Dak-kkochi닭꼬치

Threading meat on a skewer and grilling it over fire has deep roots in Korea. Maekjeok (맥적), the Goguryeo-era dish often named as the ancestor of Korean grilled meat, was meat skewered and roasted directly over the flames. One theory even says that once wire grills came into use, the skewer was no longer needed, and the dish became today's bulgogi.

For a long time, chicken in Korea was mostly simmered into soups such as baeksuk. Then, from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s, rotisserie chicken roasted in electric ovens became a craze, and from the 1970s American-style fried chicken caught on. Meanwhile pojangmacha, the tented street bars, sprang up on vacant lots and roadsides after liberation in 1945, feeding hungry workers and students. Until a wildlife protection law took effect in 1972, grilled sparrow was their signature dish, and grilled snacks such as chicken feet were popular too.

There is no clear record of when dak-kkochi (닭꼬치) first appeared on the street. Still, a skewer grilled on the spot and handed straight to you is a snack very much at home in this street-food culture.