Essential Korean for Vegans and Vegetarians

Communication is an important tool in life. 🗣️ Particularly for vegans, vegetarians or other people with dietary restrictions. If you travel to Korea, you cannot expect people to understand English or other foreign languages. 🚫🇬🇧🇺🇸🇦🇺 A small portion of Koreans understands English, but those are mostly young people. The average restaurant staff or part-time jobber at a cafe does not know what you are talking about when you ask them about “vegan options” in English. On top of that, the word “vegan” is often used inapproprietly in present day South Korea.

Here are the most necessary phrases and words for vegans and vegetarians in Korea. 👇 With these basics, you can say that you are vegan🌱 or vegetarian🥕, and tell people what you eat or cannot eat. 🍽️ There are also some basic sentences for customizing food. In addition to that, this list is supposed to help you understand simple customs regarding Korean eating etiquette. 🇰🇷

Before we start, I want you to know two basic but important traits of Korean language:

1️⃣ Firstly, Korean language changes according to context. There are several speech styles, and words and sentence endings change correspondingly. As an example, here are variations of the sentence “It tastes good.” in Korean:

• 맛있습니다. → formal
• 맛있어요. → informal speech; polite in most contexts
• 맛있어. → intimate speech; impolite in most contexts
• 맛있다. → written text / talking to oneself / elder talking to child

Although the meaning of the sentence remains the same, the sentence looks different if it is a formal setting, a written text or an informal situation.

2️⃣ Secondly, Korean language expresses social hierachy. To give you an example, there are several options to refer to oneself, i.e. the English word for “I”. Depending on who one is talking to, a different type of “I” is used. The word 나 na is used if one’s hierachical standing is higher than others. (Or if the people talking are very close to each other.) In most situations, however, the word 저 jeo is appropriate. If you order food using the 나 na version of “I”, you appear arrogant and impolite.

Hence, a translation from Google Translate, DeepL, Papago etc. is not ideal in most cases. Of course, a machine does not know the context or who you are talking to! Korean sentences generated by AI are oftentimes not accurate and either ridiculously formal or very rude. 👎 I have also seen a lot of Korean sentences made by non-native speakers or AI translators, which are a random potpourri of different speech styles. In this post, all Korean sentences are in polite speech. They are reviewed by a native Korean speaker. 🇰🇷

Please note that the spelling of Korean into Latin letters follows the official guidelines of South Korea. Some letters are pronounced very differently from English! [Learn how to pronounce Korean and Korean romanization here!]

Essential Korean words and phrases for vegans and vegetarians

Basic words

• 🥕 vegetarian – 채식주의자 chaesik ju-ui-ja
  • vegetarianism – 채식주의 chaesik ju-ui
  • vegetarian / vegan food – 채식 chaesik
• 🌱 vegan – 완전 채식주의자 wanjeon chaesik ju-ui-ja [old-fashioned version]
• 🌱 vegan – 비건 bigeon [new version]
  • veganism – 비거니즘 bigeonijeum
  • vegan food – 비건식 bigeonsik / 비건 음식 bigeon eumsik
• 🐟 aspiring vegan, flexitarian eating vegan as much as possible (usually eating seafood or soups with ingredients derived from animals) – 비건지향 bigeon jihyang (literally “aiming to be vegan”)
• 🥕 vegetarian / vegan option – 채식 메뉴 chaesik menyu
• 🌱 vegan option – 비건 메뉴 bigeon menyu
• 🍽️ food – 음식 eumsik
• 🤧 allergy – 알러지 alleoji / 알레르기 allereugi

Vegan food items (common examples)

• 🌱 plant-based ingredients – 식물성 재료 singmulseong jaeryo
• 🥦 vegetable – 야채 yachae / 채소 chaeso
• 🍎 fruit – 과일 gwa-il
• 🍄 mushroom – 버섯 beoseot
• 🌰 nuts – 견과 gyeon-gwa
• 🌾 grains – 곡물 gongmul
• 🫘 beans – 콩 kong
• 🌱🥛 soy milk – 두유 duyu
• 🌱🥛 almond milk – 아몬드유 amondeu yu
• 🌱🥛 oat milk – 오트밀크 oteu milkeu
• 🍮 tofu – 두부 dubu
• 🌱🥩 soy-based meat – 콩고기 kong gogi
• 🌱🥩 seitan, gluten-based meat – 밀고기 mil gogi
• 🌱🥩 meat alternative – 대체육 daeche yuk

Non-vegan food items (common examples)

• 🐖 animal-based ingredients – 동물성 재료 dongmulseong jaeryo
• 🥩 meat – 고기 gogi
• 🐟 fish – 생선 saengseon
• 🦐 seafood – 해산물 haesanmul
• 🥛🧀 dairy – 유제품 yujepum
• 🥚🍳 egg – 계란 gyeran
• 🐝🍯 honey – 꿀 kkul
• 🥛 milk – 우유 uyu
• 🧀 cheese – 치즈 chijeu
• 🐟 anchovy – 멸치 myeolchi [used in broth of most soups and stews]
• 🐟 fermented fish sauce – 젓갈 jeotgal [used in most kimchi]
• 🥣 broth normally based on anchovy, bones or other animal products – 육수 yuksu

