Sundae Lineage

Sundae (순대) is a Korean food made by filling animal intestines with blood, grains, vegetables, and other ingredients and cooking them. Its lineage begins with intestine dishes recorded in 17th-century cookbooks and diverges significantly with the popularization of glass noodle sundae in the 1970s. The leading etymological theory traces the word to the Manchu term “senggi-duha” (blood + intestine). Today, the regional lineages of traditional blood sundae coexist with the snack-food-style glass noodle sundae under the single name “sundae.”

• Eumsik Dimibang (음식디미방, circa 1670): The dog-intestine sundae included in a cookbook by Lady Jang of Andong is the earliest known written record. Although the title on the cover is 『Gyugon Siuibang (閨壼是議方)』, the academic consensus is that the author herself identified it by the title at the beginning of the volume, “Eumsik Dimibang.”

• Jubangmun (주방문, late 1600s): Beef small-intestine sundae.

• Jeungbo Sallim Gyeongje (증보산림경제, 1766), Gyuhap Chongseo (규합총서, 1809): Continued the tradition of beef small-intestine sundae.

• Nongjeong Hoeyo (농정회요, 1830s): The first mention of pork sundae. This is the point at which the direct ancestor of today’s sundae appears in written records.

Until after Korea’s liberation, sundae was a prized food served mainly at feasts. The government’s promotion of pig farming in the 1960s lowered the prices of pork offal and intestines. Combined with the use of inexpensive glass noodles as filling, this led glass noodle sundae to become widely popular from the early 1970s. A feast dish had become an everyday snack food. As a result, traditionally made sundae came to be distinguished by the names “blood sundae” and “meat sundae.”

• Abai Sundae (아바이순대, Sokcho): A type of sundae from Abai Village in Cheongho-dong, Sokcho, a settlement of displaced people from Hamgyong Province. Pork large intestines are filled with blood, glutinous rice, dried outer cabbage leaves, mung bean sprouts, and other ingredients. It is commonly said to have been sold beginning in the 1960s, although some accounts place its actual commercialization in the early 1990s.

• Baegam Sundae (백암순대, Yongin): Originated at Baegam Market. The leading theory holds that the sundae tradition of the Jukseong marketplace during the Joseon period, located in present-day Juksan, Anseong, continued at Baegam Market after Jukseong declined. Long-established restaurants such as Jungang Sikdang (중앙식당, 1940s) and Jeil Sikdang (제일식당, 1964) preserve this lineage. Its high proportion of vegetables gives it a mild flavor.

• Byeongcheon Sundae (병천순대, Cheonan): Sundae from Aunae Market. It originated in the early 1960s, when a pork-processing plant opened near the market and its by-products were used to make sundae containing generous amounts of vegetables and blood. Cheonghwajip (청화집), regarded as the original establishment, initially sold gukbap only on market days before putting up its sign in 1968.

• Blood Sundae (피순대, Jeonju): A variety filled with blood, tofu, meat, and chopped beef small intestines instead of glass noodles. Jo Jeom-rye Nammun Pisundae (조점례남문피순대) at Nambu Market is a representative long-established restaurant.

• Connection with Busan dwaeji gukbap: One theory holds that Korean Dwaeji Gukbap [article], or pork-and-rice soup, took its current form after sundae gukbap, a regional food of northern Korea, was brought south by refugees and sundae was replaced with sliced boiled pork when it became scarce. By this account, sundae gukbap and dwaeji gukbap diverged from the same root.

Northern Korean and regional traditions continue in Seoul, each in its own form.

• Sansugapsan (산수갑산) [restaurant]: Northern Korean-style sundae in Euljiro’s printing alley. Its name comes from Samsugapsan in South Hamgyong Province. It recreates Abai sundae by stuffing glutinous rice, ox blood, and vegetables into beef intestine and boiling it in beef-bone broth; the assorted platter includes liver, pork stomach, and pressed pork slices.

• Hamgyeongdo Chapssal Sundae (함경도찹쌀순대) [restaurant]: Hamgyong-style glutinous-rice sundae in Garak-dong. All of its sundae, meat, and kimchi are made in-house, and it operates 24 hours a day, year-round.

• Nongmin Baegam Sundae (농민백암순대) [restaurant]: Located near Seolleung Station. It is regarded as one of Seoul’s leading restaurants for Baegam-style sundae and is frequently cited as a contender for the “three great sundae-guk restaurants of Seoul.”

• Hwamok Sundae-guk (화목순대국) [restaurant]: Sundae soup in Yeouido prepared using the toryeom method of repeatedly pouring hot broth over rice. Its defining feature is the combination of tender blood sundae and chewy offal.

Korean Pork Gukbap [document]
Korean Cuisine [document]

Pork [document]