Category: Korea-Food

The popular U.S. burger chain In-N-Out held a one day pop-up store in Gangnam where people waited up to five hours for a burger:

In-N-Out pop-up store in southern Seoul on Oct. 15. [CHO YONG-JUN]

The customer first in line arrived at 3 a.m., according to the restaurant manager of Schedule Cheongdam. 
  
They lined up in Apgujeong in southern Gangnam on Wednesday, not for some boutique store, a K-pop pop-up event or a Michelin-starred restaurant, but for In-N-Out. 
  
However, there were only 500-or-so burgers prepared and by the time this reporter visited the restaurant, five minutes before 2 p.m., they were all long gone. 
  
In-N-Out returned to Korea — for just a half a day — on Wednesday as a half-day pop-up store. Despite being the fifth time the popular American hamburger chain has opened a pop-up store in the country, it still didn’t stop Koreans from lining up for the burgers.

“I’ve tasted many different burger brands, but I never had In-N-Out until today, and they are really good,” Cho Ha-young, a 22-year-old customer who waited for almost five hours for the In-N-Out pop-up on Wednesday, told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but In-N-Out hosts one day pop-up stores every 2-3 years in order to maintain their trademark in Korea. If they didn’t do this some other restaurant could use the name In-N-Out in Korea.

This is one example of what Trump is hoping his tarrif threats leads to, businesses moving more production to the U.S.:

After years of record exports, especially to the US, Korea’s food industry is now keen to gauge the impact of Donald Trump’s second presidency.

The outspoken leader declared during this campaign that he could impose blanket tariffs of 10 to 20 percent on all US imports, raising concerns for Korea’s key export items such as computer chips and cars. But it is often overlooked that the US remains the largest export destination for Korea’s agricultural and seafood products.

In the first 10 months of this year, Korea’s agricultural and food exports soared 22 percent to $8.19 billion, and the US made up $1.31 billion of the total, driven by growing demand for popular K-foods such as gimbap, tteokbokki and ramyeon.

“Trump’s second term will likely have a significant impact on the K-food industry,” said Lee Hong-joo, a professor of consumer economics at Sookmyung Women’s University. “With possible hikes in tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, the price competitiveness of Korean products could weaken, dampening the consumer demand. Smaller businesses in particular may face higher production costs and weakening profitability.”

But Lee urged strategic shifts to reduce the risks, saying “Companies could reduce tariff burdens and reach local consumers more quickly by expanding production and distribution bases within the US. These localization efforts, in the long run, could help raise their consumer awareness and sales.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

My kids have done their part to contributing to Shin Ramyun’s popularity because they love eating it. I on the otherhand would rather eat Chapagetti:

Shin Ramyun was the bestselling instant noodles in South Korea last year and Saeukkang was the top selling snack, data showed Sunday.

Retail sales of Shin Ramyun of Nongshim, available in both packaged and cup noodle forms, amounted to 383.6 billion won (US$287.8 million) last year, topping the list of instant noodles, according to the data compiled by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp.

Nongshim’s Chapagetti came in next with 213.1 billion won in sales, followed by Jin Ramen with 209.2 billion won and Buldak Ramen, known as hot chicken flavor ramen, with 147.2 billion won.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Korea will have come a long way if lawmakers end up banning dog meat:

From left, Reps. Han Jeong-ae, Nam In-soon, Ko Min-jung and Seo Young-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea, Seoul City Councilor Kim Ji-hyang and HSI Korea Executive Director Chae Jung-ah hold a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, Monday, calling for a legislative ban on the consumption of dog meat. Newsis

Lawmakers and animal rights advocates joined forces, Monday, to urge the National Assembly to introduce a legislative bill that will permanently end the consumption of dog meat and eliminate the cruel industry. 

The group of four lawmakers, all of whom are from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, one Seoul City councilor and an animal rights advocate delivered their message in a press conference at the Assembly in Seoul, one day ahead of this year’s “chobok,” which marks the beginning of the hottest part of summer.

Traditionally, Koreans consumed dog meat on the day to replenish their strength against the hot weather, but this practice has been on a sharp decline, and more people opt for samgyetang, a soup containing chicken and ginseng.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I can remember the years prior to the 2002 World Cup where the boshintang restaurants could be easily spotted. However, because of the international attention of the World Cup these restaurants became much more discreet. Now a days I hardly ever see them as Korean consumers have largely given up on eating dog meat.

My biggest problem with dog farming in South Korea is that some of these farmers are very inhumane with dogs raised in small cages and then beaten to death to better tenderize the meat.