The question is reasonable: why would anyone eat scalding soup in the middle of summer? Korea has cold noodles. Korea has iced desserts. And yet on the hottest three days of the year, the lines are longest at the samgyetang restaurants. The Korean logic runs the opposite way: when it's hot outside, heat up the inside too. This is called iyeolchiyeol — fight fire with fire.

Here's the twist in the name. The dish was originally called gyesamtang — gye for chicken (the star), sam for ginseng (the supporting role). Then in the 1960s, ginseng cultivation became an industry, prices rose, and Koreans started treating it as the more prestigious ingredient. The name flipped. Samgyetang. Now ginseng leads. The chicken became the supporting cast.

Every summer, three dates appear on the Korean calendar: Chobok, Jungbok, Malbok — the beginning, middle, and end of the hottest stretch. Office workers sprint to samgyetang restaurants at lunch. Families make plans around it. For Koreans, samgyetang isn't just food. It's how you officially survive summer.