Often, the most pleasantly surprising cultural discoveries involve receiving free food. We first had this experience with tapas in Spain, but were not prepared for the idea of Banchan in Korea.
For the unaware (and those who didn’t click the Wikipedia link above), Banchan are basically free side dishes served with every meal in Korea. I’ll stipulate this only occurs with Korean dishes – we never got banchan with western, Mexican, or Indian foods – but it does happen with every single Korean meal you order.
Banchan are meant to be shared by all at the table, so are generally set in the middle for everyone. The dishes can be small or larger, and Banchan can be just one thing or a full array of sides. Kimchi and other pickled vegetables are most common, but there is a ton of variety. Also – at some places, the Banchan is self-serve – you can just go up and take as much as you want!
This cultural phenomenon was sufficiently mind-blowing to prompt a full-scale picture-taking campaign during our visit. To prove that Banchan really is a thing, enjoy the pictures below!
