[Convenience Store Adventure] 'MZ' Juhyunyoung Bibimbap... A Healthy Meal

Trendy Product Designs Catch the Eye
Various Flavors of Gochujang and Soy Sauce
Disappointed by Jidan Instead of Fried Egg

Recently, convenience store lunch boxes have entered their second heyday, and bibimbap featuring actor Joo Hyun-young, an icon of the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), has been launched at 7-Eleven. The Jeonju-style bibimbap and Crispy Bulgogi bibimbap have sold 600,000 units within just six days of release, gaining great popularity.

The Joo Hyun-young bibimbap immediately caught the eye on the convenience store shelves. It has a two-tier structure, with various side dishes such as namul and meat on the top, and a generous portion of rice on the bottom. The top of the package features a picture of the model Joo Hyun-young and the product name in the center, and it is made with a transparent case so the side dishes are clearly visible. The bottom is designed in a colorful and "hip" style with phrases like "Properly Made Bibimbap" and "BI BIM BAP." For both products, you separate the lid and the side dish compartment, then microwave only the rice for 1 minute and 50 seconds.

The Jeonju-style bibimbap contains eight side dishes: egg garnish (jidan), carrot, soybean sprouts, aster scaber (chwinamul), shiitake mushrooms, zucchini, bellflower root (doraji), and beef. Tasting each bite, the seasoning was mild overall, fitting for bibimbap ingredients. The side dishes were good enough to eat with plain rice alone. These ingredients were placed on warm rice, then gochujang sauce and sesame oil were added. The sauce container indicated 50% mild, 70% medium, and 100% strong spiciness levels. Adding only half left some white rice visible and the mixing was not thorough. Adding all the sauce resulted in a fully red bibimbap. The taste was a typical gochujang bibimbap with the textures of the ingredients well preserved, which was enjoyable.

Jeonju-style Bibimbap sold at 7-Eleven.
Photo by Im Chunhan

The Crispy Bulgogi bibimbap contains seven side ingredients: egg garnish (jidan), carrot, shiitake mushrooms, zucchini, radish namul, romaine lettuce, and crispy bulgogi. This product comes with a sweet soy sauce, and similarly, adding all of it was necessary to mix the rice well. The use of soy sauce instead of gochujang, as in the Jeonju-style bibimbap, was a commendable variation in flavor. Additionally, the radish namul added crunchiness, and the romaine lettuce contributed a fragrant note, resulting in a well-balanced overall taste.

7-Eleven plans to release 10 types of Joo Hyun-young bibimbap within the year. However, the flavor of bibimbap largely depends on the sauce, so it is questionable how much variation can be achieved across products. Also, all current products include egg garnish (jidan), which felt somewhat out of place for the bibimbap vibe. It would have been nice if they had added a fried egg like GS25’s Kim Hye-ja lunch box. The included spoon was also inconvenient, making it difficult to mix the bibimbap. Due to the plastic’s nature, it bends when force is applied, so improvements seem necessary.