Taste of the Chuseok Table, Assembled Lunchbox-Style at Tongin Market

In Seoul's Tongin Market, as lunchtime nears, the whole alley fills with the smell of sizzling oil. The crackle of pancakes frying and the bright colors of seasoned vegetables line every stall, and every customer's hand holds a few brass-colored coins — tokens modeled after old Korean currency, valid only inside this market.

Chuseok, held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, is Korea's biggest harvest holiday — similar in spirit to Thanksgiving — when families gather to give thanks for the year's harvest. Around this time, Korean households hold ancestral rites, and songpyeon, jeon, and japchae are staples of that table. Songpyeon is a half-moon rice cake steamed on pine needles for prosperity; jeon are savory pancakes fried in oil; japchae mixes stir-fried vegetables and glass noodles. At the Lunchbox Café in the middle of Tongin Market, visitors can meet these holiday foods on the spot. Exchange cash for tokens at the entrance and you're handed a round metal lunchbox — from there, the whole market becomes a side-dish shop. A stove frying mung-bean pancakes, hands tossing japchae, a big tray of tricolor namul — hand over a token, scoop a ladleful, and the lunchbox grows a little heavier each time.

There's no set menu or order. Wander the alleys, follow the smell of frying oil, and stop wherever a dish catches your eye. Once full, open the lunchbox right there at a café seat inside the market. Even travelers with no plans to prepare holiday food themselves can walk away with a homemade Chuseok spread, built one token at a time.

During the Chuseok holiday, some stalls may close for a day or two, so it's safer to check the notice posted outside each stall before visiting.