Ddukkuk

 Koreans ring in the New Year with a big bowl of rice cake soup, or Ddukuk. On New Year's morning (usually the lunar new year, although some families observe the solar new year), families gather to perform ancestral memorial rites in the home of the eldest son or parents. Then they sit down to a bowl of Ddukuk, which consists of thinly sliced plain white rice cake boiled in a thick beef broth with green onions and topped with bright garnishes. Until recent times, the pounding of rice cakes was heard in every household at the New Year, but today most city dwellers purchase the rice cakes used in Ddukuk.