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60 free Korean Food trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Korean food trivia quiz covers everything from the fermented cabbage on every table to the chicken-and-beer combo that got its own word. The easy questions are the ones any fan of Korean restaurants can answer: what kimchi is, what bibimbap means, what goes into bulgogi and what soju tastes like. From there the set digs into the stories behind the dishes: the earthenware jars buried to keep winter kimchi from freezing, the UNESCO listing for kimjang, the Pyongan-dialect origin of the word bulgogi, the palace cook who invented japchae for a king, and the woman in Sindang who made tteokbokki spicy in 1953. The harder end is for real Korean food obsessives: the cheop system for counting side dishes, the Mongol origins of soju, the Andong home brew, the ginseng chicken soup eaten on the three hottest days, the army stew born from post-war poverty and Spam, the 1977 franchise that started the fried chicken boom, the astronaut who took space kimchi into orbit, the New Year rice cake soup that makes you a year older, and the government contest that named makgeolli drunken rice. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries for Korean cuisine and its individual dishes and drinks before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our South Korea, World Food and Asian Cuisine quizzes next.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Kimchi is most often made from which salted and fermented vegetable?
Napa cabbage
Korean radish is the other classic base; hundreds of varieties exist.
Q 02Traditionally, where was winter kimchi stored to keep it from freezing?
In earthenware jars buried in the ground
Modern households often use dedicated kimchi refrigerators instead.
Q 03What is the name for the communal autumn tradition of making large quantities of kimchi for winter?
Kimjang
UNESCO added it to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list in December 2013.
Q 04In 2008 scientists created a special low-calorie 'space kimchi' for whom?
Yi So-yeon, the country's first astronaut
She took it aboard the International Space Station.
Q 05Which Chinese pickled dish did China controversially define kimchi as a derivative of in 2020?
Pao cai
Kimchi has far more lactic acid bacteria because of its different fermentation.
Q 06Several US states have proclaimed which date as Kimchi Day?
22 November
California, Virginia, Maryland, New York and Washington DC have all issued proclamations.
Q 07What does the word bibimbap literally mean?
Mixed rice
Warm rice is topped with seasoned vegetables and gochujang and stirred before eating.
Q 08Which city is most famous for its version of bibimbap?
Jeonju
Jinju and Tongyeong are also known for their versions; Pyongyang for a vegetable one in the North.
Q 09What is dolsot bibimbap served in?
A very hot stone pot
A raw egg cooks against the sides of the bowl.
Q 10What does the word bulgogi literally mean?
Fire meat
It is a Pyongan-dialect word from what is now North Korea.
Q 11Bulgogi is believed to descend from maekjeok, skewered grilled beef from which ancient kingdom?
Goguryeo
In the Joseon period it was called neobiani, meaning thinly spread meat.
Q 12Korean barbecue spread to Japan during the colonial period and survives there under what name?
Yakiniku
It was adapted to Japanese tastes.
Q 13Galbi, a favourite of Korean barbecue, is made from which cut?
Beef short ribs
The suffix gui, meaning grilled, is usually dropped from its name.
Q 14What is samgyeopsal, whose name refers to three layers?
Q 21What is the collective name for the small side dishes served with rice at a Korean meal?
Banchan
They are set in the middle of the table to share and replenished during the meal.
Q 22How many cheop (side dishes) marked the royal table setting in Korean court cuisine?
12
Kimchi is not included in the cheop count.
Q 23Which Korean province is particularly famous for serving many different side dishes in a single meal?
Jeolla
The custom of vegetable side dishes is traced to Buddhist bans on meat in the Three Kingdoms period.
Q 24Japchae is made with dangmyeon, glass noodles produced from what?
Grilled pork belly
It is a staple of Korean barbecue restaurants.
Q 15Tteokbokki is made from cylinder-shaped cakes of what?
Rice
Fish cakes, boiled eggs and scallions are common additions.
Q 16Ma Bok-rim began selling spicy gochujang tteokbokki in 1953 in which Seoul district?
Sindang
The district is still famous for the dish.
Q 17What is the non-spicy, soy-sauce-based version of tteokbokki called?
Gungjung (royal court) style
The 19th-century royal version used sirloin, pine nuts and sesame.
Q 18Besides chili powder, glutinous rice and salt, gochujang contains meju. What is meju?
Fermented soybean
Barley malt powder helps convert the rice starch to sugar during fermentation.
Q 19Which region's gochujang became part of palace cuisine under King Taejo, founder of Joseon?
Sunchang
The regional speciality dates back to the 14th century.
Q 20Who introduced chili peppers, native to the Americas, to East Asia in the early 16th century?
Portuguese traders
A Korean encyclopedia of 1614 mentions a type of chili pepper brought to the country.
Sweet potato starch
It is a favourite at weddings and other celebrations.
Q 25Yi Chung first made japchae for a 17th-century banquet of which king, who promoted him for it?
Gwanghaegun
The original dish contained neither noodles nor meat.
Q 26Samgyetang is a soup of a whole young chicken stuffed with rice, garlic, jujube and what?
Ginseng
It is considered a health food, especially in summer.
Q 27When is samgyetang traditionally eaten?
On the three sambok days, the hottest of summer
Chobok, jungbok and malbok fall among the most sultry days of the year.
Q 28Budae-jjigae, or army stew, is famous for containing which American canned meat?
Spam
It was born of post-Korean War poverty from a dish nicknamed piggy porridge.
Q 29Which city claims to have invented budae-jjigae and has a street of specialist restaurants?
Uijeongbu
The word budae refers to military camps.
Q 30What does the name soju literally mean?
Burned liquor
So refers to the heat of distillation and ju means alcoholic drink.