Cup●bap 

noun (Korean: 컵밥)

Definition and history [edit]

Cup-bap is a food truck offering that consists of bap (rice) in a paper or plastic cup with a variety of toppings. Created in the 2000s for Korean street food, cup-bap has become a popular quick meal or snack for students.

In the streets of Noryangjin, many students would come out to eat at the same time which had been causing long lines at restaurants. Noryangjin had only offered very basic quick snacks such as corn dogs, so food trucks with cup-bap then filled the demand for quick, cheap, and more satisfying meals with rice, meat, and egg. Food trucks can quickly fill cup-bap orders, because they stir-fry the ingredients in advance in a large frying pan; when the cup-bap is ordered, the pre-cooked toppings are put in a cup with rice and egg. Because cup-bap is convenient to eat on the go as well as a more satisfying meal than other quick snacks, it grew in popularity with students. More food trucks started offering cup-bap along with a wider variety of toppings to satisfy various tastes.