Korean Keto Cookbook: Table of Contents

Most of the hanok standing today were built in the 1920s and 1930s, when Seoul’s population was booming under Japanese colonial rule. A Korean developer named Chŏng Segwŏn bought up land and built traditional-style homes, fitted with glass windows and electricity, so Korean families could stay in the neighborhood rather than be pushed out. Bukchon became a hanok preservation zone in 1983, and because people still live and cook in these houses, parts of the village now limit tourist visits to 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. That quiet early-morning hour, when rice cookers click on and eggs hit hot pans behind the walls, is the spirit of this chapter.

The smell of mung bean pancakes, bindaetteok, frying in shallow pools of oil drifts through the whole building. Nearby stalls sell mayak gimbap, tiny rice rolls so addictive their name means “drug gimbap,” along with knife-cut noodles, dumplings and fresh seasoned beef. The market became famous around the world after it appeared on Netflix’s Street Food series in 2019. This chapter brings that market-stall energy home, along with banchan, the small side dishes that fill every Korean table.

For decades Gamcheon was one of Busan’s poorest neighborhoods. In 2009 a government-funded art project brought local artists and residents together to paint the houses in bright pastels and fill the alleys with murals, sculptures and fish-shaped signposts, including a much-photographed statue of the Little Prince gazing over the rooftops. Visitors now call it the Machu Picchu of Busan. Its story of hardship, warmth and making do is the story of Korean soup: a hot pot of jjigae or a bowl of gukbap that turns simple ingredients into comfort for a whole family.

The market’s heart is its women vendors, known in the local dialect as the Jagalchi ajime. During and after the Korean War, many women who had lost husbands or needed to feed their families set up stalls here in red rubber aprons, and their resilience became a symbol of Busan itself. The market’s famous greeting, “Oiso, boiso, sajiso” (come, look, buy), still rings out over the stalls. Upstairs, restaurants will cook whatever you buy downstairs, which is exactly the spirit of this chapter: fresh seafood, cooked simply and boldly.

Hahoe is famous for its masked dance drama, Hahoe Byeolsingut Talnori, performed for centuries to entertain the village spirits and poke fun at the nobility. In 2010 Hahoe and its sister village, Yangdong, were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list as the Historic Villages of Korea. When Queen Elizabeth II visited Andong in 1999, she celebrated her birthday here with a traditional Korean meal. Andong is also the hometown of jjimdak, the soy-braised chicken that opens this chapter of Korea’s favorite chicken dishes.

Much of Hwaseong was damaged during the Japanese colonial period and the Korean War, but it was rebuilt with remarkable accuracy thanks to a detailed royal record of its construction published in 1801. In 1997 it was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list. Suwon was also home to one of Korea’s largest cattle markets, and the city became famous for galbi: huge, tender beef ribs grilled over charcoal. That is why this chapter of beef and Korean barbecue begins at the fortress walls.

At the base of the cliffs, Jeju’s famous haenyeo, women free divers, still harvest shellfish and seaweed from the cold water. Jeju is also home to a native breed of black pig, the heukdwaeji, whose rich, flavorful pork is so famous that visitors line up at barbecue restaurants all over the island to grill thick slabs of it, dipped in a pungent anchovy sauce called meljeot. This chapter celebrates pork, the meat Koreans grill, braise and share more than any other.

Jeonju is also the city most famous for bibimbap: a bowl of rice crowned with carefully arranged seasoned vegetables, beef and egg, mixed together with chili paste. In 2012 the city was named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy for its rich food culture. Strolling the village today, you can try bibimbap, soybean sprout soup and makgeolli in centuries-old surroundings. This chapter is devoted to the vegetables that make Korean cooking so colorful, from namul side dishes to the famous bowl itself.

In 1995 Bulguksa and the nearby Seokguram Grotto, with its serene granite Buddha, were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list. Korean Buddhist temples have their own centuries-old food tradition, known as temple cuisine, built around fresh, seasonal vegetables, wild greens and fermented sauces, with no meat. The bright, simple vegetable dishes in this chapter, many of them quick muchim, or hand-tossed salads, carry that same spirit of freshness and balance.

Today the Sunchang Traditional Gochujang Village gathers family producers along quiet lanes lined with hundreds of brown onggi earthenware jars, where gochujang, doenjang and soy sauce ferment slowly in the sun. Visitors come to taste, buy and learn the craft, and the county celebrates with an annual fermented sauce festival. This short chapter gives you the keto versions of Korea’s essential sauces and kimchi, the building blocks used throughout the book.

Today it is one of Seoul’s most beloved landmarks, especially at night, when its lights change color and the whole city glitters below. Couples climb to its terraces to attach padlocks engraved with their names to the railings, a tradition that began in 2006 and has left fences covered in tens of thousands of “love locks.” It is the perfect setting for a chapter of sweet treats, from street-cart pancakes and fish-shaped waffles to snowy bowls of bingsu, all reworked to be sugar-free and keto.

Tea has a long history in Korea. According to the Samguk Sagi, Korea’s oldest surviving history, an envoy brought tea seeds back from Tang China in the year 828, and the king ordered them planted on Mount Jirisan. Tea drinking flourished among Buddhist monks and scholars, and Korea also developed its own tradition of “teas” made from fruit, grains, roots and spices. Each spring, Boseong celebrates the first harvest with a green tea festival. This short chapter offers three classic Korean drinks, all made without sugar.