[K-FOOD GOES GLOBAL] The art of bringing K-food overseas through culture

For a 24-year-old Estonian, who goes by the online moniker Mai, having Korean food means creating a bond with one of her favorite K-pop artists, BTS. She runs a YouTube channel named Kimchi Ghost Mai, where she posts videos on a wide...

Left: A twenty-four-year-old Estonian, whose online moniker is Mai, left, tries a variety of Korean instant noodles with her friend in one of her YouTube videos. Mai runs her own YouTube channel, “Kimchi Ghost Mai,” which has about 26,900 subscribers. Right: Thirty-five-year-old Austin Givens lives in Daejeon and uploads YouTube videos of him trying out Korean delicacies in local restaurants. He runs his own YouTube channel, “Eating What is Given,” which has over 116,000 subscribers. [KIMCHI GHOST MAI, AUSTIN GIVENS]

For a 24-year-old Estonian, who goes by the online moniker Mai, having Korean food means creating a bond with one of her favorite K-pop artists, BTS.

She runs a YouTube channel named Kimchi Ghost Mai, where she posts videos on a wide variety of Korea-related topics such as food, songs and clothing.

The way Mai grew interested in Korean food represents how a new “K-food” wave was formed, powered by the popularity of Korean pop culture.

“I got into K-pop and Korean food thanks to BTS’s 2015 song ‘Dope,’” she told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

“I was on vacation to London in 2016, and because of my affinity for K-pop, I really wanted to try Korean food for the first time. I visited a restaurant in New Malden where they supposedly serve real Korean food. I ordered kimchi jjigae, which was the spiciest thing I had ever tried,” she recalls.

BTS and other K-pop acts are far from the sole medium. Popular films, dramas or even mukbang have transported people around the world into the culinary world of Korea.

Legions of K-pop fans and creators who are enthusiastic fans film themselves trying comfort foods like tteokbokki and ramyeon, while others share their own recipes.

What distinguishes the current trend from past ones is the active engagement of people overseas based on their affection for Korean celebrities or culture in general.

In the past, however, the promotion of Korean food was led by the government or Koreans, focusing on a handful of relatively well-known items such as kimchi, bibimbap and bulgogi.

Against this backdrop, Korean food and agricultural products have become a pillar of the country’s exports, totaling an all-time high of $12 billion last year.

YouTube, where K-food thrives Buldak Ramen, the super spicy instant noodles popular among young Koreans, was little known outside the country before BTS members — especially Jimin — were seen enjoying or sometimes struggling with it.

Since the scenes were often aired on BANGTANTV, BTS's official YouTube channel with 75.6 million subscribers, overseas fans not only recognized the product but started uploading their own experiences on the video-sharing platform and other social networking services such as Instagram and Twitter.

BTS members demonstrate their love for Korean ramyeon, trying out variety of instant noodle products in reality shows such as “In The Soop,” “Bon Voyage” and “Run BTS” on BTS’s official YouTube channel “BANGTANTV.” [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The phenomenon, dubbed “Buldak Mukbang Challenge,” spread to YouTube streamers and creators, generating over 1,000 related videos.

“It tastes delicious, I’m not going to lie,” a British high schooler named Orlando said after trying out Buldak stir-fried noodles in a YouTube video. Orlando participated in the challenge uploaded on the YouTube page “Korean Englishman,” run by YouTuber Josh Carrott.

Carrott is the YouTuber who kickstarted the challenge back in 2014 when he uploaded content asking his acquaintances to have a go at eating the spicy noodles. The video gained massive traction and has surpassed 10.1 million views today.

The highlight of the videos lies in the guests' reactions, who were obviously stunned by the degree of spiciness of the product.

Samyang Foods’ Buldak Ramen series has since become the core export item taking up a huge chunk of the company’s sales. Samyang's revenue jumped 41.6 percent on year to 909 billion won in 2022 while operating profit surged 38.3 percent to 90.4 billion won.

“The Buldak series accounted for some 70 percent of our total exports in 2022,” a spokesperson at the food company said. “Growing global demand for the brand is particularly meaningful because we achieved this through the Buldak taste. Carrott’s subscriber gave him Buldak noodles as a gift to try out, and that is how the challenge started.”

The company is well aware that the rise of Hallyu and the rise of the Buldak series’ popularity goes hand in hand.

