Sambok: The Three Dog Days and Samgyetang삼복 — 초복·중복·말복과 삼계탕

Sambok is the name for Korea's three hottest days of summer — Chobok, Jungbok, and Malbok — which fall between mid-July and mid-August, roughly ten days apart, on dates set by the traditional calendar. The character bok (伏) combines 'person' (人) and 'dog' (犬), depicting prostration — lying low, flat on the ground: that is exactly the mood these days mark. The curious part is what Koreans eat. Instead of something cold, the classic bok-day meal is samgyetang, a whole young chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, ginseng, jujubes, and garlic, served at a rolling boil. The logic is iyeolchiyeol — 'fight heat with heat.' Sweating through summer drains the body, so a hot, nourishing soup restores what the season takes away. Historically, dog meat soup (bosintang) was also a bok-day food, but consumption has fallen sharply, and in January 2024 Korea passed a law ending the breeding, slaughter, and sale of dog meat from February 2027. Today samgyetang is the undisputed bok-day dish: on Chobok, famous restaurants see lines stretch down the block, and office workers plan their lunch around it. Join the queue once — sweating over ginseng chicken in midsummer is one of the most Korean things you can do.