Have you ever been surprised by the types and amounts of side dishes when you visit Korean restaurants? Because Koreans have had a culture of “jeong” since long ago, when you visit restaurants or the markets, you can see them serving a lot of side dishes! Shall we look more into this side dish and food sharing culture that foreigners find interesting?
When you want to order extra side dishes at a Korean restaurant, don't hesitate to order! There are no additional charges at all when you order extra side dishes in Korea! Before you have your meal, standard side dishes will be served and if there's also a side dish you want to eat, you can refill it any time! The reason why Koreans will say “the table's legs are going to break” before eating is because the table is filled with various plentiful side dishes! If the side dishes are finished, the staff will also refill the side dishes for you. This is what we would call, Korea's “jeong” culture.
Compared to countries where individual meals are common, Korea has a well-known culture of sharing food. When cooking a stew, picking up meat or having soup, there aren't any ladles or chopsticks separately provided. In addition, rather than shying away from actions such as holding someone else's glass with their hands to pour water or one person handing out all the spoons and chopsticks, these actions are considered as being thoughtful. Because the “jeong” culture is so engrained, Koreans are able to strongly show off these characteristics through their food culture! However more recently, due to the risk of spreading COVID-19, people are eating with individual plates. If they don't provide individual plates, you can also receive them upon request.
When you visit Korean restaurants, don't be startled by the generous variety of side dishes! It's the same as Koreans giving their warm affection to you! As each country has a different way of living, the culture would naturally also be different, right? While we also respect their cultures, if we also improve upon parts that are problematic, we'll able to establish ourselves as a more desirable culture :)
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