Category: Globalization

Korean tacos come to Atlanta
by Tammy
Korean taco trucks are no longer limited to America’s West Coast cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland. Now Atlanta, the largest U.S. Southeast city, has Yumbii. It’s one of the latest such roving restaurants to follow in the wake of intense popularity for Kogi, which has more than 67,000 listed followers on Twitter.
Yumbii chef Tomas Lee fuses Korean, Mexican and Southern cooking traditions onto a small plate. He is the former executive chef of Atlanta’s ritzy Buckhead Diner.
Lee calls Yumbii, “the result is the best damn meal you’ve had out of a food truck east of the Mississippi.” The menu includes Korean barbecue tacos and burritos as well as pulled pork sliders topped with cucumber kimchi.
Using an increasingly common marketing method for rolling restaurants, Yumbii updates Atlanta-area residents on the truck’s latest location via Twitter.
ZenKimchi would like to hear about your experiences with this newcomer to Korean fusion gourmet on the go.

July 4, 2010
Product Review: Annie Chun's Korean Sweet Chili Noodle Bowl
Annie Chun's noodles are not currently available in the ROK. After Annie Chun's Gochujang sparked controversy in the Korean blogosphere, I decided I'd check out one of her other Korean food offerings to get a sneak preview of things to come.
The Korean blogosphere has been spinning recently over how to introduce Korean cuisine to American markets and, particularly, what should be role of the South Korean government in this popularization. However, Korean food companies on both sides of the Pacific aren’t waiting for Seoul to tell them what to do.
Until Annie Chun's merger with CJ Foods in 2005, Annie Chun's line did not feature any Korean style foods. Since that time, she has introduced Korean noodles, Kimchi soup, and Korean seaweed wraps to her line.
Annie Chun is a Korean-born developer of one of the most popular lines of prepared Asian foods in the United States. After the merger with CJ Foods in 2005, Annie Chun’s started going back to her Korean roots with food items such as the Korean Sweet Chili Noodle Bowl. I found it in a local San Francisco Bay–area supermarket, which was not selling her newly released bottled gochujang (spicy red pepper paste) yet.
I tested the dish by preparing it according to label instructions and without modifications. What’s required is just scalding-hot water — heated in a kettle, bottle dispenser or microwave — to warm the noodles and reconstitute the dehydrated vegetables and spices.
The sauce is very sweet. A number of hanshik lovers may cringe at sweet and spicy Korean noodle dish, but the name of the dish does include the word sweet.
The label also says the spiciness level is “medium,” and that’s an accurate comparison with other spicy Korean foods. But it might be a bit mild for Koreaphiles.
The combination of spiciness and sweetness reminded my husband of the American Chinese food favorite orange chicken, with a Korean flair of sesame oil.
Pros
- 100 percent natural. For example, the sweetener is cane sugar juice instead of high-fructose corn syrup.
- Vegan. That’s rare for prepared Korean foods.
- Fresh noodles, not deep fried or dried.
- No MSG or preservatives.
- Quick to make. It takes about two minutes from heat to eat.
Cons
- High in calories. A bowl supposedly has two servings, totaling 640 calories for one bowl.
- Too sweet. Traditional Korean food items such as dakkalbi (spicy grilled chicken) and dwejikalbi (spicy grilled pork) have a balance of salty, sweet, spicy and bitter.
One of the reviewers for this product on Amazon.com posted her recipe for what you might call stir-fried Korean sweet chili noodles with shrimp.
So first you saute some veggies, say, in some peanut oil in a skillet or small wok, and then you add some scallops, say, or maybe shrimp, and then you turn off the heat and follow the directions on the box (using the microwave). Then you add the noodles, flavor pack and the UNBELIEVABLY fantastic Sweet Korean Chili sauce to the skillet and toss to heat through. Maybe you add some almonds or peanuts, say, after you add it all either to a bowl or a plate, and then you consume with some moderately sweet wine, like White Zinfandel, say. An absolutely fantastic meal.
That’s certainly a good option to stretch this 600-plus-calorie bowl between two to four people.
On its own, Annie Chun’s Korean Sweet Chili Noodle Bowl is a slightly healthier alternative for a quick lunch at work than greasy fast food or a bowl of deep-fried ramen. But if your sweet tooth is reserved for dessert only, you might want to leave this noodle bowl on the shelf.
June 13, 2010
BiBi–Oh, NO-O-O!!
Here it is, folks. Meet your new master.
