Being Vegan & Vegetarian in Korea: The Complete Guide (2025)
Being vegan or vegetarian in Korea has gotten a lot easier in the last few years. With proper preparation and a few tips, great meals await you, especially in Seoul!
Korean restaurants are many things - like delicious. One thing they are not is… flexible. This used to make being vegetarian or vegan damn near impossible even in Seoul.
But we have great news: there are now many options all over the country, especially in the capital!
In this guide, we give you our tips on where to live and how to cut costs, while still getting all the variety you need. We share some of our community’s digital nomads’s best recommendations for restaurants and homemade meals. And we finish with a little vocab cheat sheet that will help you communicate what you want in restaurants.
Being vegan is trending
Korean meals tend to be spicy, sweet, fishy and meaty. If it doesn’t sound ideal for you, don’t worry because Koreans are embracing the trend to eat healthier.
‘Trend’ is an important word here. In Korea, they take the country by storm and create big and durable changes in people’s habits. It started with more decaf options in cafes and has now rippled to restaurants.
If you prepare, coming to Seoul now means you can find very good meals at an affordable price. Here are a few tips to enjoy it to the fullest.
1. Choose your neighborhood well
Most vegetarian and vegan restaurants can be found in two neighborhoods: Itaewon and Hongdae. We recommend staying in one of those two areas, or their surroundings. For Itaewon, this includes Gyeongnidan, Haebangcheon (also shortened HBC), and Hangangjin. For Hongdae, you can live as far as Yeonnam-dong, Sinchon, Sangsu, Hapjeong and Seogyo-dong. You can even live close to Mangwon, which has the double advantage of being close to the local market - one of the rare ones that still offers very affordable prices for vegetables and fruits.
2. Your kitchen matters
Eating at vegetarian restaurants all the time will be hard - especially on your bank account. Our advice is to rent a room with a functional kitchen and a reasonably sized fridge with a freezer.
Why the freezer, you might ask? Korean cuisine is very group-oriented and traditionally, the mother cooks for the whole family. This means fruits and vegetables are sold the cheapest (by a very high margin) when they’re in bulk. A very good option to save money is to cut them all and then freeze them if you’re afraid you’ll be unable to finish them all before they turn bad.
Another option is to buy frozen vegetables and fruits on Coupang. You can also order fresh ones, but it’s harder to be sure the quality will match your expectations. Since last year, it's been possible to order on the platform with a foreign credit card.
3. Google Maps and Happy Cow are your friends
This is the only time we’ll recommend you to do this: check Google Maps for vegetarian and vegan restaurants. This is where you’ll get the most extensive and reliable comments to help you choose a place. Once you decide where you want to go, copy and paste the address into a navigation app that works in Korea, like Naver Map or Kakao Maps!
We also recommend Happy Cow and, in general, online groups - Digital Nomads Korea community, Reddit, Facebook groups, etc.
4. Temple food is nirvana
If you want to eat vegan anywhere in Korea… We recommend Buddhism! 🙏
There are many temples all over the peninsula. If it’s lunchtime, you can often drop by their canteen and get a fully vegan meal made out of whatever was available on the day. A nationwide Templestay program also lets you stay the night or a few days in a temple of your choice.
If you’re very curious about temple food, visit Baegyangsa temple or Gameunsa temple. Their nuns are among the most renowned chefs in Korea. Michelin-starred chefs from around the world have visited them for their innovative ideas and their shared fondness for eggplants.
5. Kimchi is NOT vegan
Because it is spicy fermented cabbage and a super healthy food, people think kimchi is animal product-free. Vegan preparation is increasing, but still, most are NOT.
Korean cuisine uses a lot of fish-based products to give flavor to meals. There’s the well-known fish sauce in most soups and sauces. There’s also the lesser-known fermented shrimp - used as salt. Most often, this is what will make Kimchi non-vegetarian.
If you are very strict with your diet, here’s a list of options that are safe to eat.
