New Year Food Korean Style

 Upon commencing a new beginning, Koreans normally have memorial services for their ancestors, where they make a formal bow of respect to their elders first as a form of New Year's greeting .

The most common Korean New Year Food that they prepare is ttok kuk, or rice cake soup .  For them ttok kuk on New Year's Day has something to do with one’s aging, failure to comply this would likely shorten your life.

 Simply by taking several soups would make several additions to your age.

 Korean New Year food in retrospect is prepared and handled with appreciation by one and all .  On the first hour of the Korean New Year, Korean New Year Food like Korean Cookies and Ham are presented to the families relatives when they are visited.

 Tok-mandu kuk, which is rice cake soup cooked with dumplings, including chapch'ae(noodles with meat and vegetables), yakshik (sweet rice), pindaettok(mung bean pancakes), shik'e (rice punch), and sujonggwa (cinnamon flavored persimmon punch) are other types of Korean New Year Food.

Based from the Koreans solemnity and cleanliness belief, Korean New Year Food tteokguk that is made of round garaetteok or long tube-like white rice cake piece signifies cleanliness and longevity .

 Since ttok kuk is round from the Korean New Year Food, it is torn between the symbol of the sun and bringing people prosperity.  But in general, you will make another year of life by having it.

Before beef become widespread to Korean New Year Food, they used clear pheasant broth for the soup .  Today, it has been chicken soup and then lately became beef broth that are used as the soup base .

To some provinces of Korea, they prefer manduguk, wonton soup, to tteokguk for their Korean New Year Food . Manduguk on the other hand, symbolizes luck in the form of wonton wraps .

 Korean New Year Food’s tteokguk or manduguk it may be, Koreans believed its all for the better, healthy and long life in time for the Lunar New Year .