Korean Drinking & Social Culture · Part 6
Korean Food and Drink Pairings Explained
Certain Korean foods and drinks are practically inseparable in the culture — knowing the pairings will help you order like you’ve done this before. Tap any word below to hear it spoken.
Certain food and drink combinations are considered classic pairings across Korea, almost like a cultural shorthand of their own.
치맥 (Chimaek) — Fried Chicken and Beer
Possibly Korea’s most iconic pairing: crispy fried chicken with cold beer. The word itself is a blend of 치킨 (chicken) and 맥주 (maekju, beer) — it’s practically its own cultural institution, complete with dedicated chimaek festivals.
삼겹살에 소주 — Pork Belly with Soju
Grilled pork belly (삼겹살, samgyeopsal) paired with soju is a cornerstone of Korean social dining — the fattiness of the meat is considered a natural match for soju’s clean, mild taste.
Grilled meat pairings are central to Korean social dining — the food and drink are meant to be enjoyed together, not separately.
파전에 막걸리 — Savoury Pancake with Makgeolli
On rainy days especially, Koreans reach for 파전 (savoury scallion pancake) with 막걸리 (makgeolli), a milky, lightly fizzy rice wine — a well-known and often joked-about pairing tied to rainy weather.
안주 — The General Concept
Beyond specific pairings, 안주 (anju) is the general word for food eaten while drinking — in Korean drinking culture, food and alcohol are rarely separated. Ordering a drink without any anju would be unusual in most social settings.
Knowing these pairings isn’t just useful vocabulary — ordering them correctly (chimaek at a casual hangout, samgyeopsal and soju at a proper dinner) signals real familiarity with the culture, not just the language.
Food Culture Is a Great Way Into the Language
Ordering food and drink confidently is often the first real, useful Korean people put into practice. Here’s the step-by-step system we recommend for building on it.
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