Armenian vs South Korean food & cuisine

The food is distinct in how it layers flavors. Herbs aren’t garnishes – they’re ingredients. Parsley, cilantro, tarragon, and fresh basil appear in massive quantities. Fermented dairy, especially yogurt, plays a big role in soups, sauces, grain dishes, and meat marinades. You’ll notice bulgur is preferred over rice, unlike in Persian cooking.

Armenia shares the mezze dining tradition with the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Coffee outpaces tea in daily life, prepared unfiltered with grounds left in small cups. The ritual includes fortune-telling using those grounds. Wine has deep roots here – Armenia is one of the world’s oldest wine-producing regions. Brandy, particularly Armenian cognac, is a national pride.

Charcoal grilling and stone-pot cooking are common, contrasting with China’s wok-centered stir-frying and Japan’s frequent raw or lightly handled seafood; grilling at the table is especially characteristic in Korea.

Bread is central. Lavash, baked in a tonir clay oven and served at nearly every meal, is recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. Matnakash offers a thicker, chewy crumb and crisp crust. Other staples include pita, Easter bread choreg, and sweet gata.

Boeregs, known by many spellings, are crisp phyllo pastries filled with cheese, meat, or vegetables. Though found across the former Ottoman Empire and Balkans, Armenians have fully made them their own.

Barley suits Armenia’s dry climate and appears in soups, stews, and porridges, eaten savory or sweetened with honey. It shows up in dishes like tanabour and ashura, a grain pudding related to Turkish Noah pudding.

Rice arrived through trade routes and became plav, a celebratory pilaf often cooked with vermicelli. Rice also forms the base of dolma fillings, wrapped in grape leaves or stuffed into vegetables.

Traditional cooking used cast-iron pots, leaving a toasted crust called nurungji, which is eaten as a snack or brewed into sungnyung, a roasted rice water drunk after meals to refresh the palate.  In everyday meals, the default white rice is plain. But Korea also has a tradition of various mixed baps.

In Korea, noodles (guksu) are popular but secondary to rice. Unlike China or Japan, where noodles hold deep cultural weight, in Korea they remain complementary.

Rice noodles are rare; buckwheat, wheat, and sweet potato starch dominate. Sweet potato starch gave rise to japchae’s glass noodles. Noodles appear as hot soups, cold broths, or stir-fried dishes, served hot or at room temperature.

Barley often substituted rice, and many households still mix it into rice. Barley tea (bori-cha) is the default table drink. Corn, more common in the north, was eaten roasted, boiled, ground for porridge (oksusu-juk), or mixed with rice; corn tea (oksusu-cha) is also standard.

Wheat was historically scarce, but became central in knife-cut noodles, buckwheat blends and dumplings mandu.

Fresh greens such as purslane, sorrel, and wild arugula appear in salads. Spinach and chard enrich soups and stews. Pumpkin stars in ghapama, where the hollowed pumpkin becomes the cooking vessel, stuffed with rice, dried fruits, and nuts.

Dolma, or tolma are also important. Vine or cabbage leaves, eggplants, zucchini, peppers, chard, and beet leaves are stuffed with rice, herbs, and often meat, then served with garlicky yogurt matzoon. Dolma is essential on New Year’s Eve.

Harsh winters shaped preservation habits. Vegetables are pickled in colorful brines, sometimes with plums or apricots, and sun-dried tomatoes and eggplants provide intense flavor year-round.

Potatoes rose to importance during the Soviet era and are now second only to wheat. Fruits are abundant, but pomegranates stand apart as symbols of eternity in art and cuisine. Apricots are especially loved, fresh and dried, appearing in mezze, stews, puddings, and snacks.

Kimchi began as salted vegetables; chili peppers from the Americas transformed it into the spicy red napa cabbage style by the 18th century. Garlic, ginger, scallions, chili, and fish sauce give depth. Koreans eat 36–40 kg of kimchi per person yearly, though consumption has declined in recent decades due to lifestyle shifts, sodium concerns, and changing habits.

