Tteok (Korean: 떡) is a general term for Korean rice cakes. They are made with steamed flour of various grains, especially glutinous and non-glutinous rice. Steamed flour can also be pounded, shaped, or pan-fried to make tteok. In some cases, tteok is pounded from cooked grains.
Tteok is eaten not only as a dessert or seasonal delicacy, but also as a meal. It can range from elaborate versions made of various colors, fragrances, and shapes using nuts, fruits, flowers, and namul (herbs/wild greens), to plain white rice tteok used in home cooking. Some common ingredients for many kinds of tteok are red bean, soybean, mung bean, mugwort, pumpkin, chestnut, pine nut, jujube, dried fruits, sesame seeds and oil, and honey.
Tteok is usually shared. Tteok offered to spirits is called boktteok ("good fortune rice cake") and shared with neighbours and relatives. It is also one of the celebratory foods used in banquets, rites, and various festive events. Tteokguk ("rice cake soup") is shared to celebrate Korean New Year and songpyeon is shared on Chuseok, a harvest festival.
The history of Korean rice cakes goes back to Korean primitive agricultural society. It is presumed to have been consumed from around the 7th to 8th centuries B.C., as there are records of sowing seeds, plowing, and farming along with ancient artifacts found throughout the country. Found in ruins were artifacts such as the galdol (a flat stone used as a tool when grinding fruit against a grind stone) and the dolhwag (a small mortar made of stone) used throughout that period.
The origin of rice cakes began in prehistoric times when the coarse flour obtained from the primitive threshing process of mixed grains was baked or pan-fried without the use of cooking utensils.