Recommendations & Community Tips
For Vegetarians
Inês (eats dairy)
“To be honest I thought it was going to be a lot worse. In convenience stores, tofu is my favorite. At the Homeplus close to where I was staying, Hoppin House coworking and coliving space, they always had a 2-for-1 promo going on so it was quite cheap. My go-to meal at home was either rice or noodles with sautéed tofu with Pak Choi and mushrooms… in the soy and peanut butter sauce, Anh Tuan taught me once! I think what I missed the most was fruit. I’m very used to just eating fruit two or three times a day, and in Seoul, I ended up not eating it that much.”
You can read her interview to learn more about her recommendations.
Erika (eats dairy and eggs)
“I have to say I found it challenging many times in smaller towns, even though I eat eggs. Especially when we were trying to find something quick. I remember one time when I went to at least three convenience stores and couldn't find anything vegetarian and savory to eat, except maybe crisps. Convenience stores have different offers, even in the same chain, so my advice would be to not give up. Sometimes you enter your third CU and happen to suddenly find amazing vegetarian options!
In Seoul, it became easier the longer we lived in a given neighborhood. We had time to explore and discover some hidden places. There’s this restaurant we often went to in Hongdae because they advertised openly "vegetarians welcome". It’s so refreshing to find these kinds of places and not have to struggle the whole time explaining what we want.”
🌱Their Favorite Vegetarian Restaurants
- Vegan Kitchen, 15-11 Namsan-dong 2(i)-ga Jung-gu Seoul
- Darc en ciel, 57-138 Mangwon-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- Camouflage, 130-10 Itaewon-dong Yongsan-gu Seoul
- Chez Valerie, 433-61 Hapjeong-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- PLANTUDE, 40-999 Hangangno 3(sam)-ga Yongsan-gu Seoul
- byTOFU, 1-467 yongsan-dong 2(i)-ga Yongsan-gu Seoul
- Little Gangster, 3-6 Dowon-dong Yongsan-gu Seoul
- Drunken Vegan, 5-78 Changjeon-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- ALT.a, 99-6 Itaewon-dong Yongsan-gu Seoul
- Plant Yeonnam Branch, 197-32 Donggyo-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
🌱Not vegetarian, but good veggie options
- SALTHOUSE DELI - MANGWON, 57-38 Mangwon-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- greener, 240-22 Yeonnam-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- Hahoe Maeul, 346-42 Seogyo-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- Casa Latina, 337-10 Seogyo-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- Petra, 33 Noksapyeong-daero 40-gil, Yongsan District, Seoul
Click here to access Sylwia’s Google map of 40+ vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Seoul.
For Vegans
Lorenzo
“I lived for a few months in Songdo when I arrived in Korea. Not going to lie, it wasn't fun. I struggled a lot with finding vegan options. When I moved to Seoul, it felt like paradise in comparison (laughs). There are vegan restaurants, both Korean and international (it requires searching, but that’s usually part of the vegan lifestyle anyway). I found an Instagram Korean vegan community and a vegan festival. You have temple food and some options in traditional markets. There are also options in international restaurants sometimes.
There’s still a generalized lack of flexibility in Korea when it comes to menu variations and you’ll find that most processed food uses butter, egg, and cow milk… But I see the number of vegan restaurants slowly increasing over the years. Still, I cook a lot at home! (Laughs.) Supermarket offerings are limited, but there are online vegan websites and Coupang has a lot to offer. It’s hard to find ready-made plant-based burgers, but tofu is very good, cheap, and easy to get. There’s also lots of vegetables and cereals.”
Yeonu
“It’s completely possible to be vegan in Korea but it’s easier if you speak Korean (laughs). My advice would be to check the allergy box on the package when you buy food at the supermarket. That’s how most vegans check these things… If it says ‘soy, wheat’, it can be eaten. I mostly use coupang for vegan grocery shopping. I love the brand ‘veggie garden’, they have a great selection of vegan frozen foods. You can also find them in Lotte Marts - they have their own vegan line, so they have a small frozen section for vegan food.
I get my multivitamins for vegans on Coupang but there are more and more Korean companies that make vegan supplements these days. The vegan cafe Nono Shop in Itaewon sells supplements and other vegan groceries. Talking of vegan groceries, Charlie’s Grocery in HBC also sometimes sells vegan cheese.