Meals also include namul (seasoned greens), braised roots, and pickles. Popular dishes: jeon (zucchini, scallion, or kimchi pancakes), japchae (sweet potato noodles with vegetables), and ssam (greens used as wrappers for rice, condiments, or meat).

Legumes are central: soybeans for tofu, soybean sprouts (kongnamul), soy milk for kongguksu noodles, and fermented condiments (doenjang, ganjang, gochujang). Mung beans appear in bindaetteok (pancakes) and nokdumuk (starch jelly). Azuki beans are used in rice cakes, breads, and patjuk porridge.

The sea contributes fish, algae, and seaweeds – another essential plant-based element of Korean cuisine.

Asian pears, persimmons, apples, citrus, melons, and berries are popular in South Korea. Asian pears and persimmons were especially important, as gifts, in ceremonies, in traditional medicine, as meat marinades, and all over art and poetry.

Preservation matters. Basturma, air-dried and heavily seasoned, cures for about a month and is eaten on its own, with eggs, or in pastries. Yershig, also called sujuk, is a dry-fermented sausage of beef or lamb with garlic, cumin, sumac, and paprika, denser and spicier than Turkish versions.

Winter favors soups and stews. Kololik is a lamb meatball soup thickened with rice and sometimes eggs. Khash simmers beef shanks and offal for hours, producing a collagen-rich broth believed to cure hangovers. Khashlama, a lamb soup, cooks slowly with herbs and salt, using the whole animal.

Armenian dumplings include manti, small open canoe-shaped parcels filled with spiced meat, steamed, then baked so the edges crisp. They are more common among Western Armenians. In the east, closed khinkali dumplings are preferred.

Koreans were historically farmers; rice and grains anchored meals, and meat was secondary. Buddhism discouraged slaughter, keeping meat less central, but beef held symbolic weight in Confucian rituals.

Pork surged in popularity after the Korean War, becoming the most common meat in South Korea’s growing economy. Chicken was traditionally valued in soups and stews for nourishment, but in the late 20th century, fried chicken became a national phenomenon. Today, crispy twice-fried chicken with sweet or spicy sauces is a leading export, paired with beer in “chimaek” culture.

Korean meat dishes avoid large roasts or steaks. Meat is cut thin, bite-sized, or ground – once to stretch scarce meat, and also to ease marination, grilling, and sharing. No knives appear at the table; food is served ready for chopsticks and spoons.

Korean barbecue stems from older grilling but took shape in the 20th century. Bulgogi dates back over 1,000 years, yet grilling was not a daily fare. By the 1970s–80s, with rising incomes, restaurants popularized table-top grilling. Today, Korean BBQ – especially pork belly (samgyeopsal) – is central in South Korea and globalized across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

Koreans eat raw fish quite often, but also differently from Japanese sashimi. Seafood is sliced thicker and chewier, hoe is almost always eaten with sauces, as a part of the bigger spread, often eaten on social occasions and followed by beer.

A very important to Korean flavor identity is jeotgal,  a category of salted, fermented seafood. Tiny shrimp, anchovies, oysters, roe, or crab are preserved into condiments that power kimchi, appear as punchy side dishes, or become fish sauces aekjeot.

Cheeses are usually white, semi-firm to firm, brined or aged in salt water. Made without additives, they mature in clay pots or wooden barrels. Popular varieties include chechil (stringy and smoked), lori (mild), chanakh (brined), motal (crumbly with herbs), and yeghegnadzor (aged and sharp).

Korean desserts are subtle and light, made of rice, beans, grains, nuts, honey, and fruits. The sweetness is delicate, just enough to balance bitterness. Chewy texture is very preferred, also crunchiness, or soft pressed sweets that dissolve on the tongue. Visually, many are shaped with molds, decorated with patterns, or colored naturally with plants.  Tea-culture roots and ritual/seasonal usage keep portions small.