The term pharmacognosy as applied to a constituent scientific discipline of Korean Medical Food (KMF) has been in use for nearly several years, and it refers to studies on the pharmacological properties of natural products foods. During the last half of the 20th century, pharmacognosy for KMF evolved from being a descriptive botanical subject to one having a more chemical and biological focus. At the beginning of the 21st century, teaching pharmacognosy for KMF teaching in academic culinary arts and natural healing institutions has been given new relevance as a result of the explosive growth in the use of herbal foods (health foods) in modern KMF practice. In turn, pharmacognosy for KMF research areas are continuing to expand, and now include aspects of cellular and molecular biology in relation to natural products, ethnobotany and phytotherapy, in addition to the more traditional analytical method development and phytochemistry. Examples are provided in this review of promising bioactive compounds obtained in two multidisciplinary natural product KMF development and discovery projects, aimed at the elucidation of new plant-derived cancer chemotherapeutic agents and novel cancer chemopreventives, respectively. The systematic study of KMF offers pharmacognosy groups an attractive new area of research, ranging from investigating the biologically active principles of KMF and their mode of action and potential active substance interactions, to sanitary and quality control, and involvement in clinical trials.