What is Iyeolchiyeol?
When it's hot, like the summer we've been having, we seek ways to cool ourselves down.
Turning up the air conditioning
Quenching our thirst and heat with an ice-cold beer, dripping with beads of condensation
A scoop, or three, of our favourite flavours of ice cream
But in Korea, we heal the heat with heat
이열치열 i-yeol-chi-yeol
To take this heat (yeol), and heal (chi) with heat (yeol)
One of the things we do to heal the heat is to eat hot, not cold.
And not just any kind of hot.
Piping, burn the roof of your mouth and every other part, hot.
Or spicy.
Sometimes both!
Soups and stews and broths in Korea are served boiling, bubbling in stoneware that has been scorched with furious flames.
Quite different to the temperature at which soups in Western cuisines are served.
Why eat hot food in summer?
Why?
Why would we heat ourselves up when we’re already hot.
A many faceted question you ask (don't worry, I asked on your behalf).
In traditional Korean and East Asian thinking, excessive cold was believed to weaken digestion during summer, draining your body of energy and nourishment precisely when most needed, in the jading heat of peak summer.
You may feel cool, temporarily, but there is a debt to be paid.
And your external temperature has not budged.
Eating something hot makes us feel even hotter.
And what do we do when we're hot?
We sweat.
And what does sweating do?
It cools our external temperature.
The sweat evaporates, and our heat with it.
Koreans are not alone in this.
We see similar parallels in many other hot-climate cuisines.
Think about the cuisines known for their spicy food.
And what do spicy foods do to us?
Koreans just add in a double effect of having things bubbling hot.
Many of these iyeolchiyeol foods are believed to be nourishing, with ample protein, and traditional medicine ingredients traditionally considered to be warming and restorative.
We all know that groggy lethargic feeling during sweltering days.
These foods are believed to refuel what we lose to the summer heat.
What Koreans eat during Sambok (Chobok, Jungbok and Malbok)
So what do we eat?
삼계탕 Samgyetang - a whole young chicken, poussin, filled with rice, 인삼 insam (ginseng), 대추 daechu (red date), cooked in a broth of traditional medicinal foods such as garlic, 황기 hwangi (milkvetch root), 엄나무 umnamu (kalopanax root), 오가피 ogapi (siberian ginseng or eleuthero), 둥굴레 doonggoollae (Solomon's seal).
닭백숙 Dakbaeksuk - a whole chicken simmered until tender; no stuffing. Simpler and more "bare-bones" than samgyetang.
오리백숙 Oribaeksuk - the duck baeksuk; duck is considered especially nourishing in Korean traditional medicine.
흑염소탕 Heukyeomsotang - black goat soup, simmered for hours; traditionally given to those recovering from illness or weakness, valued for its restorative properties.
장어구이 Jangeoguui - grilled eel, prized as a stamina food.
추어탕 Chueotang - loach soup, the fish blended into the broth rather than left whole; earthy, savoury, often seasoned with perilla seads and served with rice.
You'll notice a lot of them are soups and broths, best served piping hot
보신탕 Bosintang - umbrella term for nourishing (bosin) soups (tang), historically inclusive of chicken, goat, and dog (now largely associated with older generations as dog meat consumption has declined sharply, and is being banned in 2027 under a 2024 legislation)
There is a ritual around eating these foods particularly during 삼복 sambok, the three (sam) bok, which are 초복 chobok (the starting bok), 중복 joongbok (the middle bok), 말복 malbok (the ending bok).
These days are meant to be during the hottest periods of summer.
Chobok falls on the 3rd 경일 gyungil (day of Geng, part of the sexagenary calendar) after the summer solstice, and joongbok on the 4th. Malbok falls on the first gyungil after 입추 ipchu (the start of autumn, usually early August).
Iyeolchiyeol beyond food
Iyeolchiyeol extends beyond food. Many Koreans visit 한증막 hanjeungmak, traditional sweat lodges, even in peak summer, sitting in intense heat to sweat it out, believed to release build up of unwanted toxins within the body.
Korean culture has long viewed health and wellbeing holistically, intertwining food with nourishment with medicine with lifestyle. Much of what we ate was for our wellbeing, with many appropriate applications of eating for different situations and ailments. More on this to come later (to link future blog post).
All this may sound very foreign, heating ourselves to heal the heat.
Many Korean philosophies geared towards working with the natural rhythms and responses of the body, rather than fighting against and suppressing them.
Colleagues, friends, families can be seen gathering en masse during sambok, not just to eat, but to share in our communal care for each other's wellbeing.
The satisfied belly is a pleasant bonus.
