뉴질랜드 추석·설 장보기: 명절 상차림 재료와 선물, 어디서 사나

Chuseok (추석, the harvest festival in late September or early October) and Seollal (설날, Lunar New Year in late January or February) are the two holidays when Korean households in New Zealand cook properly: rice cakes, a table of jeon, japchae, namul, a meat dish, and fruit stacked high. Neither is a public holiday here, so the cooking happens around work and school, which makes the shopping the part worth planning. This guide covers what goes on the table, what people give, what runs out first, and where to buy it, whether you are near a Korean grocer or ordering from the other end of the country.

When the holidays fall

Both dates follow the lunar calendar, so they move each year:

• Chuseok: the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, always late September to early October. In Korea it is a three-day holiday (the day before, the day, the day after). In 2026 that is 24 to 26 September; in 2027 it is 14 to 16 September.
• Seollal: the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, late January to February, also three days in Korea.

In New Zealand neither is a public holiday, so most families gather on the nearest weekend. One small oddity of living here: Chuseok is a harvest festival, and in NZ it lands in spring, so the “new crop” fruit of the season in Korea is last season’s stock or an import here. That is normal, and it is why boxed pear and apple sets still sell well.

The Chuseok shopping list

The traditional table is built from a handful of dish families. You do not need all of them; most households here pick three or four.

• Songpyeon (송편) and other tteok: the half-moon rice cakes filled with sesame, sweet bean or chestnut are the one thing everyone associates with Chuseok. Korean grocers bring in fresh tteok in the days before the holiday and stock frozen songpyeon year-round. Some stores and rice-cake makers take pre-orders; if you want fresh, ask a week or two out.
• Jeon (전): the pan-fried pancakes that take the longest and disappear the fastest. The shopping is simple: frying flour (부침가루), eggs, zucchini or squash, white fish fillet (동태전), minced beef and pork with tofu for dongeurangttaeng (동그랑땡), and bamboo skewers for sanjeok (산적). Frozen ready-made jeon is a legitimate shortcut and every Korean grocer carries it.
• Japchae (잡채): sweet-potato glass noodles (당면), spinach, carrot, onion, mushrooms, a little beef, soy and sesame oil. Everything except the vegetables keeps for months, so buy it early.
• Namul (나물): the three-colour set is spinach (시금치), bracken (고사리) and bellflower root (도라지). Bracken and bellflower come dried or pre-soaked from Korean grocers; the spinach is the last-minute item.
• The meat dish: braised beef short rib (갈비찜) or bulgogi. Korean grocers with a butchery counter cut short rib and thin-sliced beef the Korean way; supermarkets sell “beef short ribs” too, but the cut is usually different, so say what it is for.
• Fruit and nuts: Korean pear (배), apples, chestnuts (밤), jujubes (대추) and persimmon when it is around. Pears are the item to buy first because good ones go early.
• Drinks and sweets: sikhye (식혜) and sujeonggwa (수정과) come canned or bottled; hangwa (한과) and yakgwa (약과) are sold boxed and keep well.

What people give

Korean holiday gifts are practical and mostly edible, and the same categories turn up in New Zealand:

• Fruit sets: a boxed dozen of Korean pear or a pear-and-apple mix is the classic Chuseok gift and the first to sell out.
• Health-food sets: red ginseng (홍삼) in the familiar boxed formats is the standard gift for parents and older relatives. Two listed businesses specialise in it; see the grocery hub’s FAQ for who they are. This guide makes no claims about what it does; it is a gift category, nothing more.
• Tinned and dried sets: Spam, tuna, seaweed and cooking-oil sets are the everyday gift, and Korean grocers stack them in the weeks before each holiday.
• Sweets: hangwa and yakgwa boxes.
• Meat: for close family, a cut of good beef, bought from a Korean butcher on the day.

Ranges and prices change every season and we deliberately do not store them. If a gift set matters, ring the store or check its site before you go.

Seollal: the Lunar New Year table

Seollal shares most of the Chuseok table (jeon, japchae, namul, galbi-jjim) and adds one dish that defines it:

• Tteokguk (떡국): sliced oval rice cakes (garae-tteok, 가래떡) in beef or anchovy broth, finished with egg, beef and seaweed. Eating it is how you “turn a year older”. Sliced garae-tteok is in every Korean grocer’s fridge or freezer year-round; fresh is nicer and appears just before the holiday.
• Mandu (만두): dumplings, often added to the tteokguk. Frozen is standard; fresh from a Korean grocer’s counter if you can get it.
• Yakgwa and hangwa: the sweets again, and sikhye to finish.

