[wrp]

A substantial restaurant meal in Korea is usually served with several standard side dishes. Due to the expense and effort of providing these to each table, restaurants often require a minimum party size of two. Also, I'm not sure if it's illegal or just gross, but if a dish looks untouched, sketchier places will sometimes just pass it along to the next customer.

[kijin]

Reusing dishes that were served to another customer is absolutely illegal and carries significant penalties if caught. The problem, of course, is that it's difficult to catch.

Many middle-aged and older customers have a habit of mixing up leftover vegetables after a meal, and they encourage others to do so. The idea is that if everyone does the same, the restaurant can't reuse any dishes.

Meanwhile, honest restaurant owners want to assure customers that the their dishes are new. So they serve food in a way that will make it very obvious if it was reused. For example, kimchi is often served in long (~30cm) slices, so that customers will have to cut them themselves, as if breaking a seal.

[wrp]

I hang out with a mostly older crowd and often eat in downmarket neighborhoods, and I've seen that dish mixing after meals.

Nice to learn that bit about long kimchi slices. I just assumed it was because people like it long, like with spaghetti.