If there aren’t any vegan restaurants around where you live, there are certain menus you can easily make vegan, but you’ll need to speak some Korean. For example: kimbab, bibimbap, jjolmyeon… You just need to ask the restaurant to take out certain things. For kimbab, ask them to take out eggs, ham, and fishcake (crab stick). For bibimbab, remove eggs and beef (they sometimes put beef in gochujang, in that case, they can’t make it vegan). Jjolmyeon is a noodle soup that’s usually vegan-friendly, just ask them to make it without egg. In summer, I recommend kong-guksu. It’s a cold bean noodle soup, just ask them to take out eggs. For winter, I go with deulkkae kalguksu, a warm perilla seed noodle soup. Ask if they use fish sauce, just in case, but they usually don’t.”
🌱Their Favorite Vegan Restaurants
- Weirdough, 80 KR 2nd Floor, 201, 80 Jeungga-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul
- Kongdyakongdyak, 60-11 Daehyeon-dong Seodaemun-gu Seoul
- Hwanggeumnyong, 403-5 Mangwon-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
Click here to access Lorenzo’s Naver map of vegan restaurants in Korea.
Korean Sentences Cheat Sheet
- 채소랑 계란만 먹을 수 있어요. (tchae-so-lang kye-ran-man meo-geul soo i-sseo-yo): “I can only eat eggs and vegetables.”
- 고기하고 생선, 해산물 못 먹어요. (ko-gi-ha-go saeng-seon hae-san-mol mon meo-geo-yo): “I can’t eat meat, fish, or seafood.”
해산물 (hae-san-mul): seafood
생선 (saen-gseon): fish
고기 (ko-gi): meat
- 고기하고 생선, 해산물은 빼고 주세요. (ko-gi-ha-go saeng-seon, hae-san-mo-leun pae-go ju-sse-yo): “Can you remove meat, fish, seafood?”
빼고 (pae-go) generally means “remove”. You can say it after the thing you want to remove - for example, 설탕 (seol-tang) for sugar. It’s the keyword if you want to ask for this and can’t remember the rest!
• 채식주의자 (tchae-sik-djoo-e-(d)ja): vegetarian
However, it’s not always clear in Korea what you mean when you say vegetarian. Do you only eat vegetables? Or also eggs? Fish? Butter? Etc. I won’t always be enough, but it’s a word that can help clarify things upfront. The Korean language is highly contextual, which means it’s better to give too many details.
• 혹시 (pronounced “eok ssheeeeeee”): By any chance…
This is our secret tip! Start your sentence with this. It will help the person in front of you to prepare mentally for the fact that you’re going to ask a question that might require a conversation outside their usual service framework. It’s a small detail, but it works wonders to make the whole interaction easier.
Being Vegan & Vegetarian in Korea: The Complete Guide (2025)
Being vegan or vegetarian in Korea has gotten a lot easier in the last few years. With proper preparation and a few tips, great meals await you, especially in Seoul!
Korean restaurants are many things - like delicious. One thing they are not is… flexible. This used to make being vegetarian or vegan damn near impossible even in Seoul.
But we have great news: there are now many options all over the country, especially in the capital!
In this guide, we give you our tips on where to live and how to cut costs, while still getting all the variety you need. We share some of our community’s digital nomads’s best recommendations for restaurants and homemade meals. And we finish with a little vocab cheat sheet that will help you communicate what you want in restaurants.
Being vegan is trending
Korean meals tend to be spicy, sweet, fishy and meaty. If it doesn’t sound ideal for you, don’t worry because Koreans are embracing the trend to eat healthier.
‘Trend’ is an important word here. In Korea, they take the country by storm and create big and durable changes in people’s habits. It started with more decaf options in cafes and has now rippled to restaurants.
If you prepare, coming to Seoul now means you can find very good meals at an affordable price. Here are a few tips to enjoy it to the fullest.
