Tteokguk — New Year Rice Cake Soup (떡국)

Tteokguk as a New Year dish is documented in Joseon-era records; the white rice cake's symbolic purity and the coin-shape's wealth symbolism are consistent across all regional Korean New Year traditions

Tteokguk (떡국) is the mandatory soup of Korean Lunar New Year (설날, Seollal) — thin oval-sliced white rice cake (가래떡, gare-tteok, the cylindrical rice cake pulled to full length) simmered in a clear beef broth until swollen and tender. Eating tteokguk on New Year's Day is how Koreans gain a year of age (나이를 한 살 더 먹는다, 'eating an age') — the soup's white colour symbolises purity and new beginnings; the coin-shaped rice cake slices symbolise wealth. The gare-tteok used for tteokguk is sliced diagonally at 45° to produce the traditional oval shape — straight cuts produce circular slices considered less auspicious.

• Parallels Japanese ozouni (お雑煮, New Year's rice cake soup) and Chinese tang yuan (汤圆, glutinous rice balls in sweet soup) as East Asian New Year foods with significant symbolic dimensions beyond their culinary character

Tteokguk's flavour is purposefully simple and clean — the clear beef broth, the neutral rice cake, and the subtle garnish create a dish where the symbolic meaning is as important as the taste. The soup's cleanliness of flavour represents the clean-slate beginning of a new year.