Licking your nose to cure numb feet, holding a rice bowl makes you a beggar? 14 weird Korean facts you’ve never heard of

▲ Korean table d’hôte is a symbol of traditional Korean cuisine and the origin of many Korean dining customs. (Photo / Reporter Chen Ruizhong, same below)

Reporter Chen Ruizhong / Reported from Korea

With the popularity of Korean dramas, more and more people are embracing Korean culture or traveling to Korea. However, many Korean social customs and daily habits differ from those in Taiwan. Without proper understanding, you might unknowingly commit serious social faux pas.

Every country has its own unique cultural background, so it’s inevitable that there will be situations that feel unfamiliar or hard to understand—things that just seem “weird.” ETtoday News Cloud has compiled a list of special situations you might encounter when traveling in Korea or making friends with Koreans, to help you better understand Korean habits. As long as you approach different cultures with an open mind, you’ll gain a deeper appreciation of Korean culture and avoid being a disrespectful traveler.

1. Flat Chopsticks
One of the most uncomfortable things about eating Korean food is the shape of the chopsticks. Korean chopsticks are usually flat and made of metal—they’re heavier and harder to use than the round ones you might be used to. Legend has it that they were made flat in the royal court to prevent them from rolling around, and another theory says they’re flat to stop them from sliding on movable Korean dining tables.

▲ Although Korean flat chopsticks take some getting used to, they do prevent rolling. (Photo / Paine Xiaobudian)

2. Eating Hot Food in Summer, Cold Food in Winter
It may seem counterintuitive, but Koreans typically eat samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup)—a dish associated with winter tonics—in the summer. The reasoning is that the heat causes the body to lose fluids and energy, so ginseng chicken helps replenish them. In winter, when the weather is cold, the body can become internally hot, so cold dishes like naengmyeon (cold noodles) help balance the body with the external environment.

3. Don’t Pick Up Your Bowl While Eating
In Taiwanese dining culture, it’s common to hold your bowl while eating with the other hand. But in Korean formal meals, each bowl and plate has a fixed position and shouldn’t be moved. So Koreans don’t lift their bowls while eating—it also helps avoid burning your fingers. In Korean culture, “bringing the bowl to your mouth” is seen as something only poor people or beggars do.

4. Don’t Hold Chopsticks and Spoon Together
Like other Korean table manners, Koreans don’t hold chopsticks and a spoon in the same hand at the same time. They set one down before picking up the other. Also, don’t place your chopsticks or spoon on top of your rice bowl.

▲ In Korea, there’s no concept of shared serving spoons—using your own chopsticks or spoon to share soup or food is a sign of closeness.

5. No Shared Serving Chopsticks or Spoons
Since Korean banquet meals are served individually, with each person eating from their own dishes, there’s no need to share food like in Chinese cuisine—hence no concept of shared serving chopsticks or spoons. If there’s a shared pot of doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) on the table, everyone can use their own spoon to dip in—it’s a sign of intimacy.

6. Leg-Crossing Posture Has Meaning
Traditional Korean banquets involve sitting cross-legged on the floor. Crossing your left leg over your right is said to bring “wealth,” while crossing your right leg over your left is believed to “ward off evil”—each posture has its own symbolic meaning.

7. Lick Your Nose When Your Feet Go Numb
When sitting cross-legged for too long and your legs go numb, Koreans have a habit of licking their index finger and then lightly dabbing their nostril with the saliva. According to Korean tradition, this can help relieve numbness in your feet.

▲ Cross-legged seating is common in Korea, and dabbing your nose with saliva can help ease foot numbness.

8. Drinking Culture
Koreans place great emphasis on hierarchy, especially during drinking etiquette. When two people toast, the junior or lower-status person should hold their glass lower than the senior’s. They should also turn their head away while drinking—otherwise, it’s considered rude. Additionally, if someone across the table has an empty glass, you should immediately pour them a drink. When receiving a pour from someone of higher status, you should hold your glass with both hands.

9. Eat Seaweed Soup on Your Birthday
Seaweed, rich in potassium and iodine, has always been an important nutritional supplement for Korean women after childbirth. That’s why Koreans eat seaweed soup on their birthdays—to remember the hardships and greatness of their mothers during childbirth.

10. Eat Rice Cakes and Malt Candy Before Exams
Korean students preparing for big exams always eat rice cakes and malt candy because these foods symbolize sticking to the rankings and achieving high scores. Some also carry a “fork” as a good luck charm, representing the ability to easily “fork out” the right answers. Meanwhile, dishes like seaweed soup, seaweed rice rolls, and porridge are considered taboo for test-takers.

▲ Samgyetang is considered a summer tonic dish in Korea. (Photo / Reporter Huang Shiyuan)

11. Giving white envelopes at weddings
Unlike in Taiwan where red envelopes are given, Koreans give white envelopes when attending weddings. Therefore, if you invite Korean friends to your wedding, it’s important to understand their customs in advance.

12. Instant noodles with triangular rice balls
Koreans like to put triangular rice balls into the leftover soup after eating instant noodles, stirring them to make a hot porridge. As a result, some supermarkets sell instant noodles and triangular rice balls as a set meal; some Korean families also prepare cold rice before eating instant noodles.

13. Donating rice to support idols
In Korean fan culture, many idol stars now believe that giving flowers and gifts is too wasteful, so fans instead donate rice in their idols’ names to charitable organizations to help others—creating an alternative form of fandom.

14. The gesture for receiving gifts
When receiving an award or a gift, Koreans not only use both hands to accept it, but may also use one hand to receive while the other supports the elbow—or one hand to receive while the other presses gently on the chest. In Korea, these three gestures all convey the same level of respect. However, there was once an incident where a Korean celebrity received an award abroad using the one-hand-and-elbow-support gesture, which caused misunderstanding among others and almost led to an international controversy.