1. Choose your neighborhood well
Most vegetarian and vegan restaurants can be found in two neighborhoods: Itaewon and Hongdae. We recommend staying in one of those two areas, or their surroundings. For Itaewon, this includes Gyeongnidan, Haebangcheon (also shortened HBC), and Hangangjin. For Hongdae, you can live as far as Yeonnam-dong, Sinchon, Sangsu, Hapjeong and Seogyo-dong. You can even live close to Mangwon, which has the double advantage of being close to the local market - one of the rare ones that still offers very affordable prices for vegetables and fruits.
2. Your kitchen matters
Eating at vegetarian restaurants all the time will be hard - especially on your bank account. Our advice is to rent a room with a functional kitchen and a reasonably sized fridge with a freezer.
Why the freezer, you might ask? Korean cuisine is very group-oriented and traditionally, the mother cooks for the whole family. This means fruits and vegetables are sold the cheapest (by a very high margin) when they’re in bulk. A very good option to save money is to cut them all and then freeze them if you’re afraid you’ll be unable to finish them all before they turn bad.
Another option is to buy frozen vegetables and fruits on Coupang. You can also order fresh ones, but it’s harder to be sure the quality will match your expectations. Since last year, it's been possible to order on the platform with a foreign credit card.
3. Google Maps and Happy Cow are your friends
This is the only time we’ll recommend you to do this: check Google Maps for vegetarian and vegan restaurants. This is where you’ll get the most extensive and reliable comments to help you choose a place. Once you decide where you want to go, copy and paste the address into a navigation app that works in Korea, like Naver Map or Kakao Maps!
We also recommend Happy Cow and, in general, online groups - Digital Nomads Korea community, Reddit, Facebook groups, etc.
4. Temple food is nirvana
If you want to eat vegan anywhere in Korea… We recommend Buddhism! 🙏
There are many temples all over the peninsula. If it’s lunchtime, you can often drop by their canteen and get a fully vegan meal made out of whatever was available on the day. A nationwide Templestay program also lets you stay the night or a few days in a temple of your choice.
If you’re very curious about temple food, visit Baegyangsa temple or Gameunsa temple. Their nuns are among the most renowned chefs in Korea. Michelin-starred chefs from around the world have visited them for their innovative ideas and their shared fondness for eggplants.
5. Kimchi is NOT vegan
Because it is spicy fermented cabbage and a super healthy food, people think kimchi is animal product-free. Vegan preparation is increasing, but still, most are NOT.
Korean cuisine uses a lot of fish-based products to give flavor to meals. There’s the well-known fish sauce in most soups and sauces. There’s also the lesser-known fermented shrimp - used as salt. Most often, this is what will make Kimchi non-vegetarian.
If you are very strict with your diet, here’s a list of options that are safe to eat.
Recommendations & Community Tips
For Vegetarians
Inês (eats dairy)
“To be honest I thought it was going to be a lot worse. In convenience stores, tofu is my favorite. At the Homeplus close to where I was staying, Hoppin House coworking and coliving space, they always had a 2-for-1 promo going on so it was quite cheap. My go-to meal at home was either rice or noodles with sautéed tofu with Pak Choi and mushrooms… in the soy and peanut butter sauce, Anh Tuan taught me once! I think what I missed the most was fruit. I’m very used to just eating fruit two or three times a day, and in Seoul, I ended up not eating it that much.”
You can read her interview to learn more about her recommendations.
Erika (eats dairy and eggs)
“I have to say I found it challenging many times in smaller towns, even though I eat eggs. Especially when we were trying to find something quick. I remember one time when I went to at least three convenience stores and couldn't find anything vegetarian and savory to eat, except maybe crisps. Convenience stores have different offers, even in the same chain, so my advice would be to not give up. Sometimes you enter your third CU and happen to suddenly find amazing vegetarian options!
In Seoul, it became easier the longer we lived in a given neighborhood. We had time to explore and discover some hidden places. There’s this restaurant we often went to in Hongdae because they advertised openly "vegetarians welcome". It’s so refreshing to find these kinds of places and not have to struggle the whole time explaining what we want.”
