Most people know jokbal as a late-night food. Delivery at 2am, beer on the side, something to argue over while splitting the bill. But when jokbal first appeared in Seoul, it was a different kind of story.

1961, Jangchungdong. Eight years after the Korean War, refugees from the north were settling into Seoul wherever they could. Two women from Pyeongando set up a griddle and started selling. They combined the braised pork trotter technique from their hometown with Chinese five-spice cooking methods. They called it Pyeongandobjip and worked together for six years before splitting. After that, jokbal shops started filling the alley. A refugee's recipe became a neighborhood.

By the 1980s, jokbal restaurants were packed on basketball game nights at nearby Jangchung Arena. The 1990s brought delivery-only shops, and jokbal spread nationwide. Today it tops Korea's delivery apps by order value — averaging 36,000 won per order. The refugee's recipe is now the most expensive thing Koreans order at midnight.