Tteokbokki is a representative street food in Korea, made with spicy seasoning(gochujang: red pepper paste) and rice cakes. It’s presumed that its origins began in the court. According to related records, instead of being called tteok-bokki, it was called tteok-jjim, tteok-japchae, and tteok-jeongol. If you look at old literature that describes the recipe for tteokbokki, it’s soy sauce tteok-bokki seasoned with soy sauce, and it was one of the foods enjoyed by noble families or the royal court(Gungjung). That’s why it is called ‘Gungjung(Royal) tteok-bokki’. The ingredients used in royal tteok-bokki were also somewhat difficult for the common people to obtain, such as abalone, sea cucumber, beef, and pork.

It was after 1950 that tteok-bokki became a popular dish for the common people. The popularization of it began under the influence of America's grain aid and the street food promotion movement. Tteok-bokki is mainly made from rice cake, which is cheaper than rice cake, which is expensive. It used rice cakes the size of a finger, and became one of the most popular snacks along with fish cakes. From the 1970s, tteok-bokki seasoned with red pepper paste became a common cooking method, and it was during this period that Sindang-dong tteok-bokki alley was created.

Tteok-bokki can be cooked simply using rice cake, red pepper paste, sugar, red pepper powder, minced garlic, and green onions as the main ingredients. You can make it hearty by adding fish cakes, boiled eggs, vegetables, etc. In particular, the types have become more diverse, including Rabokki (Stir-rried rice cake with ramyeon noodles), Cheese Tteok-bokki(Stir-rried rice cake added cheese), Oil Tteok-bokki(made by frying rice cakes in oil), and Gukmul Tteok-bokki (with lots of soup-like seasoning). Tteok-bokki, the epitome of spicy food loved by Koreans, the tteok-bokki festivals and cooking competitions are held in today, it has become an icon representing Korean identity.