Basic phrases for vegans and vegetarians

• 🥕 I am a vegetarian. – 저는 채식주의자예요. Jeoneun chaesik ju-ui-ja yeyo.
• 🌱🥕 I am a vegan. – 저는 완전 채식주의자예요. Jeoneun wanjeon chaesik ju-ui-ja yeyo.
• 🌱 I am a vegan. – 저는 비건이에요. Jeoneun bigeon i-eyo.
  [“bigeon” is a new word that has not widely spread yet.]
• 🚫🥩🐟🦐 I do not eat meat and seafood. – 저는 고기랑 해산물 안먹어요. Jeoneun gogirang haesanmul ammeogeoyo.
• 🚫🥛🧀🥚🍳🐝🍯 I do not eat dairy, egg or honey. – 저는 유제품, 계란이나 꿀 안먹어요. Jeoneun yujepum, gyeran-ina kkul ammeogeoyo.
• 🤧 I have an allergy. – 저는 알러지 있어요. Jeoneun alleoji isseoyo.
• 🤧🚫 I have an allergy against {milk}. – 저는 {우유} 알러지 있어요. Jeoneun [uyu] alleoji isseoyo.
• ❓ Is there meat or seafood in this? 혹시 고기나 해산물 들었어요? Hoksi gogina haesanmul deureosseoyo?
• ❓ Is there milk, butter or egg in this? 혹시 우유, 버터나 계란 들었어요? Hoksi uyu, beoteona gyeran deureosseoyo?
• 🚫🥚 Please make it without egg. – 계란 빼고 주세요. Gyeran ppaego juseyo.
• 🚫🥩 Please make it without meat. – 고기 없이 만들어 주세요. Gogi eopsi madeureo juseyo.
• 🚫🥣 Please use clear water instead of broth for the soup. – 육수대신 맹물로 끓여 주세요. Yuksu daesin maengmullo kkeuryeo juseyo.
• 🚫🥣 Please do not add broth. – 육수 빼고 주세요. Yuksu ppaego juseyo.
• 🚫🥛 Please use {soy milk} instead of cow milk. – 우유를 {두유}로 변경해주세요. Uyureul duyuro byeon-gyeong haejuseyo.
  

Common phrases of Korean food culture:

• I will eat well. – 잘 먹겠습니다. Jal meok-gess-seumnida. (literally “I will eat well.”)
  → Said BEFORE eating the meal.
  → Similar to 🇫🇷French “Bon appétit!”, 🇮🇹Italian “Buon appetito!”, 🇪🇸Spanish “¡Buen provecho!”, 🇩🇪German “Guten Appetit!”, or 🇯🇵Japanese “いただきます!”
• I have eaten well. – 잘 먹었습니다. Jal meogeoss-seumnida. (literally “I have eaten well.”)
  → Said AFTER the meal.
• Please help yourself! – 많이 드세요! Manhi deuseyo! (literally “Please eat a lot!”)
  → Normally said by the host.
• Please enjoy the food! – 맛있게 드세요! Masikke deuseyo!
  → Similar to 🇩🇪German “Lass es dir schmecken! / Lassen Sie es sich schmecken!”
  → Normally said by the host.
• 🍻 Cheers! – 건배! Geonbae! [literally “Empty / dry the cups!”]
  → Similar to 🇫🇷French “Santé! / Tchin-tchin!”, 🇮🇹Italian “(Alla) salute!”, 🇩🇪German “Prost! / Prosit!”, 🇩🇰Danish “Skål!”, 🇨🇳Chinese “干杯！” or 🇯🇵Japanese “かんぱい!” (乾杯)
• Does it taste good? – 맛있어요? Masisseoyo?
• 👍 It tastes good! – 맛있어요. Masisseoyo.
• 👎 It doesn’t taste good. – 맛 없어요. Mat eopseoyo. / 맛이 없어요. Masi eopseoyo.
• I am hungry. – 배고파요. Baegopayo.
• I am full. – 배불러요. Baebulleoyo.

• 🪑 Are you eating in? 드시고 가세요? Deusigo gaseyo?
• 🪑 Yes, I am eating in. 네. 여기서 먹으려고 해요. Ne. Yeogiseo meogeuryeogo haeyo.
• 🥡 For takeaway? 포장이세요? Pojang iseyo?
• 🥡 Yes, for takeaway please. 네. 포장해주세요. Ne. Pojang haejuseyo.
• 🧾 Do you need the receipt? 영수증 드릴까요? Yeongsujeung deurilkkayo? / 영수증 필요하시나요? Yeongsujeung piryo hasinayo?
• 🧾 Yes, please give me the receipt. 네. 영수증 주세요. Ne. Yeongsujeung juseyo.
• 🧾 No, I do not need a receipt. 아뇨. 영수증 필요없어요. Anyo. Yeongsujeung piryo eopseoyo.
• ✅ Yes, please give it to me. 네. 주세요. Ne. Juseyo.
• ❌ No, it’s okay. 아뇨. 괜찮아요. Anyo. Gwaenchanayo.

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✍️ Work is still in progress! This list will be expanded gradually! ✍️

❓ Didn’t find the word/sentence you need?
❗️ Send me a message! Or comment below!

📝 Any questions, comments, vocabulary suggestions and language feedback are welcome! 🤗