🌱Their Favorite Vegetarian Restaurants
- Vegan Kitchen, 15-11 Namsan-dong 2(i)-ga Jung-gu Seoul
- Darc en ciel, 57-138 Mangwon-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- Camouflage, 130-10 Itaewon-dong Yongsan-gu Seoul
- Chez Valerie, 433-61 Hapjeong-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- PLANTUDE, 40-999 Hangangno 3(sam)-ga Yongsan-gu Seoul
- byTOFU, 1-467 yongsan-dong 2(i)-ga Yongsan-gu Seoul
- Little Gangster, 3-6 Dowon-dong Yongsan-gu Seoul
- Drunken Vegan, 5-78 Changjeon-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- ALT.a, 99-6 Itaewon-dong Yongsan-gu Seoul
- Plant Yeonnam Branch, 197-32 Donggyo-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
🌱Not vegetarian, but good veggie options
- SALTHOUSE DELI - MANGWON, 57-38 Mangwon-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- greener, 240-22 Yeonnam-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- Hahoe Maeul, 346-42 Seogyo-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- Casa Latina, 337-10 Seogyo-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- Petra, 33 Noksapyeong-daero 40-gil, Yongsan District, Seoul
Click here to access Sylwia’s Google map of 40+ vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Seoul.
For Vegans
Lorenzo
“I lived for a few months in Songdo when I arrived in Korea. Not going to lie, it wasn't fun. I struggled a lot with finding vegan options. When I moved to Seoul, it felt like paradise in comparison (laughs). There are vegan restaurants, both Korean and international (it requires searching, but that’s usually part of the vegan lifestyle anyway). I found an Instagram Korean vegan community and a vegan festival. You have temple food and some options in traditional markets. There are also options in international restaurants sometimes.
There’s still a generalized lack of flexibility in Korea when it comes to menu variations and you’ll find that most processed food uses butter, egg, and cow milk… But I see the number of vegan restaurants slowly increasing over the years. Still, I cook a lot at home! (Laughs.) Supermarket offerings are limited, but there are online vegan websites and Coupang has a lot to offer. It’s hard to find ready-made plant-based burgers, but tofu is very good, cheap, and easy to get. There’s also lots of vegetables and cereals.”
Yeonu
“It’s completely possible to be vegan in Korea but it’s easier if you speak Korean (laughs). My advice would be to check the allergy box on the package when you buy food at the supermarket. That’s how most vegans check these things… If it says ‘soy, wheat’, it can be eaten. I mostly use coupang for vegan grocery shopping. I love the brand ‘veggie garden’, they have a great selection of vegan frozen foods. You can also find them in Lotte Marts - they have their own vegan line, so they have a small frozen section for vegan food.
I get my multivitamins for vegans on Coupang but there are more and more Korean companies that make vegan supplements these days. The vegan cafe Nono Shop in Itaewon sells supplements and other vegan groceries. Talking of vegan groceries, Charlie’s Grocery in HBC also sometimes sells vegan cheese.
If there aren’t any vegan restaurants around where you live, there are certain menus you can easily make vegan, but you’ll need to speak some Korean. For example: kimbab, bibimbap, jjolmyeon… You just need to ask the restaurant to take out certain things. For kimbab, ask them to take out eggs, ham, and fishcake (crab stick). For bibimbab, remove eggs and beef (they sometimes put beef in gochujang, in that case, they can’t make it vegan). Jjolmyeon is a noodle soup that’s usually vegan-friendly, just ask them to make it without egg. In summer, I recommend kong-guksu. It’s a cold bean noodle soup, just ask them to take out eggs. For winter, I go with deulkkae kalguksu, a warm perilla seed noodle soup. Ask if they use fish sauce, just in case, but they usually don’t.”
🌱Their Favorite Vegan Restaurants
- Weirdough, 80 KR 2nd Floor, 201, 80 Jeungga-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul
- Kongdyakongdyak, 60-11 Daehyeon-dong Seodaemun-gu Seoul
- Hwanggeumnyong, 403-5 Mangwon-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
Click here to access Lorenzo’s Naver map of vegan restaurants in Korea.
Korean Sentences Cheat Sheet
- 채소랑 계란만 먹을 수 있어요. (tchae-so-lang kye-ran-man meo-geul soo i-sseo-yo): “I can only eat eggs and vegetables.”
