Dosirak: How to make these Korean lunchboxes

You may know of Japan's bento and Taiwan's bien dang – but have you heard of Korea's dosirak?

Those boxes of food you saw in Squid Game are a popular Korean lunchbox called a dosirak. Source: Getty Images

No matter where you grew up, surely your childhood memories involved a lunchbox of some sort. My lunchbox contents toggled between sandwiches filled with peanut butter and ham (yes, my mum was inventive), chip sandwiches and stir-fried beef inside fluffy brioche-like bread.  

However, in parts of Asia, people continue to pack lunchboxes after they finish school. In Japan, people make kawaii (cute) bentos, which feature rice balls decorated with seaweed. In Taiwan, people have lunchboxes called bien dangs, which consist of rice, stir-fried cabbage and marinated meat. 

Squid Game-obsessed foodies will surely have been interested in the food eaten on the popular streaming show. And if you were wondering whether the food is authentic and eaten by Koreans, guess what – they are, including the meals the green-jumpsuit players ate from square-shaped boxes, known as dosirak. 

A dosirak can be likened to Japan's bento or Taiwan's bien dang. It includes delicious Korean side dishes (banchan) and of course, rice. 

Melbourne-based chef Aram Yun has a dosirak almost every day. "Dosirak is basically a typical Korean lunchbox and is a meal that is usually eaten during lunchtime when I'm at work," says Yun.

When it was lunch time, I would open the lid of the dosirak with excitement.

"Many Australians can try Korean food in various restaurants – mostly bulgogi, tteokbokki and fried chicken – but, in fact, we Koreans often eat a simple meal – a couple of side dishes with rice and soup – above all else. The recipe for making it varies from house to house, but the most representative examples are myeolchi bokkeum (stir-fried anchovy and nuts), stir-fried kimchi and fried egg with rice - the same as you see in Squid Game."

Yun tells SBS Food that she remembers growing up eating dosirak in Korea, but since the school system has changed and the government offers students subsidised or free meals, no one brings dosirak anymore. 

"I remember each lunchbox contained home-cooked food made by our mother, so we shared the dosirak with close friends," says Yun. "My mum used to wake up early in the morning and make my dosirak. I went to school with my dosirak without knowing what kind of banchan was in it, and when it was lunchtime, I would open the lid of the dosirak with excitement. On my birthday, she made a very special side dish that I liked. It was galbi jjim (beef short rib). It's my favourite side dish in dosirak."

It is almost unwrapping or opening up a present filled with rice and delicious side dishes, including kimchi.

When she and her friends got sick of their dosirak, they'd mix things up a bit. "Sometimes when I got tired of dosirak, I teamed up with my friends and we put one ingredient each in a large bowl and made bibimbap at school."

However, Heather Jeong, the head of the Korean Cultural Centre in Sydney, thinks a dosirak is more than a packed meal, "For me, it means lunch or dinner that is lovingly packed from home. It is almost unwrapping or opening up a present filled with rice and delicious side dishes, including kimchi."

Kimchi is a popular banchan (side dish) to include in a dosirak. Source: Murdoch Books

Jeong's favourite dosirak involves egg dishes, such as a rolled omelette or a fried egg. "The eggs provide a good relief from the spicier and stronger flavours of Korean side dishes."

Dosirak dishes vary, depending on the household, region and season, but one thing that's consistent is that they're all contained in a lunchbox.

Jeong says, "Dosirak containers for me growing up were square yellow aluminium cans such as what was shown in Squid Game. The one in Squid Game is an authentic old-Korean-style dosirak, exactly like when I was growing up in the 70s taking lunch to school."

When Jeong was a child, dosirak contents included rice, kimchi, fried ham, namul (greens) and kimchi, but the containers didn't have the mod-con features of today.

"We didn't have elaborate thermos-style dosirak containers back then, so in winter we would pile dosirak containers on top of heaters to warm up the food," she says.

Regardless of the era, dosirak have always been viewed with affection. "For me, dosirak represents comfort, love and healthy eating," says Jeong.