How to Survive as a Vegetarian in South Korea

South Korea, where probably 80% of diet consists of meat or seafood, finding vegetarian friendly restaurants is quite a difficult task. If you live in the Hanyang dormitory, or anywhere without a kitchen, then this may just be the guide for you. Below are some tips and tricks to find food at convenient places in South Korea. The purpose of this guide is NOT to provide information on vegetarian restaurants, but to lay out the vegetarian options for you at regular Korean food places.

Where can you find vegetarian food in the Hanyang student residence?

If you live in the Hanyang International Dormitory (without a kitchen), then you’ll likely be worrying over what to eat for your next meal.

Inside the student residence hall, you can find a café, cafeteria and a convenience store. Most of the food offered in the cafeteria consists of Korean meat dishes, but you can always purchase a food ticket for just the dishes (kimchi, radish, bean sprouts, rice, etc) at the food machine. The cafe just outside the cafeteria sells “cheese vegetable sandwich”, which is, unfortunately, the only vegetarian food option on the menu. The café also sells fresh fruit drinks, in case you ever feel like you’re low on your vitamin c intake.

What can you buy at a convenience store?

Surprisingly, there are a lot of simple vegetarian foods you can purchase at the convenience store. (such as CU, GS25, and etc).

In most South Korean convenience stores, you can usually find bread, cheese strings, nuts, packed kimchi, and instant rice. If you microwave the instant rice for 2 minutes, it’ll taste exactly like regular cooked rice. Some convenience stores also sell boiled eggs, instant vegetable porridge and ramyun.

Note: do not purchase the rice balls packed in seaweed or any sandwiches in the convenience stores. All of them have meat or seafood.