- 고기하고 생선, 해산물 못 먹어요. (ko-gi-ha-go saeng-seon hae-san-mol mon meo-geo-yo): “I can’t eat meat, fish, or seafood.”
해산물 (hae-san-mul): seafood
생선 (saen-gseon): fish
고기 (ko-gi): meat
- 고기하고 생선, 해산물은 빼고 주세요. (ko-gi-ha-go saeng-seon, hae-san-mo-leun pae-go ju-sse-yo): “Can you remove meat, fish, seafood?”
빼고 (pae-go) generally means “remove”. You can say it after the thing you want to remove - for example, 설탕 (seol-tang) for sugar. It’s the keyword if you want to ask for this and can’t remember the rest!
• 채식주의자 (tchae-sik-djoo-e-(d)ja): vegetarian
However, it’s not always clear in Korea what you mean when you say vegetarian. Do you only eat vegetables? Or also eggs? Fish? Butter? Etc. I won’t always be enough, but it’s a word that can help clarify things upfront. The Korean language is highly contextual, which means it’s better to give too many details.
• 혹시 (pronounced “eok ssheeeeeee”): By any chance…
This is our secret tip! Start your sentence with this. It will help the person in front of you to prepare mentally for the fact that you’re going to ask a question that might require a conversation outside their usual service framework. It’s a small detail, but it works wonders to make the whole interaction easier.
Being Vegan & Vegetarian in Korea: The Complete Guide (2025)
Being vegan or vegetarian in Korea has gotten a lot easier in the last few years. With proper preparation and a few tips, great meals await you, especially in Seoul!
Korean restaurants are many things - like delicious. One thing they are not is… flexible. This used to make being vegetarian or vegan damn near impossible even in Seoul.
But we have great news: there are now many options all over the country, especially in the capital!
In this guide, we give you our tips on where to live and how to cut costs, while still getting all the variety you need. We share some of our community’s digital nomads’s best recommendations for restaurants and homemade meals. And we finish with a little vocab cheat sheet that will help you communicate what you want in restaurants.
Being vegan is trending
Korean meals tend to be spicy, sweet, fishy and meaty. If it doesn’t sound ideal for you, don’t worry because Koreans are embracing the trend to eat healthier.
‘Trend’ is an important word here. In Korea, they take the country by storm and create big and durable changes in people’s habits. It started with more decaf options in cafes and has now rippled to restaurants.
If you prepare, coming to Seoul now means you can find very good meals at an affordable price. Here are a few tips to enjoy it to the fullest.
1. Choose your neighborhood well
Most vegetarian and vegan restaurants can be found in two neighborhoods: Itaewon and Hongdae. We recommend staying in one of those two areas, or their surroundings. For Itaewon, this includes Gyeongnidan, Haebangcheon (also shortened HBC), and Hangangjin. For Hongdae, you can live as far as Yeonnam-dong, Sinchon, Sangsu, Hapjeong and Seogyo-dong. You can even live close to Mangwon, which has the double advantage of being close to the local market - one of the rare ones that still offers very affordable prices for vegetables and fruits.
2. Your kitchen matters
Eating at vegetarian restaurants all the time will be hard - especially on your bank account. Our advice is to rent a room with a functional kitchen and a reasonably sized fridge with a freezer.
Why the freezer, you might ask? Korean cuisine is very group-oriented and traditionally, the mother cooks for the whole family. This means fruits and vegetables are sold the cheapest (by a very high margin) when they’re in bulk. A very good option to save money is to cut them all and then freeze them if you’re afraid you’ll be unable to finish them all before they turn bad.
Another option is to buy frozen vegetables and fruits on Coupang. You can also order fresh ones, but it’s harder to be sure the quality will match your expectations. Since last year, it's been possible to order on the platform with a foreign credit card.
3. Google Maps and Happy Cow are your friends
This is the only time we’ll recommend you to do this: check Google Maps for vegetarian and vegan restaurants. This is where you’ll get the most extensive and reliable comments to help you choose a place. Once you decide where you want to go, copy and paste the address into a navigation app that works in Korea, like Naver Map or Kakao Maps!
