification
One of the easiest way to check if a product is vegan while shopping in Korea is to look for a certified vegan logo. Several vegan certification institutions worldwide issue such logos to inform consumers that the product does not contain any animal products or byproducts and has not been tested on animals. Products with these certified vegan logos can be assured to have been assessed and verified by a vegan certification institution.
Vegan Standard Certification International Institution
Korea Agency of Vegan Certification and Services
Vegan Society
V-Label International
EVE Vegan
Cruelty Free International
This page was last updated in October 2023, and therefore information may differ from what is presented here.
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FAQs
Tips for ordering
Is it easy to find vegetarian food in Korea? ›
You don't have to worry! The traditional food in Korea is vegetarian or at least have vegetarian option and it is not hard to find it. The great thing about Korean dining is that they eat a lot of side dishes which are mostly made out of vegetable.
How to ask for vegetarian food in Korean? ›
Ordering Vegetarian 채식 주문하기
Ordering vegetarian can be difficult in Korea as a lot of the dishes contain or are flavoured with meat. However, most places do offer vegetarian options if you ask. To ask if there is a vegetarian menu available you can say "chae-shik-men-nyu iss-eu-se-yo? / 채식메뉴 있으세요?".
Are there a lot of vegetarians in Korea? ›
According to a survey conducted in 2022, South Koreans aged 18 to 29 are the group most likely to purchase vegan food products. And the Korean Vegetarian Union says about half a million South Koreans identify as vegan, while 1.5 million are vegetarian or flexitarian.
Is Korea vegan friendly? ›
We know that finding vegan food in South Korea can be challenging, but the country is quickly becoming more vegan-friendly. Although most Korean cuisine is meat and/or seafood-based, including stocks and seasonings, there is no need to avoid it altogether.
Is it hard being vegetarian in Korea? ›
Can you survive as a vegetarian in Korea? In short, absolutely! The strictness of your diet will dictate to what extent you might struggle to find food, but in general, there are many vegetarian dishes in Korean restaurants.
Is being vegetarian hard in Korea? ›
If there is one thing I've realized about Korean food culture, it's that they love their meat. When I moved to Korea, I was nervous about finding vegetarian friendly restaurants. But never fear! There are actually a lot of vegetarian and vegan options if you know where to look.
Is there a word for vegetarian in Korean? ›
What follows after that is 채식주의자 (chesikjuuija). This means vegetarian. So let's hear it again, 채식주의자 (chesikjuuija). And the last part of the phrase is, 입니다 (imnida).
What percentage of Koreans are vegetarian? ›
Summary table
| Country | Vegetarians (% of population) | Approx. no. of individuals |
|---|
| Slovenia | 1.4–1.6% | 28,922 – 33,054 |
| South Korea | 3% | 1,500,000 |
| Spain | 1.4% | 664,000 |
| Sweden | 12% | 1,248,000 |
41 more rowsKorean food is often prepared with meat and fish broth and many restaurants don't have separate menus prepared for vegetarians. So if you are a vegetarian, it's best to clearly inform the server about your diet in advance and provide detailed instructions on ingredients that need to be excluded.
According to the 2022 iteration of the Codex Alimentarius international food standards, kimchi is vegetarian in that it's simply “prepared with Chinese cabbage as a predominant ingredient and other vegetables which have been trimmed, cut, salted and seasoned before fermentation”.
Which Korean celebrity are vegetarian? ›
Vegan K-pop and K-drama stars: 4 Korean celebrities who follow a plant-based diet (well, mostly) – Lee Hyori, Im Soo-jung, Claudia Kim and Lee Ha-nui.
Is soju vegan friendly? ›
Korean drinking culture of course! A glass of beer and a shot of soju (a spirit made from starch) mixed together with chopsticks. Luckily, both Korean-made soju and Cass Light/Fresh (local beer) are vegan – huzzah!
Can Vegans eat kimchi? ›
A staple ingredient is shrimp paste and fish sauce which heightens the flavor and makes it extra tasteful. They also add more garlic to improve the taste of this Korean food. The two seafood ingredients are not part of the vegan diet, which makes Kimchi not vegan.
Is Good Day Soju vegan? ›
Explore the range to find popular picks like Hitejinro, Kai, Lotte Liquor and Good Day. For a vegan option, go for Good Day Lychee or Pineapple Soju.
Is vegetarianism popular in South Korea? ›
As of 2021, there were around 2.5 million people in South Korea following a vegan diet. The number of vegans has increased tenfold from 2008 to 2018, and has shown a growth of around 67 percent in the three years after that.
What country is it easiest to be vegetarian? ›
However, there are vegetarian-friendly countries in the world that naturally excel in meat-free cuisine, such as India, Japan and Australia. Some places have a national palate that naturally tends towards veggie options.
Which country has the most vegetarians? ›
No other country or part of the world has anywhere close to the number of vegetarian people as India, either in percentage of the population or in total number. India is the unique outlier. Going by percentage of the population, Mexico is the second most vegetarian country, at 19%, then Brazil and Taiwan at 14%.
