A Grand Collection of Korean Rice Cakes

"The person who gives out the cake doesn't even think about it, but you drink the kimchi soup first." This is a line from the popular 2006 Korean drama "Gong," where Crown Prince Shin teases Chae-Kyung. It's also a well-known Korean idiom. The first time I heard this line in the drama, I was completely confused, but after some online experts explained it, everything became clear. The general meaning of this phrase is that without anyone offering you the cake, you rush to drink the kimchi soup first—metaphorically meaning acting prematurely or being overly eager, only to end up embarrassing yourself. In Korea, people used to drink kimchi soup before eating rice cakes (tteok), so when people saw kimchi soup, they knew there would be rice cakes to eat. Here, the "cake" refers to Korean rice cakes.

Just mentioning rice cakes makes many girls like me drool, whether it's stir-fried rice cakes, glutinous rice cakes, steamed rice cakes, or sliced rice cakes—the list goes on and on. By the time one person finishes describing them, their listener is already impatient with hunger. Given how many people can’t resist good food, and following the saying that good deeds bring good rewards, I’d like to share what I know about the various types of Korean rice cakes with everyone!