We also recommend Happy Cow and, in general, online groups - Digital Nomads Korea community, Reddit, Facebook groups, etc.
4. Temple food is nirvana
If you want to eat vegan anywhere in Korea… We recommend Buddhism! 🙏
There are many temples all over the peninsula. If it’s lunchtime, you can often drop by their canteen and get a fully vegan meal made out of whatever was available on the day. A nationwide Templestay program also lets you stay the night or a few days in a temple of your choice.
If you’re very curious about temple food, visit Baegyangsa temple or Gameunsa temple. Their nuns are among the most renowned chefs in Korea. Michelin-starred chefs from around the world have visited them for their innovative ideas and their shared fondness for eggplants.
5. Kimchi is NOT vegan
Because it is spicy fermented cabbage and a super healthy food, people think kimchi is animal product-free. Vegan preparation is increasing, but still, most are NOT.
Korean cuisine uses a lot of fish-based products to give flavor to meals. There’s the well-known fish sauce in most soups and sauces. There’s also the lesser-known fermented shrimp - used as salt. Most often, this is what will make Kimchi non-vegetarian.
If you are very strict with your diet, here’s a list of options that are safe to eat.
Recommendations & Community Tips
For Vegetarians
Inês (eats dairy)
“To be honest I thought it was going to be a lot worse. In convenience stores, tofu is my favorite. At the Homeplus close to where I was staying, Hoppin House coworking and coliving space, they always had a 2-for-1 promo going on so it was quite cheap. My go-to meal at home was either rice or noodles with sautéed tofu with Pak Choi and mushrooms… in the soy and peanut butter sauce, Anh Tuan taught me once! I think what I missed the most was fruit. I’m very used to just eating fruit two or three times a day, and in Seoul, I ended up not eating it that much.”
You can read her interview to learn more about her recommendations.
Erika (eats dairy and eggs)
“I have to say I found it challenging many times in smaller towns, even though I eat eggs. Especially when we were trying to find something quick. I remember one time when I went to at least three convenience stores and couldn't find anything vegetarian and savory to eat, except maybe crisps. Convenience stores have different offers, even in the same chain, so my advice would be to not give up. Sometimes you enter your third CU and happen to suddenly find amazing vegetarian options!
In Seoul, it became easier the longer we lived in a given neighborhood. We had time to explore and discover some hidden places. There’s this restaurant we often went to in Hongdae because they advertised openly "vegetarians welcome". It’s so refreshing to find these kinds of places and not have to struggle the whole time explaining what we want.”
🌱Their Favorite Vegetarian Restaurants
- Vegan Kitchen, 15-11 Namsan-dong 2(i)-ga Jung-gu Seoul
- Darc en ciel, 57-138 Mangwon-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- Camouflage, 130-10 Itaewon-dong Yongsan-gu Seoul
- Chez Valerie, 433-61 Hapjeong-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- PLANTUDE, 40-999 Hangangno 3(sam)-ga Yongsan-gu Seoul
- byTOFU, 1-467 yongsan-dong 2(i)-ga Yongsan-gu Seoul
- Little Gangster, 3-6 Dowon-dong Yongsan-gu Seoul
- Drunken Vegan, 5-78 Changjeon-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- ALT.a, 99-6 Itaewon-dong Yongsan-gu Seoul
- Plant Yeonnam Branch, 197-32 Donggyo-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
🌱Not vegetarian, but good veggie options
- SALTHOUSE DELI - MANGWON, 57-38 Mangwon-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- greener, 240-22 Yeonnam-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- Hahoe Maeul, 346-42 Seogyo-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- Casa Latina, 337-10 Seogyo-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
- Petra, 33 Noksapyeong-daero 40-gil, Yongsan District, Seoul
Click here to access Sylwia’s Google map of 40+ vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Seoul.
For Vegans
Lorenzo
“I lived for a few months in Songdo when I arrived in Korea. Not going to lie, it wasn't fun. I struggled a lot with finding vegan options. When I moved to Seoul, it felt like paradise in comparison (laughs). There are vegan restaurants, both Korean and international (it requires searching, but that’s usually part of the vegan lifestyle anyway). I found an Instagram Korean vegan community and a vegan festival. You have temple food and some options in traditional markets. There are also options in international restaurants sometimes.
