Seen is the Uijeongbu Budae Jjigae Street in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. The street features dozens of budae jjigae restaurants. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin

UIJEONGBU, Gyeonggi Province — A quick 40-minute subway ride from Seoul Station leads to the mountainous northern city of Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province. It is the birthplace of one of Korea's favorite comfort foods, "budae jjigae."

Budae jjigae, which literally means "army stew" is a thick soup that mishmashes Western ingredients including hot dogs, sausages and Spam, with traditional Korean ingredients such as kimchi, red chili paste and vegetables.

Often topped with instant ramen noodles and other foods like baked beans, American cheese, Korean fish cakes and tofu, it is served in a large sharing pot, like most other Korean stews.

A portion of budae jjigae is served at Odeng Sikdang in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin

The origins of the dish trace back to the post-war era in 1953. After the Korean War, the country saw a scarcity of food and resources and many struggled to find enough food. At the time, locals devised to smuggle leftover food out of U.S. military facilities, creating a unique and unlikely combination of Western and Korean ingredients.

The most famous, historic and popular restaurant in the city is Odeng Sikdang, which started as a street vendor stand by Heo Gi-suk in 1960. It began as a street food business selling "odeng," a type of fish cake.

Then one day, a Korean soldier who worked with the U.S. Army approached her and asked her to cook at an American base. While working there, she took out leftover meat, — considered scarce and valuable in the post-war era — stir-fry it, and sell it at her food stand.

"How can Korean people eat rice with fried meat and no soup?" suggested her customers. Then she was inspired to create the unlikely pairing of Western and Korean ingredients into a stew that now hails as one of Korea's most popular dishes.

This file photo from April 11, 2003, shows a U.S. Army base in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province. Korea Times file

Heo's recipe was an instant success. Her jjigae grew so popular that it brought her wealth and enabled her to move the business from the street to a restaurant building, which is now part of a street dedicated to the dish.

Although Heo passed away in 2014, the restaurant continues to draw large crowds. Around noon, Tuesday, the establishment already bustled with dozens of people waiting in line outside, excited to try the dish. The restaurant is even more crowded on weekends.

However, Odeng Sikdang is not the only one serving budae jjigae in the neighborhood. As years passed, more budae jjigae restaurants opened along the street.

Today, some two dozen such eateries selling budae jjigae at an affordable price of about 10,000 won per person line up along the street, waving Korean national flags paired with the orange budae jjigae flag certified by the city government.

As each restaurant has its own recipe and combination of ingredients and toppings, it is known that the people of Uijeongbu often have their own preferred budae jjigae restaurant.

A 32-year-old office worker surnamed Park, born and based in Uijeongbu, said she and her family have opted for Hyeongjae Sikdang for as long as she can remember.

"It's been some 15 years, maybe. They use a different sausage here, it's very juicy and tasty. The soup is also very delicious, it has a very refined and savory flavor," she said.

"My favorite is Myoung-seong Budae Jjigae," said a local coffee shop owner named Son, 65.

"It's hard to explain why, but there is something about their soup. I tried all the budae jjigae along the street, and this suits my taste buds more than any other."

Budae jjigae restaurant owners participate in food tasting during the 17th edition of the Uijeongbu Budae Jjigae Festival in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, Nov. 2. Courtesy of Uijeongbu City Government

Every year, the Uijeongbu city government hosts a budae jjigae festival.

"The Uijeongbu budae jjigae festival is literally a ‘Culinary Class Wars' but in budae jjigae edition," said Park, referring to a recent Netflix original hit that featured a survival contest between culinary masters.

"This day, we have all the budae jjigae restaurants bring out huge pots and cook their own version of the dish. Then we have a huge free food tasting, where people decide to choose which budae jjigae restaurant to root for, similar to how sports fans root for certain football clubs or baseball teams," Park explained.

This year, the 17th edition of the event saw over 15,000 visitors and established a solid foothold as a successful local festival.