"Johnson soup"

Budae-jjigae (Army base stew) is an interesting Korean dish, based on traditional technique but implementing Western ingredients like hot dogs, American cheese, and Spam.  The story of its creation is part history and part ingenuity:

"Heo, who passed away in 2014, told her story at every opportunity. She used to stir-fry leftover meat from the nearby US Army base at a small odeng (fish cake) stand when a regular customer suggested she make the meats into a spicy soup with rice.

'Back then there wasn’t a lot to eat, but I acquired some ham and sausages. The only way to get meat in those days was to smuggle it from the army base,' Heo told the BBC in 2013. 'We had to make do with whatever the soldiers had left over. We’d make a stew with whatever came out of the base, and my recipe was copied and spread throughout Korea.'

With the dish’s success, Heo turned her humble stand into a restaurant and opened Odeng Sikdang in 1960. Soon, restaurants serving the dish began to pop up near US military bases across the country. After US president Lyndon B Johnson visited South Korea in 1966, rumours circulated that he was a fan of the stew – giving budae-jjigae the nickname 'Johnson-tang' ('Johnson soup')."

My own go-to place when I hanker for budae-jjigae is right across from my office.  I could eat it happily in any season, but for some reason my (Korean) boss usually wants to have it in spring time.