Remember the beloved Cafe Sobahn in downtown Seoul? It closed down to create this:
The name “Bibigo” combines bibimbap, the spicy mixed rice and vegetable dish and “to go.” The restaurant’s emphasis is on quick takeout.
“It’s often the case that foreigners have a difficult time eating Korean food cooked and served the traditional way,” [CJ Foodville CEO Kim Il-chun] said. “Should Koreans emphasize the traditional element of the food, foreigners may take interest in it out of curiosity, but in the long term there will be a limit to that interest.”
[…]
[Get ready for it…]
“We want Bibigo to be the McDonald’s or Starbucks of Korean food,” he said.
I hope you weren’t in the middle of drinking your coffee when reading that.
Here’s the scoop. Some of you may remember Seoul Eats and ZenKimchi organizing secret test marketing last year for a Korean restaurant. It was for Cafe Sobahn’s expansion into overseas markets. Some of you participated in it, and it was a good time. The word spread about Cafe Sobahn, and it became a favorite amongst the foreigner crowd. Towards the end of the market testing, which the exec in charge admitted that CJ had little experience in doing, they asked what we thought of the name “Bibigo.”
There was almost universal laughter and strong opposition to the name.
I guess you can figure out that they threw the market testing out the window, shuttered Cafe Sobahn, and went ahead with shoving this Bibigo down their markets’ throats.
Despite the McDonaldization and that bitter tasting story, I would still like to try it out. They’re still obsessed with the “Americans will eat it because it’s healthy” meme over the reality that Americans put taste over health most of the time. They’re not Koreans. These guys have a hard time mentally wrapping around that concept. But after reading the description of one dish, black rice, bulgogi, and citron soy sauce, I’d be interested in checking it out.
But if they won’t listen to the market they’re trying to sell to, maybe they’d at least learn from the failed efforts of their rivals. It got passed on to me that Korean bakery Paris Baguette, which does have a location in L.A., try to rebrand itself in another location as Wheatberry Bakery in Pasadena, CA. Yes, they were able to fool some folks into thinking it was an olde worlde European bakery, but others saw through it. Through bad management (likely middle-aged ajosshis refusing to listen to the on-the-frontline notes from their underlings), unsanitary conditions, bait-and-switch overpricing (sound familiar?) and a total arrogant presumption towards their market, Wheatberry crashed down in flames.
‘McDonald’s of bibimbap’ debuts
[HT to a very special reader]
May 11, 2010
Junk Food is Key to Korean Food Globalization
Gamja fries topped with chopped galbi. (from SF Weekly)
I’ve hinted it many times, and we just keep getting confirmation after confirmation. The Korean government and corporations dream of conquering the world with their prissy pretentious overpriced “well-being” concept of Korean food–you know the postulations like “Americans pay $300 for Japanese food, why not Korean” and “Americans only eat hamburgers, so they’ll like Korean food because it’s well-being.”
But reality blows their sanitized fabrications out of the gukmul.
SF Weekly reports that Korean food is entering the American consciousness, or at least the San Fanciscan consciousness, as stoner junk eats. It started with the Kogi tacos in L.A. Now street vendors and strip malls sell bulgogi topped hot dogs (you can actually get those at New York Hot Dog & Coffee in Korea), marinated beef and kimchi-stuffed sandwiches with creamy gochujang mayo, and fries topped with chopped galbi.
Accomplished Seattle food writer Matthew Amster-Burto (Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father’s Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater) ponders why Korean food hasn’t taken off in Seattle even though the stars are aligned that way. He blames the insular tendencies of Korean restaurateurs, as in their neglect to advertise in English papers, and the baffled cluelessness Americans feel in Korean restaurants, to which I can relate. Talking to Joule’s Rachel Yang, he works on some ideas for establishing Korean food in Seattle, which could be a blueprint for the rest of the States.
1. Inexpensive restaurants with streamlined menus catering to Americans’ favorites (bulgogi, japchae, galbi), similar to Seattle’s teriyaki restaurants, should populate the area.
2. Promote gochujang. The culinary oracles are already predicting that gochujang is about to become the next sriracha sauce.
3. Korean tacos are already getting Americans used to Korean flavors, like kimchi.
Face it, folks. Royal court cuisine isn’t going to lead the charge. Neither is topoki. Americans aren’t going to latch onto yangnyeom dolsot bap because it’s boring but healthy. Rule #1 is taste. And even though my cholesterol count rises just reading those descriptions, the Korean junk food invasion looks mighty tasty.
