Budae Jjigae (Army Base Stew)

Budae-jjigae means "military unit stew," but it was not a soldiers' dish. Both the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture and the Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture place its beginnings in the hungry years after the Korean War, among Koreans living and working near US Army camps in Gyeonggi Province. Ham, sausages and other surplus foods from the bases — at first leftovers or goods slipped out of supply stores, known as budae-gogi ("base meat") — went into a pot with gochujang and kimchi, whose heat and sourness cut the unfamiliar richness of processed meat.

Uijeongbu, home to several US bases, became its best-known center. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture credits Heo Gi-suk, who ran a street cart there from 1960 and cooked with sausages, ham and bacon from the nearby base; her shop was registered as Odeng Sikdang in 1968, and a row of competitors later formed Uijeongbu's budae-jjigae street near Uijeongbu Jungang Station. The folk encyclopedia also names Dongducheon, Yangju and Songtan as early centers. Another name, Johnson-tang, is said to come from US President Lyndon B. Johnson; a Seoul restaurant near the Yongsan base in Itaewon, opened in the late 1970s, still uses it.

The dish changed as it spread. According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, early versions were closer to a drinking snack — sausage, ham, cabbage and onion fried in butter on a griddle — before stock, kimchi and gochujang turned it into a stew. Instant noodles, now almost obligatory, arrived later: ramyeon was introduced to Korea only in 1963 and was at first too expensive to add. The folk encyclopedia notes that by the 1960s and 1970s it had become a cheap meal for factory workers eating out together, and it is now served in specialist chains at home and abroad.

• A filling one-pot meal: tofu, pork and ham supply protein, and kimchi, onion, mushrooms and green onion add vegetables.
• Tofu and extra vegetables can easily take the place of some of the processed meat without losing the character of the stew.
• Its history is a record of how Korean cooks adapted unfamiliar foods during postwar scarcity; see food in modern Korea.

• Uijeongbu: the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture ties the city's fame to Odeng Sikdang and the restaurant street that grew up around it near Uijeongbu Jungang Station.
• Other base towns: the folk encyclopedia names Dongducheon, Yangju and Songtan, all once home to large US garrisons, as early centers with their own well-known restaurants.
• Johnson-tang: the Itaewon name for a similar pot, kept by a restaurant near the Yongsan garrison.
• Add-ins (sari): instant noodles, rice cakes, glass noodles or dumplings are added at the table; baked beans in tomato sauce, which the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture credits with softening the greasiness, are a common standard ingredient.