“We gained recognition once again when BTS’s Jimin had our Buldak Ramen during a live stream once,” the spokesperson said. “We are attempting to string K-culture to our brand to continue creating synergy, such as sponsoring BTS’s Las Vegas concert or London East Asia Film Festival last year and promoting our brand at these events.”

Austin Givens, a 35-year-old American living in Daejeon, is interested in Korean traditional staples rather than instant options.

In his channel “Eating What is Given,” he tours relatively unknown cities, like Uljin, Youngju and Hadong, to try out locally-frequented restaurants. The channel has featured uniquely local delicacies such as mulhwe (sliced raw fish served in a spicy broth) and gwamegi (half-dried herring or saury).

Food's cultural element that contains traditions, plus distinct tastes and flavor preferences from each country, prompted Givens to document what he eats in Korea.

“Korean food is the most dynamic that I have come across: jang (sauces), high-quality protein, fermented and pickled foods,” he said in an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily.

He pointed to the diversity in Korean meals as a primary appeal.

“It feels as if all the flavors and ingredients of a great meal are spread out on the table. There is usually something sweet, salty, savory, bitter, stinky, hot, cold, creamy, and dry,” he said, “Eating good Korean food means you can combine the banchan to make literally thousands of different bites of food.”

Korean BBQ on the global stage Cashing in on pop culture’s commercial influence on food products, companies and franchises are keen to get their products on air.

This is why, when you watch Korean drama series, certain dishes or products are blatantly shot-focused as product placements.

BBQ, a Seoul-based chicken franchise, is using this mechanism to boost its presence overseas and build over 700 global branches in 57 countries.

Domestic chicken franchise Genesis BBQ promoted its chicken dishes on the globally hit drama series “Crash Landing on You” (2019-20). [SCREEN CAPTURE]

In popular dramas “The King: Eternal Monarch” (2020) and “Crash Landing on You” (2019-20), characters often gather at the chicken joint for Korean-style fried chicken.

“There are a lot of K-content fans in the states that love to try Korean food and make Korean food at home,” according to 24-year-old Kamilah Dreux from the U.S. “I feel like Korean barbeque and Korean chicken are the most popular Korean food there.”

As “Crash Landing on You” took off in Japan, demand for fried chicken did too.

“Korean content became popular in Japan during the Covid-19 pandemic as people were confined to their homes and they began to watch more Korean shows on Netflix,” a BBQ spokesperson said.

“Japanese viewers became curious about our chicken and they began lining up in our stores in Japan. That’s how popular Korean content has become. We saw some definite increases in our sales in Japan during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

BBQ’s overseas sales jumped 79 percent on year to 17.2 billion won in 2022.

What differentiates Korean fried chicken from others is the marination with sauces and frying that results in a lighter crust and juicy meat.

“We marinate the meat before frying it,” he said. “People can then enjoy the simultaneously crispy flavor of the meat with our sauces.”

For YouTube viewers, the chicken company collaborated with the Korean Englishman channel to provide its chicken to hundreds of British high school students.

The video depicts Korean chefs being dispatched by BBQ to London alongside the conveyor-belt-like equipment and materials required for the massive meal and generated 9.5 million hits. Jin Ramen, featuring Jin Some companies are more directly tapping K-pop stars as commercial models to boost recognition.

Ottogi, the country’s leading instant noodle maker, appointed BTS' Jin as the face of its Jin Ramen product last year.

Jin had previously expressed his hope of becoming a brand model due to his affinity for the product and their synonymous name.

Ottogi’s Jin Ramen in convenience stores in Hanoi, Vietnam [LEE JAE-LIM]

Ottogi’s overseas sales in 2022 jumped 19.2 percent on year to 326.4 billion won. It is also the first time the company's overseas sales made up more than 10 percent of the total revenue.

Its Vietnam plant and U.S. venture is seeing the most growth.

The Vietnam plant’s sales increased 43 percent on year to 64.6 billion won. The plant opened in 2018 near Hanoi and expanded local production due to strong demand.

The U.S. venture’s sales also jumped 39 percent on year to 92.2 billion won. Ottogi acquired a logistics center in California to expand exports of its products including instant noodles, curries and other sauces.

Nongshim aims to popularize ramyeon, not ramen Nongshim's Chapaguri is a well-known case of becoming an international hit after being featured in the Academy Award-winning movie "Parasite" (2019). It is a noodle dish that mixes two instant noodles products, Chapagetti and Neoguri. The former is a typical spicy ramyeon and the latter is a noodle with black bean sauce.

