Mandu

In the 14^th century Mongols invaded the Koryo dynasty.  The Mongols occupied most of what is now known as Northern Korea.[i]  Because the war lasted for so long, the two cultures began to interact with each other.  There were many marriages between Mongolian and Korean royalty, which meant that they merged their traditions and habits.[ii]  As a result the Mongolians introduced what is now known as the mandu into Korea. Because the Mongolians occupied much of China at the time, this mandu was most likely an adaptation of the Chinese mantou.  The mandu originally stayed within the Kaesong region, the former capital of Koryo, however, it quickly spread as it became more popular.[iii]  Another theory is that the mandu came much earlier than the 14^th century through the Middle East by the Silk Road.  This version of the story suggests that the mandu is a direct adaptation of the Turkish manti.[iv]

The earliest documentary evidence comes from a popular song “ssanghwa-jon” meaning the “mandu-shop”.[v]  Written by an anonymous composer during the Joseon Dynasty in 1392, ssanghwa is an old word for mandu.  The lyrics of the song depict a secret affair in a mandu shop in Korea run by a foreigner.[vi]  However they are unavailable because the song was banned in 1490 by Neo-Confucian authorities for being too crude.[vii]  Even though the song is not specifically about the mandu, rather it is set in a mandu shop; we can conclude that shops like these were common in Kaesong during the Koryo dynasty.