Jeonbok-juk전복죽

Jeju Island's bond with abalone goes back a very long way. Abalone remains and a crescent-shaped "abalone knife" have been found at the Gwakji shell mound in Aewol, and the ancient island kingdom of Tamna traded abalone with its neighbors across the sea. A wooden tablet excavated at the site of Heijo Palace in Nara, Japan, reads "Tamna abalone, six geun" (耽羅鰒六斤) and carries an era date corresponding to 745. In the Joseon era, dried Jeju abalone was an important tribute sent to the royal court every year and was used on both ancestral-rite tables and the king's dining table.

Abalone porridge (전복죽, jeonbok-juk) is also tied to the lives of Jeju's haenyeo, the women divers. They call abalone bit, the female ambit and the male subit, and consider the tender female best for porridge and the crunchy male best eaten raw. Abalone clings to rocks deep under the sea, so only the most skilled divers, the sanggun, could gather it. Haenyeo ate abalone porridge while recovering after childbirth, and even today it is customary to make it for a parent in the hospital.

Unlike mainland versions, Jeju-style abalone porridge always includes the abalone's innards, which tint it a deep green.