Ever heard of 겉바속촉? Korean food slang explained

Have you heard about Korea's "빨리빨리" culture? Koreans love "빨리 빨리" - everything quick and now! 

This culture reflects in the language as well.

So many syllables... so little time.

As a result, Koreans came up with many bits of slang that are a portmanteau of two or more words all strung together. Many of the words tend to be centered around food, since it's a centerpiece of the Korean zeitgeist.

So, today let's look at some of them! They are probably not the most new and trendy ones, but used in Korean conversation very frequently and have been accepted as de facto part of the everyday language.

1. 맛집

Delicious restaurant, local favorite, hidden gem, hole-in-the-wall, or foodie destination.

And you can just use this one word, "맛집". It's an abbreviated word of "맛있는 집", which means "delicious house".

Often times you'll be taking your first bites in a place you just found and someone will say:

"여기 진짜 맛집 이네!" (This place is seriously good!)

Quick grammar side-note 🧐   

At the end of that sentence, notice the use of "-네". This is a versatile ending that can show surprise or new discovery about something!

In this case, it showed surprise that the place is good (이다 (to be) + -네 = 이네). But you can tack it on to any ol' verb.

• 맛있다 + 네 = 맛있네 (It's delicious)
• 예쁘다 + 네 = 예쁘네 (It's pretty)
• 좋다 + 네 = 좋네 (I like it) 

You will notice Koreans love to use "-집". It really means home or a house. But you can use it to refer to a bakery (빵집 - a bread house), rice cake place (떡집 - a rice cake house), a kimbap shop (김밥집 - a kimbap house). You get the idea.

So, it's not surprising to come up with "맛집" (a tasty house). You can use this word to indicate the restaurant with really good food, or really popular place with always long queue, or the latest hole-in-the-wall place you want to introduce to your friends.

This word has been around for so long that it doesn't feel like slang anymore, but just a regular word now.

2. 꿀조합

Once upon a time in Korea, putting "꿀" in front of the word made everything sound cool.

"꿀" means "honey" in Korean. And by adding "꿀" in front of the word, it would add the meaning of "very much, super". For example, 맛있다 (it's delicious) becomes 꿀맛이다 (its super delicious), 재미있다 (it's fun) becomes 꿀잼이다 (it's super fun).

A bit of slang history 📚

Before '꿀'(honey), it was 개(dog) (개맛있다, 개재밌다, etc.)

Warning ⚠️: this will make you sound a bit vulgar, kind of like saying something is "fucking delicious"

And after that, it was 핵(nuclear) (핵맛있다, 핵잼이다).

Or you put all of these word to express your very highly extremely super feeling

• 핵꿀맛(nuclear-honey-taste)
• 개꿀잼(dog-honey-fun)
• 핵노잼 (nuclear-no-fun)

Anyhow, going back to our abbreviated word here. 꿀조합 means 'honey combination'. It refers to an incredibly well-matched combination (most of the time it's used in food contexts).

Imagine a crispy Korean fried chicken with cold beer, or chocolate and peanut butter, or a sizzling crispy pancake and makgeoli on a rainy day - total 꿀조합 🤌. 

3. 혼밥

This word is not only efficient, but also reflects recent culture in Korea.

혼밥 is abbreviation of "혼자 (alone) 밥먹기 (eating)". As solo dining becomes mainstream, a word to describe solo diner came about. Now, you can even find a restaurant especially curated for solo diners.

You can expand your vocabulary by adding 혼(abbreviation of 혼자, alone, solo) in front of a lot of solo activities. 

• 혼밥 (solo(혼자) dining(밥))
• 혼술 (solo(혼자) drinking(술))
• 혼영 (solo(혼자) movie-going(영화))
• 혼여 (solo(혼자) travel(여행))
• 혼코노 (solo(혼자) coin(코인) karaoke(노래방))

4. 갓성비

갓성비 is an portmanteau of 갓(god)+가성비(price-performance ratio). It means "godly good price-performance ratio", or "godly good deal". 

For instance, say you found a couch on 당근 (Korean Craigslist) that usually fetches twice its price: "갓성비네!"

갓(god) is another quick word to just attach in front of any word to highlight "very, super good (godly!)" (no religious meaning attached). So, it means godly good price-performance ratio, highly cost-effective, excellent value for money, and incredible bang for your buck.

You can attach 갓성비 in front of any items of good deals. For example, 갓성비 맛집 (incredibly cost effective delicious restaurant), 갓성비 마트 (a mart with excellent value for money). Or simply just use like an adjective - 이거 진짜 갓성비다! (Wow, this is a really good bang for the buck!)

5. 겉바속촉

This word quickly became my favorite when I first learned it. It tells you a lot about what kind of food Korean people love.

겉바속촉 is a very compact portmanteau of "겉은 (outside is) 바삭하고 (crispy and) 속은 (inside is) 촉촉한 (moist/ tender)".

I swear this isn't an ad for Pari Baguette

Imagine a Korean fried chicken which is so crispy that you bite and you can hear the crunchiness in your ears, but the tender and moist meat inside. Or a 꽈배기 (Korean donut) where the bite is super crunchy, but the inside is warm and soft. Who doesn't love some "겉바속촉" food?