Food during Seollal is taken very seriously. Families spend the entire day before Seollal preparing food to be used as offerings to their ancestors as well as to be served to the family. Many Koreans believe that the taste and appearance of ritual foods determines their ancestors' level of satisfaction and therefore prepare them with great care. Around 20 different types of food are conventionally placed on the ritual table, though the number of dishes varies by region.
While food preparation was traditionally the job for the women in the family, more families today divide up the responsibilities among their members equally or simply hire holiday catering services, which can cost somewhere between 200,000-300,000 won. This recent trend is especially preferred by young housewives since it alleviates the burden of having to prepare all the ritual food on their own.