“We, of course, had no idea that the product would become this famous when the ‘Parasite’ team first contacted us to request permission to use our products,” a Nongshim spokesperson said. “We didn’t miss this opportunity and soon released the Chapaguri product to appeal to global consumers.”

A scene from "Parasite" (2019) featuring Nongshim's Chapaguri [CJ ENM]

Nongshim's overseas sales, including exports, rose 9 percent on year to $1.2 billion in 2022, making up 37 percent of the company's total revenue.

The company's next mission is to get its noodle brands such as Shin Ramyun, Yukgaejang cup noodles, Chapaghetti and Neoguri into the hands of retailers worldwide. It also locally produces its instant noodle products in the U.S. plant located in California.

Nongshim Chairman Shin Dong-won announced earlier this month that he aims to have the company generate sales of $1.5 billion annually in the U.S. by 2030 and become the top instant noodle maker in the U.S. market. Nongshim plans to build a third U.S. manufacturing plant by 2025 to achieve this goal.

Last year, the company generated sales of $490 million in the North American region. Based on 2021 data from market researcher Euromonitor, Nongshim is currently in second place in the U.S. with a 25.2 percent market share after Japan's Toyo Suisan, which has a 47.7 percent market share.

No longer a ‘national’ comfort food Tteokbokki, or rice and fish cakes doused in a sticky chili paste sauce, has long dominated street food scenes in Korea, most notably at stalls in school zones.

The snack thus brings back old memories and provides consolation, albeit temporary, with a high sugar and carbohydrate content.

This rings true for Blackpink's Rose and Jisoo, who have publicly demonstrated their love for tteokbokki on the group’s official YouTube channel and TV shows.

Blackpink’s Rose makes a surprise visit with tteokbokki (spicy Korean rice cakes) to support Jisoo, who filmed the music video for her hit single “Flower”(2023) in Los Angeles. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A number of companies started rolling out tteokbokki meal kit products for home cooking as a result.

Daesang, a food company known for its kimchi brand Jongga, jumped on the bandwagon with its brand O’Food starting to sell tteokbokki meal kits in the U.S. in October 2021 at retailers including Walmart and Amazon.

From 2018 to 2022, O'Food's tteokbokki product sales recorded an average annual growth of 220 percent, with Indonesia, the U.S., Mongolia and Europe as the main export destinations.

Tteokbokki buffet franchise Dooki, where consumers customize their very own tteokbokki recipes by choosing the amount of sauce and their favorite toppings, runs over 200 restaurants locally and 137 branches in eight other countries including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. Dooki’s ready-made tteokbokki sauces and meal kits are globally popular as well.

Despite this impressive growth, many believe Korea still has much more food to offer the world.

“Even most “Hallyu” content only focuses on a small portion of what makes Korean culture special,” Givens said.

“But Korea has so many more foods to offer the world. I hope the Korean wave can act as a starting point to introduce people to Korean food. But I hope true foodies will dive deeper to get an even better understanding,” he said.

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The growth will likely continue and have more economic impact when combined with indirect effects. The K-food industry is expected to generate an annual economic impact of 23 trillion won via exports and tourism, according to a Kyung Hee University Center for Hospitality & Tourism Analytics report.

Experts say that the K-food industry is just at the starting point for global success, but more strategies using K-content as a means of storytelling to further popularize K-food are needed.

"K-food became a dominant part of a global trend, undeniably due to K-content," Seoul National University professor Moon Jung-hoon said. "When your favorite K-pop star tries a new food, fans instantly devour them, no questions asked. It is their way of connecting with the stars. And the industry should leverage this as an advantage, and actively come up with ways to market their products based on domestic content."

With Hallyu naturally becoming a predominant form of global entertainment, K-food and K-content's popularity is here to stay as more younger generations become familiar with such content, according to Chang Woo-cheol, a professor of Kwangwoon University Graduate School's department of tourism and food industry.

"When a certain culture or trend settles into a country, it can last for a long time," Chang said. "However, there needs to be a unifying control tower that oversees exports and more actively link, market K-food with K-content. And more opportunities are needed for small-and-mid-sized enterprises to launch their products overseas, maybe even have global K-pop stars such as BTS to try their food. The Korean food industry has the potential to succeed like K-pop agencies, and we should thus position ourselves as global brands on par with McDonald’s and Starbucks.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM, PARK EUN-JEE [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]