When the thermometer exceeds 35 or 40 degrees, in much of the world the reaction is almost automatic: people look for frozen drinks, fresh salads and light foods. In South Korea, however, the opposite often happens. On the hottest days of the year, thousands of people sit in restaurants to consume steaming chicken and ginseng soup served while still piping hot.
At first glance it seems counterintuitive. Yet behind this habit there is an ancient philosophy that continues to influence Koreans’ relationship with the summer heat.
Fight the heat with the heat
The principle is called “iyeol chiyeol” (이열치열), an expression that can be translated as “fight heat with heat”. According to this vision, exposing the body to a controlled heat source helps to restore internal balance and better cope with high external temperatures.
The idea has its roots in traditional East Asian medicine, which considers well-being as the result of a balance between opposing energies and forces. When the external heat becomes excessive, the body loses energy through sweating and tiredness. Consuming a warm and nutritious food would therefore be a way to replenish the body’s resources and promote better adaptability to climatic conditions.
The soup symbol of Korean summer
The dish that best represents this philosophy is Samgyetang, a soup prepared with a whole young chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, garlic, jujubes and ginseng. Everything is cooked slowly until a rich and aromatic broth is obtained.
Paradoxically, samgyetang is not considered a winter dish but one of the summer foods par excellence. Traditionally it is consumed during the so-called sambokthe three hottest days of the Korean calendar, when heat and humidity reach particularly high levels.
On those days, specialized restaurants often have long queues of customers looking for a steaming bowl of broth.
It’s not just tradition: what science says
The Korean habit may seem counterintuitive, but some studies have highlighted a possible physiological basis. Research from the University of Ottawa, cited by several nutrition experts, has shown that drinking hot liquids can increase sweating and promote the dispersion of body heat through the evaporation of sweat. Under certain environmental conditions, this mechanism can contribute to a more effective cooling sensation than a very cold drink.
Of course, the benefit depends on several factors, including the humidity level and the ability for sweat to evaporate properly. It therefore does not mean that a boiling soup is always the ideal solution, but it helps to understand why different cultures have developed seemingly opposite strategies to deal with the heat.
A different conception of well-being
For many Koreans, samgyetang is more than just a meal. It is considered a sort of restorative food, associated with the idea of recovering the energy lost during the summer. Ginseng, in particular, occupies a central place in the country’s food culture and is traditionally linked to vitality and physical resistance.
The logic is not to seek immediate relief from the heat, but to help the body react better to climate stress. A significant cultural difference compared to the Western approach, which instead tends to favor rapid cooling through cold drinks, air conditioning and light foods.
A cultural lesson beyond food
The Korean habit of eating boiling soup in the height of summer demonstrates how the relationship with the climate is also a cultural construction. What may seem absurd in Italy, in Korea is perceived as a common sense practice handed down for generations.
More than a simple gastronomic curiosity, samgyetang tells a different way of interpreting well-being: not to contrast nature, but to try to enter into harmony with it. And so, while we fight the 40 degrees with slushes and iced drinks, in Seoul there are those who face the same heat in front of a steaming soup, convinced that the best way to beat the heat is to walk through it.