Where to buy it in New Zealand

• Korean grocery stores: the Korean grocery stores hub lists every grocer, mart and Korean butcher we have verified, with location pages for Auckland, the North Shore and Christchurch, and single stores in Tauranga, Nelson, Queenstown and Dunedin. For the full named list by area, see Korean grocery stores and marts in NZ: 20 verified, by area.
• Online, nationwide: several of the listed Korean grocers take online orders and courier across the country. Chilled and frozen items need a delivery day when someone is home, and courier volumes rise before the holiday, so order a week ahead rather than the day before.
• Pan-Asian supermarkets: the big Asian supermarkets in most cities carry the Korean basics (glass noodles, gochujang, frozen dumplings, seaweed, sometimes frozen tteok). The fresh Korean range is narrower; for tteok, namul and Korean-cut meat, go to a Korean grocer.
• Mainstream supermarkets: the Asian aisle covers ramyeon, some sauces and seaweed snacks, and it is fine for eggs, zucchini, spinach and apples. It will not have songpyeon.

Timing, and the things nobody tells you

• Buy in two passes. Pantry and frozen items (당면, 부침가루, frozen jeon, canned sikhye, gift tins) one to two weeks out; fresh tteok, pears, spinach and meat in the last two or three days.
• Pre-order tteok if you want fresh songpyeon or garae-tteok for the day. Ask your grocer or a Korean rice-cake maker what they take orders for.
• Holiday-weekend hours can differ. Some Korean grocers change hours around the holiday and some close for a day. We do not store opening hours; check the store’s own site or Google profile before you drive.
• If you are far from a Korean grocer, order online early. The nationwide stores exist precisely for households in towns with no 한인마트.
• Restaurants do Chuseok too. Some Korean restaurants in Auckland run holiday set menus; browse the restaurants hub and check each restaurant directly.

Browse our directory: Korean grocery stores · Auckland · North Shore · Christchurch · Korean restaurants. Know a Korean grocer we have missed? Add a free listing.

Sources

Holiday dates from PublicHolidays.co.kr. Dish lists cross-checked against Korean Bapsang’s 15 Chuseok recipes, Beyond Kimchee’s Chuseok foods and My Korean Kitchen’s Seollal foods. Gift categories from Korean retail coverage (KDF News, EBN). NZ context from the Asia Media Centre. Store details are always link-outs; we hold no stock, price or hours data.

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한국어: 추석(음력 8월 15일, 9월 말–10월 초)과 설(음력 1월 1일, 1월 말–2월)은 뉴질랜드 공휴일이 아니라서 대개 가까운 주말에 가족이 모입니다. 추석 장보기의 기본은 송편과 떡, 전 재료(부침가루·계란·애호박·생선포·동그랑땡용 고기·꼬치), 잡채용 당면과 채소, 삼색나물(시금치·고사리·도라지), 갈비찜이나 불고기용 고기, 그리고 배·사과·밤·대추입니다. 설에는 여기에 떡국용 가래떡과 만두가 더해집니다. 선물은 배·사과 과일세트, 홍삼 등 건강식품 세트, 스팸·참치·김 캔 세트, 한과·약과가 일반적입니다. 장보기는 두 번에 나눠서: 당면·부침가루·냉동 전·선물세트 같은 저장 식품은 한두 주 전에, 생떡·배·시금치·고기는 마지막 2–3일에 사세요. 생송편이나 가래떡은 예약을 받는 곳이 있으니 미리 문의하고, 명절 주말에는 영업시간이 바뀌는 매장이 있으니 방문 전 확인하세요. 가까운 한인마트가 없다면 디렉토리에 등록된 온라인 한인 식품점에서 전국 배송으로 미리 주문하시면 됩니다. 검증된 매장은 한국 식품점 페이지와 오클랜드·노스쇼어·크라이스트처치 지역 페이지에서, 지역별 전체 목록은 한인마트 20곳 정리 가이드에서 확인하세요. 재고·가격·영업시간은 저장하지 않으니 매장에 직접 확인해 주세요. 빠진 한인마트가 있다면 무료 등록해 주세요.