Unique Ways of Enjoying Korean Food Gain Popularity Overseas
‘K-Dessert’ Trends Re-Imported Back to Korea Through Social Media
The dessert market is experiencing a ‘K-Dessert’ craze. Recently, as unique ways of enjoying Korean food have become popular on overseas SNS, there are even many cases of these trends being re-imported back into Korea. These desserts, with their diverse shapes and beautiful colors, perfectly match the tastes of Generation Z, who enjoy sharing them on SNS, gaining popularity.
Honey rice cake cereal is a representative example. Searching for honey rice cake cereal on TikTok, YouTube, and other SNS platforms easily reveals videos of overseas influencers pouring milk over honey rice cakes. These influencers have praised it, saying things like, “It’s chewy like bubble tea and tastes better than regular cereal.”
SPC Samlip announced at the end of last year that it would export ‘honey rice cakes.’ As the trend of pouring milk over traditional Korean honey rice cakes instead of grain cereals has spread overseas, they decided to establish overseas distribution channels. They are considering exports to the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia in the first half of this year.
Natural Byulgok introduced ‘Strawberry Milk Honey Rice Cake Cereal’ on the 6th of last month. They differentiated the product by adding strawberry milk and fresh strawberries instead of regular white milk.
GS Retail, which operates the convenience store GS25, recently launched a product in the style of ‘Ttungbaratte,’ a trend on social networking services (SNS). Ttungbaratte is a drink made by mixing Binggrae Banana Flavored Milk with hazelnut latte or espresso in a certain ratio. This recipe was first introduced by foreigners on SNS and became a hot topic. Seven Eleven also introduced this recipe through its specialized store, Dongdaemun Dunden branch.
Earlier, Twosome Place also paid attention to the Ttungbaratte craze and released ‘Banana Shot Americano’ and ‘Banana Shot Latte,’ which mix banana flavored milk with coffee.
Meanwhile, as recipes like honey rice cake cereal spread mainly through overseas SNS, sales of related products have also increased. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, exports of processed rice products reached $299.2 million last year, more than doubling compared to 2020. SPC Samlip exports yakgwa to Costco in the United States and Don Quijote in Japan. Paldo has also been exporting ‘Birak Sikhye’ to Indonesia since last year.
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