냉장고를 부탁해 셰프들의 미역 요리 팀전

What is “miyeokguk” (Korean seaweed soup)?

On the cooking show 냉장고를 부탁해 (Please Take Care of My Refrigerator), a guest confesses the one dish she can make: «유일하게 할 줄 아는 음식이 미역국이거든요» (“the only dish I know how to make is seaweed soup”). 미역국 (miyeokguk) is soup made from 미역 (miyeok), sea mustard.

It’s woven deep into Korean life: you eat miyeokguk on your birthday, because mothers traditionally eat it after giving birth, so the soup ties you back to your own first days. One superstition warns against eating it before an exam, since slippery seaweed might make you “slip” and fail. Comfort, memory, and a little luck in one bowl.