Gimbap

It gets compared to maki, but the resemblance stops at the shape. The rice is seasoned with salt and sesame oil rather than vinegar, the filling is cooked or pickled — spinach, carrot, yellow radish, omelette, sometimes beef or tuna — and nothing in it is raw. The roll is wider and the slice is thicker. It was built to travel: picnics, journeys, lunch carried from home.

Slices are picked up with fingers or chopsticks and eaten whole, without dipping, because the seasoning is already inside. A little pickled radish and a clear soup are all the accompaniment it asks for. It holds for a few hours at room temperature, which explains both the format and where it turns up in the day.