Bean songpyeon gets a bad rap — but there's a reason mom kept putting beans in the rice cake

"Stop putting beans in the songpyeon."

Songpyeon is an indispensable part of chuseok, yet whenever bean-filled songpyeon appears on the table, children are quick to complain.

The dry, unsweetened filling simply does not appeal to young palates — so much so that bean songpyeon has become practically synonymous with "the rice cake nobody wants."

Songpyeon has a long history, though its exact origins are difficult to pin down. A collection of writings by Goryeo-era scholar Yi Saek, known as "Mogeunjip," contains a reference to a glutinous millet cake filled with red bean paste, suggesting that a similar rice cake existed as far back as the Goryeo period.

Songpyeon did not become the defining food of chuseok until the late Joseon period, however. The "Donggukyeosigi," a record of seasonal customs, describes how people shaped songpyeon from freshly harvested rice during chuseok to hold ancestral rites and visit family graves. As a rice cake eaten across various seasonal festivals met the autumn harvest, songpyeon became firmly established as the rice cake of chuseok.

Notably, it was around this time that songpyeon took on its present form — and bean songpyeon was already part of the picture. Fillings were far more varied than today, with red beans, jujubes and other ingredients used alongside beans.

Beans survived as a filling simply because they were the easiest ingredient for farmers to obtain. They grew well in the fields, kept for a long time, and could be boiled whole or ground into a powder for filling. No special ingredients were needed — whatever beans were on hand would do.

Nor did songpyeon need to be a sweet treat the way it is today, at a time when sugar was hard to come by. Ancestors likely savored the clean, mild flavor of beans on its own. The natural sweetness of rice paired with the nutty richness of beans was a delicacy in its own right.

Bean songpyeon's real strengths lie elsewhere. Compared with sesame or red bean fillings loaded with sugar and honey, a bean filling is far easier to keep low in sweetness — and using an unsweetened bean filling reduces overall sugar intake. On a day like chuseok, when the table is already laden with rich food, one understated rice cake can help bring balance to the meal.

Beans also bring solid nutrition. They are rich in protein and dietary fiber and contain potassium, folate and iron. Particularly as a source of plant-based protein, beans pair naturally with a grain-based rice cake. Since songpyeon is made from rice, however, bean songpyeon is still a carbohydrate-heavy food and should not be eaten in large quantities just because it sounds wholesome.

The reason bean songpyeon tastes bland today may simply be that songpyeon itself has changed. Sesame fillings now come sweetened with sugar, red bean paste is made sweeter, and honey or grain syrup is often added. As songpyeon has grown progressively sweeter, the mild simplicity of bean songpyeon has only become more pronounced by contrast.

Bean songpyeon is not a bad rice cake. It is closer to a forgotten flavor. It may seem plain at first, but chew it slowly and a nutty richness from the beans lingers. That taste may well be the songpyeon flavor we have lost sight of. This chuseok, it might be worth taking the time to eat one slowly.