'Can't I cook in my own home?' Food odor complaint divides Korean apartment residents
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A request asking apartment residents to be mindful of strong cooking odors in the evening has sparked an online debate in Korea over how far neighbors should accommodate one another in shared housing.
The controversy began after a photo of a notice posted inside an apartment elevator was shared on the social media platform Threads on Tuesday.
"I would like to cautiously ask for everyone’s consideration," the writer said. "Recently, strong cooking odors have been entering our home during the evening, causing significant discomfort in our daily lives."
The writer said the problem was particularly severe around 8 p.m., when smells from foods such as cheonggukjang — a pungent fermented soybean stew — and grilled meat entered the home through the balcony and windows.
"The odors are so strong that it is difficult even to leave the windows open to ventilate the living room and bedrooms," the writer said, asking neighbors to "pay a little more attention to ventilation and odor control when cooking."
An apartment notice shared on Threads on Tuesday asks residents to be mindful of cooking odors in the evening, saying they are causing "significant discomfort" to neighbors. Captured from Threads
But one resident who saw the notice pushed back in a post on Threads.
"Are we now living in an age when you get complaints for cooking cheonggukjang in an apartment in the evening?" the resident said. "I understand that the smell can be unpleasant for some people, but we still have to cook and eat."
Online reactions were similarly divided.
"Is it really a home if I can't even cook cheonggukjang or grill meat in my own kitchen?" one commenter said.
Another said the complaint went too far because the issue involved neither noise between apartments nor cigarette smoke, suggesting that those bothered by cooking smells close their windows and use an air purifier instead.
Others, however, said persistent food odors from neighboring units can cause genuine discomfort.
"Unless you've experienced having the smell of stews and cheonggukjang enter your home every day and having to rush to close the windows, you don't know what it's like," one commenter said.
The dispute reflects a familiar tension in Korea's densely populated apartment complexes, where residents live in close proximity and sounds, smells and other aspects of everyday life can easily spill into neighboring homes.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, was translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.