Eating Out as A Vegan in South Korea

Eating out as a vegan (or even vegetarian) in South Korea can be very frustrating.

First, check out Happy Cow and my Vegan Resources page, there are lists of veg restaurants in Korea.

Telling them you're vegan isn't enough.

They most likely don't know what 'vegan' is, and Korean term '채식주의' is quite vague as there is no distinction between vegetarian(lacto-ovo) and vegan.

Keep in mind that many western food franchise aren't likely to offer all the veg options they have in homeland.

Localization is a bitch. French fries are usually vegan though.

You are still going to have better luck getting veg food at non-Korean places.

If you cross off meat-based and broth-based menu there is not much left in Korean restaurant menu but with many non-Korean food it's easier to 'leave out' nonvegan ingredient.

Stay away from any soup/soupy noodles unless you are at a veg restaurant.

They are usually made from fish broth, meat broth, or other nonvegan seasonings such as 다시다. Yes, that dramatically limits your choices as Korean meals heavily relies on soup (which is why I said it's easier at non-Korean places), but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Avoid kimchi (and anything that has kimchi in it) unless you are at a veg restaurant.

Whaaatttt? How can you avoid kimchi when you live in Korea? I know, I know. Kimchi just looks like vegetables drenched in red pepper, but vast majority of commercial kimchi (and vast majority of homemade kimchi made by nonvegans) contain seafood extract, especially cabbage kimchi and radish kimchi(깍두기), the most common kimchi provided at restaurants. Sure, vegan kimchi exists, but it is very unlikely that non-veg*n restaurants will go out of their way to get vegan kimchi. You will be given free kimchi no matter what you order, so send them back before they lay them on your table because they don't reuse food once it's served so if you don't eat it the kimchi will eventually be thrown to trash, so end-result will be the same as if you had eaten it, plus more waste :(

Vegetable(야채, Yachae) kimbap with no eggs or hams or mayonnaise

Isn't it weird that there is egg and ham in 'vegetable' kimbap? It depends on where you are buying kimbap from but they usually do have egg, ham and mayo in them. Just ask them to make one without it. They might refuse to make changes for you but it's worth trying.

Vegetable bibimbap

Usually they have fried egg on top so ask them not to put egg. This is a really easy change so they most likely will do it for you. However, many bibimbap gochujang(red pepper paste) has meat in them (gochujang with meat are called yakgochujang) so ask them if there is meat and if there is, ask for soy sauce and sesame oil. Fortunately many diners will cheap out and won't use special gochujang with meat in them but the fancier ones and places that specialize in bibimbap will.

The all-you-can-eats

Buffets like VIPS have salad bars where you can eat all the fruits and veggies you want. They are overpriced especially since you won't be eating anything that contain animal products (which tend to be more expensive) but it's a good way to please both vegans and meat eaters.

Subway and Quiznos

My fave sub at Subway:

• Hearty bread (sourdough and Italian is not available in Korea so this is the only vegan bread)
• Veggie Delite with no cheese
• Added avocado (extra 900 won but totally worth it)
• Sweet onion sauce

Unfortunately Subway isn't very reliable (at least my nearest one isn't) as hearty bread is out of stock quite often.

At Quiznos: White or wheat bread, Veggie Lite with no cheese, no red wine vinaigrette.
Make sure to tell them to take off both cheese. Quiznos Veggie Lite has two types (mozzarella and cheddar) of cheese and I've had only either one of them left out when I told them just to leave out cheese.

Don't trust curry even if there are no meat pieces in it.

Many Korean brand curry mix (eg 오뚜기) contain beef or milk as you may have noticed at grocery stores. Many diners use industrial size version of those. Same ingredients, just bought in bulk. Restaurants that specialize in Indian food most likely don't use them, but still gotta ask to make sure.

Koreanized Chinese food vs. authentic Chinese food.

Well this is kind of hard to explain but there are Korean-Chinese diners (that sells jajangmyeon and jjampong and such) and then there are authentic Chinese diners (usually ran by Chinese people).  I have always had better luck getting veggie food at the latter than the former (stir-fried eggplants ftw). Unfortunately most 'Chinese' places in Korea are Korean-Chinese, except in Chinatowns.

Useful Korean terms, phrases and pronunciations.

Vegeterian: 채식주의자(chae sick joo yee ja)
Meat: 고기(gogi)
Dairy: 유제품(yoojepoom)
(Cow) milk: 우유(ooh-yoo)
Seafood: 해산물(hae san mool) or 해물(hae-mool)
Fish: 생선(saeng-sun)
(Chicken's) egg: 달걀(dalgyal) or 계란(gyeran)
Leave ____ out, please: ____ 빼주세요(Bbae joo say yo)


Or just show them this and take it from there.

I am veg(etari)an, I do not eat animal products like meat, fish, seafood, dairy(butter, cheese, mayonnaise), egg, or honey so please leave them out.
저는 채식주의자입니다. 고기, 생선, 해물, 유제품(버터 치즈 마요네즈), 꿀, 계란/메추리알 등 동물성 식품은 먹지 않으니 빼주세요.

However this will likely overwhelm them so I suggest just picking something most easily veganizable and asking them to leave out animal ingredient.