There’s still a generalized lack of flexibility in Korea when it comes to menu variations and you’ll find that most processed food uses butter, egg, and cow milk… But I see the number of vegan restaurants slowly increasing over the years. Still, I cook a lot at home! (Laughs.) Supermarket offerings are limited, but there are online vegan websites and Coupang has a lot to offer. It’s hard to find ready-made plant-based burgers, but tofu is very good, cheap, and easy to get. There’s also lots of vegetables and cereals.”
Yeonu
“It’s completely possible to be vegan in Korea but it’s easier if you speak Korean (laughs). My advice would be to check the allergy box on the package when you buy food at the supermarket. That’s how most vegans check these things… If it says ‘soy, wheat’, it can be eaten. I mostly use coupang for vegan grocery shopping. I love the brand ‘veggie garden’, they have a great selection of vegan frozen foods. You can also find them in Lotte Marts - they have their own vegan line, so they have a small frozen section for vegan food.
I get my multivitamins for vegans on Coupang but there are more and more Korean companies that make vegan supplements these days. The vegan cafe Nono Shop in Itaewon sells supplements and other vegan groceries. Talking of vegan groceries, Charlie’s Grocery in HBC also sometimes sells vegan cheese.
If there aren’t any vegan restaurants around where you live, there are certain menus you can easily make vegan, but you’ll need to speak some Korean. For example: kimbab, bibimbap, jjolmyeon… You just need to ask the restaurant to take out certain things. For kimbab, ask them to take out eggs, ham, and fishcake (crab stick). For bibimbab, remove eggs and beef (they sometimes put beef in gochujang, in that case, they can’t make it vegan). Jjolmyeon is a noodle soup that’s usually vegan-friendly, just ask them to make it without egg. In summer, I recommend kong-guksu. It’s a cold bean noodle soup, just ask them to take out eggs. For winter, I go with deulkkae kalguksu, a warm perilla seed noodle soup. Ask if they use fish sauce, just in case, but they usually don’t.”
🌱Their Favorite Vegan Restaurants
- Weirdough, 80 KR 2nd Floor, 201, 80 Jeungga-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul
- Kongdyakongdyak, 60-11 Daehyeon-dong Seodaemun-gu Seoul
- Hwanggeumnyong, 403-5 Mangwon-dong Mapo-gu Seoul
Click here to access Lorenzo’s Naver map of vegan restaurants in Korea.
Korean Sentences Cheat Sheet
- 채소랑 계란만 먹을 수 있어요. (tchae-so-lang kye-ran-man meo-geul soo i-sseo-yo): “I can only eat eggs and vegetables.”
- 고기하고 생선, 해산물 못 먹어요. (ko-gi-ha-go saeng-seon hae-san-mol mon meo-geo-yo): “I can’t eat meat, fish, or seafood.”
해산물 (hae-san-mul): seafood
생선 (saen-gseon): fish
고기 (ko-gi): meat
- 고기하고 생선, 해산물은 빼고 주세요. (ko-gi-ha-go saeng-seon, hae-san-mo-leun pae-go ju-sse-yo): “Can you remove meat, fish, seafood?”
빼고 (pae-go) generally means “remove”. You can say it after the thing you want to remove - for example, 설탕 (seol-tang) for sugar. It’s the keyword if you want to ask for this and can’t remember the rest!
• 채식주의자 (tchae-sik-djoo-e-(d)ja): vegetarian
However, it’s not always clear in Korea what you mean when you say vegetarian. Do you only eat vegetables? Or also eggs? Fish? Butter? Etc. I won’t always be enough, but it’s a word that can help clarify things upfront. The Korean language is highly contextual, which means it’s better to give too many details.
• 혹시 (pronounced “eok ssheeeeeee”): By any chance…
This is our secret tip! Start your sentence with this. It will help the person in front of you to prepare mentally for the fact that you’re going to ask a question that might require a conversation outside their usual service framework. It’s a small detail, but it works wonders to make the whole interaction easier.
