Vegetarian and vegan food in Korea: what to know before you go
Korean food is more meat-and-seafood-based than its reputation suggests, but temple cuisine, a growing city scene and a few phrases make it manageable.
Updated
The problem is stock, not obvious meat
Avoiding visible meat in Korea is not difficult. The difficulty is that anchovy and beef stock underpin an enormous share of everyday cooking, and neither is thought of locally as an ingredient that makes a dish non-vegetarian. A vegetable soup, a bowl of noodles or a plate of side dishes may all be built on one or the other.
Fermented shrimp and fish sauce are similarly common in kimchi, so the assumption that kimchi is a vegetable dish does not hold in the general case, though versions made without them do exist and are increasingly labelled.
This is not evasiveness on anyone's part. It is a genuine difference in where the category boundary sits, and asking a direct question about stock gets a direct and honest answer.
Temple cuisine is the tradition you are looking for
Korean Buddhist temple food is a fully developed vegan tradition — no meat, no fish, no dairy, and traditionally none of the pungent alliums either. It is not a modern accommodation but a centuries-old cuisine with its own techniques and dishes.
Temples that run stay programmes usually serve it, and a number of dedicated temple-food restaurants operate in the cities. If you want one meal in Korea that is unambiguously vegan and unmistakably Korean rather than an international substitute, this is it. Our temple stay guide covers what a visit involves.
Dishes that are usually safe, with caveats
Bibimbap is often ordered vegetarian, but it commonly arrives with beef and sometimes with egg, and the gochujang served alongside is generally fine. Ask for it without meat when you order rather than removing it after.
Korean pancakes made with vegetables or kimchi are frequently vegetarian, though kimchi versions carry the fish-sauce question and some batters contain seafood.
Rolled rice with vegetable fillings is widely available and easy to check. Tofu stews are a strong option where the stock can be confirmed.
Temple-adjacent and mountain restaurants near national parks often do mountain-vegetable dishes that are vegetarian by construction.
The practical approach
Learn to say that you do not eat meat or fish, and have it written in Korean on your phone to show. Restaurant staff are generally willing to help and often suggest an alternative dish outright.
Cities have a real vegan scene now, concentrated in Seoul, with dedicated restaurants and cafés. Outside the cities it thins considerably, which is worth planning around if you are heading into the countryside for several days.
Convenience stores are a reliable fallback everywhere in the country — see our guide to what is actually worth buying in them.