Overseas Korean food fans choose soju, bibimbap as favorites

The two have the highest awareness in Southeast Asia; soju is enjoying fast-growing popularity in North America

Jinro Chamisul Soju, the top-selling soju in South Korea (Courtesy of Hitejinro)
Jinro Chamisul Soju, the top-selling soju in South Korea (Courtesy of Hitejinro)
Hun-Hyoung Ha 2
2024-05-10 19:23:10 hhh@hankyung.com
Korean food

South Korea’s soju and bibimbap are respectively the most popular liquor and food among foreigners, according to survey results released by the government-backed Korean Food Promotion Institute on Friday.   

In the survey conducted last year of 9,000 foreigners living outside Korea, some 41.1% said they knew of soju, a strong Korean liquor. In the multiple-choice category, Korean beer ranked second with 31.6%, followed by gwashilju, fruit-infused liquor, with 22.8% and cheongju, clear refined rice, and Korean wine with 17.9%.

Soju was the best known in Southeast Asia, where 62.7% of the surveyed people recognized the so-called Korean vodka. Some 33.0% and 20.6% of those surveyed in North America and Europe knew of the distilled alcoholic beverage, respectively.

Some 57.7% of the 9,000 surveyed said they would drink Korean alcohol, up 4.3 percentage points from a year earlier.

Some 65.5% of those polled in Northeast Asia said they would, followed by 59.3% in North America. The figure in North America jumped by 12.1 percentage points on-year, proving the increasing popularity of Korean alcoholic beverages in the region. Korean alcohol was less popular in Europe, where 47.7% of those surveyed would drink it.

For reasons they would drink Korean alcohol, 35.1% said because it is tasty. Some 16.0% said they have received recommendations, and 15.5% answered they have learned about the drinks from Korean drama series or movies.

A bowl of bibimbap (Courtesy of Getty Images)
A bowl of bibimbap (Courtesy of Getty Images)

Some 39.2% were familiar with well-known Korean instant meals. By region, about 60.6% of those polled in Southeast Asia recognized such food, followed by 52.7% in Northeast Asia. The packaged meals were less known in North America and Europe with 26.1% and 20.7% awareness, respectively.

About 45.4% of those surveyed have tried Korean instant meals. Bibimbap, or cooked rice with seasoned vegetables and hot pepper paste gochujang, topped their favorite easy meals with 22.8% of votes. Gimbap or Korean rolls, won 19.1%, followed by kimchi fried rice and Korean ramen with 13.0% and 11.5%, respectively.

For foreigners’ choice of Korean instant food, taste was the most important standard with 21.0% of votes. Price ranked second with 13.5%, followed by quality and convenience with 11.5% and 10.7%, respectively.

Write to Hun-Hyoung Ha at hhh@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.
#Korean food #K-food #Korea bibimbap #Korea soju #Korean instant meals #Korean rice wine

AliExpress sells top K-food maker’s products in S.Korea

AliExpress sells top K-food maker’s products in S.Korea

AliExpress (Courtesy of AliExpress) AliExpress, an e-commerce arm of China’s Alibaba Group, on Thursday started selling products of CJ CheilJedang Corp., South Korea’s top food maker, to expand its market share on the peninsula and threaten domestic online retail platforms such as C

After frozen Kimbap craze, here comes Korean street food

After frozen Kimbap craze, here comes Korean street food

Lotte Mart’s Gandaria City Mall hypermarket in Indonesia It all began in August, when hundreds of tons of frozen South Korean kimbap, or seaweed-wrapped rice rolls, sold out within a month of their arrival in the US market.Some 250 tons of the Korean rolls, also called gimbap, produced by

Bibigo, K-food a success case in Harvard Business School study

Bibigo, K-food a success case in Harvard Business School study

CJ CheilJedang introduces Bibigo Korean food at CJ ENM’s annual K-pop festival KCON (Courtesy of CJ CheilJedang) Harvard Business School students are set to study the success of South Korean foods in the global market through the case of Bibigo, the leading brand of the country’s fo

E-Mart opens 3rd store in Vietnam, spurs K-food marketing

E-Mart opens 3rd store in Vietnam, spurs K-food marketing

E-Mart's private label No Brand section at its third store in Vietnam (Courtesy of E-Mart)   South Korea’s E-Mart Inc. will open its new hypermarket in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec. 7, accelerating sales of its private label No Brand products to expand its market share in Vietnam whe

Soju no longer working-class liquor

Soju no longer working-class liquor

Supermarket shelves filled with Chamisul Soju and other alcoholic beverages   HiteJinro Co., South Korea’s largest soju maker, will raise the price of its soju and beer products by about 7% next month to reflect higher costs from inflation, a move that could further fuel inflation in
(* comment hide *}