Just hours after arriving we ran out to a street so clogged with shop fronts that they’re stacked one atop another, each marked with a brightly lighted sign. Here, my brother-in-law Gregory whispered the three favorite words I’d hear in my whole time in Seoul: “It’s all food.”

My wife, Elisabeth, and I spent a week in South Korea’s capital, where Gregory and his girlfriend, SaeEun, live. Those three were excited about royal palaces and art. I had other thoughts. Korean food is having its international moment, particularly in the United States, so I planned as many meals as I could at the cuisine’s source.