Kongnamul-muchim콩나물무침

No one knows exactly when Koreans started eating soybean sprouts, but since soybeans are thought to have originated around Manchuria, the history is probably a long one. The first written record is in Hyangyak Gugeupbang, a medical book from the reign of King Gojong of Goryeo, where sprouts appear under the name daeduhwang (大豆黃), as a medicinal ingredient rather than a side dish. Later, the encyclopedia Imwon Gyeongjeji lists them as hwangduachae (黃豆芽菜).

Kongnamul (콩나물) was the vegetable every household grew for itself. In a corner of a back room sat a crock draped in black cloth; water it faithfully and in five or six days the sprouts were ready to be dressed as namul. Before an ancestral rite, a pot of sprouts reliably took up its spot in the room. Because they could be grown in any season, sprouts were especially welcome in winter, when fresh greens were scarce. The Silhak scholar Yi Ik even named a study circle the Samduhoe (三豆會), "Three Beans Society," whose members grew their own soybeans and shared bean porridge, sprouts and soybean paste, and he recommended the idea in his Seongho Saseol as a smart way to get through hard times.

Where sprouts belong on a ritual table depends on the region. Quite a few areas say kongnamul must not be used among the three-colored namul for ancestral rites, though no one is sure why. Yet the same sprouts never fail to appear on tables set for household deities, such as the first-full-moon offering, the table for Samsin (the spirit said to watch over childbirth) and the one for Jowang, the god of the kitchen.