한국국제교류재단

A reconstructed royal banquet table at the National Palace Museum of Korea. Folding screens, flower arrangements, and ceremonial furnishings recreate the elegant setting of a Joseon court banquet.
Courtesy of the National Palace Museum of Korea

Even the royal court faced logistical challenges when organizing large-scale banquets, which were held at least once a decade. One difficulty was the absence of a sufficiently large palace kitchen. The palace contained facilities such as the Sojubang, the central royal kitchen complex, and the Saenggwabang, which specialized in refreshments and desserts such as rice cakes and honey cookies. Neither, however, was capable of producing the massive quantities of food required for a royal event. This arrangement reflected the Confucian social order of the time. The king and queen occupied separate living quarters and typically ate alone. Small kitchens were attached to their individual residential areas, eliminating the need for a centralized kitchen. Consequently, whenever a royal banquet was scheduled, a temporary outdoor kitchen was constructed near the venue.

Food preparation fell to male chefs known as suksu, who belonged to the Saongwon, the office that managed the court cuisine. Their work was organized in accordance with a highly specialized hierarchy. At the top stood jaebu, who supervised all aspects of royal cuisine. Seonbu were responsible for the king’s daily meals, jobu handled seasoning, imbu were in charge of rice and porridge, and paengbu were tasked with boiling meat and vegetables. Beneath them worked specialists responsible for grilled dishes, rice and soups, alcoholic beverages, and rice cakes and confectionery. Food was prepared through a strict division of labor.

The venue itself presented another challenge. Neither Gyeongbok Palace nor Changdeok Palace possessed an indoor hall large enough to accommodate hundreds of guests. Banquets were therefore often held in the jeongjeon, the main hall for state affairs, or the naejeon, the residential quarters of the queen dowager and queen. When additional space was required, temporary structures were erected by extending wooden flooring from the main hall into the courtyard. To ensure safety and stability, large teams of royal carpenters were mobilized, with work sometimes beginning as much as six months in advance.

Sinseollo, or yeolgujatang, was among the most elaborate dishes served at Joseon royal banquets. Prepared in a brazier-equipped vessel with a charcoal chamber at its center, the dish is made by simmering meat, seafood, vegetables, and other ingredients in a rich broth. This contemporary version debuted at Korea House earlier this year.
Courtesy of Korea House, Korea Heritage Agency

A royal banquet typically involved five separate gatherings. These included a banquet for male officials, a banquet for royal women, an evening gathering for royal relatives, a banquet honoring those who organized the event, and a concluding evening celebration. The highlight of the festivities was the jinjak ceremony, during which participants formally presented wine or other beverages to the guest of honor. The number of jinjak rounds depended on the scale of the banquet and was generally an odd number to reflect the auspicious yang energy of a joyous occasion, with nine being the maximum. In practice, however, Joseon monarchs often limited that to a conservative five or seven rounds in keeping with ideals of frugality.

Participation in the jinjak ceremony was strictly regulated. The first offering was made by the highest-ranking attendee below the guest of honor, who presented the drink together with formal words of congratulation. A court lady then brought forward a table set with accompaniments specially selected to complement the beverage. The number and variety of dishes depended on the scale of the event.

After accepting the offering, the guest of honor expressed gratitude, addressed the assembled guests, and ordered food and drink to be served. Throughout the proceedings, court musicians performed while dancers presented carefully choreographed performances.

The banquet concluded with a dessert course featuring tea, fruit, and confections. Typical sweets included dasik, confections made by combining powdered grains, chestnuts, or beans with honey or grain syrup and pressing the mix into delicate shapes. Other examples included jeonggwa — sliced fruits, ginger, lotus root, or ginseng, for instance, candied in honey or malt syrup — and yumilgwa, confections fried in oil and glazed with honey. Po, thin dried strips of abalone, pheasant, or octopus, was also served.

As the festivities drew to a close, the guest of honor distributed food and gifts to attendees, officials, and workers who had contributed to the event. The banquet formally ended upon the honoree’s departure.

A Joseon court spoon-and-chopstick case made of embroidered red silk. It features colorful longevity motifs, including deer and pine trees, alongside auspicious inscriptions wishing for prosperity.
Courtesy of the National Palace Museum of Korea

This silver ewer, used during Joseon royal banquets and ancestral rites, features engravings of a mythical three-legged crow (samjogo) and a moon rabbit pounding rice. Height: 29 cm; base diameter: 9.5 cm.
Courtesy of the National Palace Museum of Korea

Presentation is among the defining features of fine dining, conveying culinary excellence through the arrangement of food, tableware, and setting. In this respect, Joseon royal banquets demonstrated remarkable sophistication.

In addition to the dishes served during the jinjak ceremonies, lavishly arranged tables were placed before the guest of honor and principal attendees. At a banquet held at Changdeok Palace in 1829 to celebrate the 40th birthday of King Sunjo (r. 1800–1834) and the 30th anniversary of his reign, the king was served forty-six different delicacies. The queen received thirty-four dishes, while the crown prince and his consort each received thirty-one, and the princess twenty-five. The number of dishes reflected the strict hierarchy of the royal household.

The banquet menus displayed notable variety. Meat, seafood, and vegetables were combined in well-balanced compositions. At the banquet held in 1902 to commemorate the admission of Emperor Gojong (r. 1863–1907) to Giroso, sixty-three dishes were presented, no two sharing the same principal ingredient or cooking method. Following each event, detailed records were compiled documenting ingredients, preparation methods, quantities, and serving arrangements. These accounts were preserved in several volumes of uigwe, the royal protocols that recorded major state ceremonies for posterity. More than administrative s, these volumes functioned as invaluable records of Joseon culinary culture, preserving recipes and banquet practices in remarkable detail.

Joseon royal banquets shared many of the hallmarks associated with modern fine dining: exceptional ingredients, specialized culinary professionals, multi-course service, and carefully differentiated levels of formality. Yet the comparison has its limits. Joseon banquets were ceremonial expressions of Confucian propriety and royal authority, whereas modern fine dining emerged within a commercial gastronomic culture.

The elaborate tradition of royal banquets ultimately disappeared with the fall of the Korean Empire (1897–1910). Yet its legacy challenges the assumption that fine dining is an exclusively Western concept. Joseon royal banquets testify to a culinary tradition of remarkable sophistication that developed its own systems of service, presentation, and ceremonial dining centuries before fine dining became established in Europe. The dishes, beverages, and elaborate rituals of these lavish state events are more than historical curiosities; they stand as evidence of Korea’s long and highly refined culinary heritage.

Recreating one of nine courses from Emperor Gojong’s 1892 birthday banquet, this anju table displays delicacies made with ingredients such as ginkgo nuts, mussels, and abalone.
Courtesy of the National Palace Museum of Korea