'Hodu Gwaja, the No.1 Highway Snack During Seol Holiday, Shows Up to 2x Price Difference at Each Rest Area'

Weight ranges from 140 to 210g, with quantity varying between 7 and 10 pieces

During the holiday period, the most popular food at highway rest areas was found to be Hodugwaja (walnut pastry). Americano ranked second in sales.

According to data submitted by Korea Expressway Corporation to Kim Eun-hye, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the People Power Party, Hodugwaja recorded the highest sales during this year’s Lunar New Year holiday (February 9-12), selling 1.84 billion KRW worth over four days.

Walnut (This photo is not directly related to the article.) [Photo by Pixabay]

Americano (1.63 billion KRW) ranked second, followed by udon (1.56 billion KRW), ready-to-drink coffee beverages (1.36 billion KRW), and ramen (1.28 billion KRW).

During the same period, the highway rest area with the largest sales volume was Haengdamdo Rest Area located in Dangjin, Chungnam on the Seohaean Expressway, with sales of 970 million KRW. It was followed by Deokpyeong Rest Area on the Yeongdong Expressway (870 million KRW), Siheung Haneul Rest Area on the Capital Region 1st Circular Expressway (560 million KRW), Pyeongtaek Rest Area on the Pyeongtaek-Jecheon Expressway (520 million KRW), and Jinyeong Rest Area on the Namhae Expressway (470 million KRW).

However, the price of Hodugwaja varied by more than double depending on the rest area. According to data received by Yeom Tae-young, a member of the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party, from the Korea Expressway Corporation, the price of Hodugwaja at highway rest areas nationwide ranged from approximately 13.8 to 29.4 KRW per gram. This means that the price difference of Hodugwaja between rest areas was up to 2.12 times.

Even when purchasing the same amount of Hodugwaja worth 3,000 KRW, the weight varied between 140 and 210 grams, and the number of pieces ranged from 7 to 10 depending on the rest area.

Only two rest areas, Cheonan Samgeori (Seoul) and Cheonan Hodo (Busan), used domestic walnuts and red beans. Even when including those that stated they used wheat flour (13 locations), rice flour (2 locations), and pine nuts (1 location), the proportion of rest areas using domestic ingredients in Hodugwaja was only in the 8% range.

Assemblyman Yeom stated, “Most of the ingredients for Hodugwaja, which is called a national snack, are imported, and the prices vary greatly. It is necessary to carefully examine whether the excessively large price differences among Hodugwaja products are reasonably set.”