Shark on the altar: Why a landlocked town in North Gyeongsang Province serves shark at ancestral rites

Dombegi, salted and cured shark meat [Encyclopedia of Korean Local Culture]

Yeongcheon, a landlocked city in North Gyeongsang Province, has a long tradition of placing shark meat on its ancestral rite tables. The dish is called "dombegi" — shark cut into large chunks, salted and cured.

How did a city with no coastline come to eat shark? The answer lies in the fish itself. Shark meat is firm and the animal large, making it well suited to salt-curing and long storage. Before refrigeration, drying or salting was the most practical way for people in the interior to eat fish.

A large fish as rarely seen as a shark also carried an air of prestige by its very existence. Far from the sea, a big fish from the ocean became something special — a fitting offering for a solemn occasion.

Several theories explain the name dombegi. The most common holds that it comes from the Korean onomatopoeia "dombak-dombak," describing the way the meat is cut into neat, square chunks. Another account traces the name to "dombalsangeo," a Korean word for dogfish shark.

Dombegi [Encyclopedia of Korean Local Culture]

One look at dombegi makes the name easy to understand. Shark is cut into manageable pieces, coated in coarse salt and left to cure. It is then rinsed to adjust the saltiness, dried, and either grilled or steamed. Vendors in Yeongcheon who have handled dombegi for generations have each developed their own curing methods and techniques for getting the seasoning right.

Today, dombegi is seen less as a ritual food and more as a defining local specialty of Yeongcheon.

Shops specializing in dombegi cluster inside Yeongcheon Public Market, and foot traffic picks up as holidays approach. Customers range from those seeking skewered dombegi for ancestral rite tables to those simply looking for shark to grill at home.

Opinions on the taste are divided. Some find the fermented aroma off-putting, while others prize the clean, chewy texture.

Shark dishes around the world, each prepared in its own way

Hákarl, Iceland's fermented shark dish [Wikipedia]

Eating shark is not a uniquely Korean practice. Cultures around the world have long used shark as a food source. Shark fin, dried and used in soup, ranks among China's most prized culinary ingredients.

Iceland is home to hákarl, one of the world's most distinctive fermented foods. It is made from Greenland shark — the flesh is fermented and then dried before eating. Fresh Greenland shark contains high concentrations of urea and trimethylamine oxide, making it toxic to eat raw; the lengthy fermentation and drying process renders it safe. Once a vital source of protein and energy, hákarl is today eaten mainly as a traditional delicacy.

In Australia, shark meat is often sold under the name "flake" — particularly species such as gummy shark caught along the eastern coast, which have long been a staple ingredient in fish and chips. Despite the shark's image as a fearsome predator, in Australia it is simply an everyday fish on the dinner table.

Shark fillets sold as "flake" [Golden Food Group]

Brazil's shark consumption is even larger in scale. National Geographic has described Brazil as the world's biggest consumer of shark meat, noting that the country imports a significant volume each year.

Recent research confirms that shark consumption is far from a regional phenomenon. A study analyzing global shark product trade from 2007 to 2020 found that Spain and Indonesia accounted for large shares of domestic consumption, while Brazil, Italy and Japan were also among the leading importers. South Korea was counted among the major shark product importing countries as well.

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