Hidden Animal Ingredients in Korean Food (Fish Sauce, Anchovy Stock)

Korean food looks promising for vegetarians: vegetables, tofu, rice, kimchi. But the seasoning and the stock are where the animal products hide, and they hide in the two dishes every visitor eats first: kimchi and the soup.

Key Takeaways

• Fish sauce (aekjeot) and salted shrimp (saeu-jeot) are the hidden ingredients in most kimchi.
• Anchovy and kelp stock is the base of most Korean soups and stews, even vegetable ones.
• Gochujang (chili paste) is usually vegan, but check, since some brands add fish.
• Beef and pork hide in stews like kimchi jjigae and in bulgogi, and egg tops many rice dishes.

TL;DR: Korean food hides animal products in fish sauce, salted shrimp and anchovy stock. Kimchi is usually not vegan, and most soups are built on anchovy stock.

Kimchi: the fish sauce surprise

Kimchi is the national dish, and it is usually not vegetarian. The seasoning traditionally includes fish sauce (aekjeot) and salted fermented shrimp (saeu-jeot), which is why the cabbage itself is plant-based but the dish is not. A guide to vegan Korean food makes the same point: kimchi is not automatically vegan, and you need to look for the explicitly vegan kind (The Dharma Store, retrieved 2026-08-25).

“Vegetarian kimchi” in a store can still contain fish sauce, so the word “vegan” is the safer signal.

Anchovy stock: the hidden soup base

Most Korean soups and stews start with a stock of dried anchovies and kelp (myeolchi dashima yuksu). That includes:

• Soybean paste stew (doenjang jjigae)
• Soft tofu stew (sundubu jjigae)
• Seaweed soup (miyeok guk), traditionally made with beef or shellfish

So a vegetable stew can be non-vegetarian from the stock alone, before any meat is added. A recent article on the difficulty of being vegetarian in Korea notes the stock as one of the recurring obstacles (Decoded Korea, retrieved 2026-08-25).

Beef, pork and egg

• Kimchi jjigae usually contains pork.
• Bulgogi is beef, and samgyeopsal is pork belly.
• Bibimbap is topped with beef and a fried egg by default.
• Tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) is sometimes cooked with fish cake or anchovy stock.

How to order

1. Ask for “no fish sauce, no anchovy stock” (in Korean, “멸치 육수 빼주세요” means “please leave out the anchovy stock”).
2. Look for vegan kimchi specifically.
3. Choose temple-style Korean food, which is the traditional plant-based option.
4. Scan packaged Korean products. A scanner app flags fish sauce, shrimp and anchovy against your diet.

See our Korea common-ingredients guide for a fuller list.

The bottom line

Korean food hides animal products in its seasoning and its stock. Fish sauce and anchovy stock are the two to watch, and kimchi is the dish most likely to surprise you. Temple food is the reliable plant-based option, or a scanner for packaged products.

Check before you eat. The Verify Veg app scans a barcode or reads an ingredient list from a photo and flags ingredients against your diet (vegan, vegetarian, halal, kosher, Jain and more). Download on the App Store - Android is coming soon.

Written by Samir Narain, founder of Verify Veg. Verify Veg helps people check packaged food against their diet by scanning barcodes and reading ingredient lists from photos.

Note: Verify Veg provides ingredient-based compatibility checks, not certification. Recipes and preparations vary by restaurant, region and cook, so always confirm with the restaurant, brand or vendor.