Korea Attacks! Korean junk food has established a tasty foothold
Enjoying Korean food without knowing it
[HT to a very special reader]
March 10, 2010
Korean food made in the USA
Posted by Tammy
The Korean government is working overtime to make Korean food more popular in the United States. Even before the current government’s intervention, private Korean companies such as CJ Corp. and Ottogi already set up a corporate presence and a distribution network through Korean and Asian grocery stores in the United States. However, most of the food is made in Korea and then imported into the United States for distribution and sale.
If Koreans wants explosive growth in the popularity of Korean food, particularly among non-Korean domestic cooks, I believe that Korean companies need to set up corporate offices and food production plants in the USA.
Korean automobile manufacturers have already done this. Hyundai and KIA both have automobile plants in the United States. Setting up operations in the States helped Hyundai grow from a niche market into a strong, highly esteemed competitor in the automotive market.
Establishing a corporate presence in the United States will make it easier for Korean food manufacturers to learn what American people like and dislike about Korean food and be able to target their product lines accordingly. Which means Koreans may have to broaden their definition of Korean food.
Despite Ottogi and CJ Corp.’s American corporate presence, they are primarily importers of Korean foods made in Korea. There are no American production plants. I’ve never seen an Ottogi spice packet say “Made in the USA”. However, that trend is starting to change as well.
I went to my local Korean grocery store recently and discovered a Korean beef and vegetable soup made by a Korean company called Chang Tuh Corp. Chang Tuh Corp. is based in Kimpo, Gyonggi-do, South Korea. Even though the product itself is 100% Korean based on the bilingual, mostly Korean packaging, it was made in the USA in Salem, Ore.
I was intrigued enough to bring some home and try it for myself. I served it with white rice and Korean sidedishes, and both hubby and I thought it tasted pretty good. It was not overly salty, like many processed food products. It had lots of veggies as well, including daikon, bean sprouts, and green onions. I hope Korean companies make more pre-made Korean foods in the USA as good as this dish.
Tammy Quackenbush lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her love of Korean food started when she taught ESL in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do, back in 1996-1997. However, she didn’t become “famous” for her Korean cooking style until she started making cooking videos on YouTube as Koreanfornian Cooking in 2007 (had to put her college degree to use somehow). Her recipes and articles have been featured on Slice/Seriouseats.com, Foodbuzz, Korea.net and iFoodTV.com.
February 25, 2010
Korean Food in Saveur's 100
For the first time in its history, Saveur has crowd sourced its annual 100 List. Of notable interest to Korean food fans, banchan (38) and ssam jang (57) made the list.
What do you think, Korean food or not, should have been there?
January 12, 2010
Top 12 Dishes That We Like?
From the JoongAng Daily
A few days ago I posted an article of an event at the Institute of Traditional Korean Food. They had a layout of dishes that supposedly foreigners liked best. I wondered aloud what the dishes were and how they came about it.
The JoongAng Daily came to the rescue. So it looks like a survey was sent to overseas restaurants. These were the top twelve. Many no-brainers on the list, but their placement seems odd. Hobakjuk is at #3. I like pumpkin porridge, but I didn’t know it was popular. The grilled meat dishes are close to the bottom. And hobak tteok?? I don’t think I’ve even seen it much in Korea. Is it even in western countries?
At least now we have the list. Controversial, I’d say. Reactions?
[HT to The Marmot]
January 4, 2010
Korean Food Predicted Popular (again) in 2010
Behold, the Korean taco!
Now that all the yearly and decadely reviews are over, it’s time to take out the tarot cards, the crystal balls and the 800 Psychic Hotline number to predict what will be big in 2010. Much like last year, Korean food is predicted to be the lone or minority ethnic cuisine to stand out in a time when people will turn more to domestic comfort foods. But it won’t be in royal court cuisine or “topokki.”
Food industry analysts Technomic predict Korean food will “hit the mainstream” in the form of Korean barbecue and galbi tacos. Baum & Whiteman are banking on Korean fried chicken–“invisibly coated, amazingly flavorful and fried twice for ultra-crunch.” Epicurious sees a jump in fried chicken in general, too. But expect competition in the fried chicken frenzy from other cultural variations, such as Columbian, Guatamalan and Malaysian.
There are a lot of haters who don’t like this growing trend. Just looking at the comments for Bite Club Eats, who included Korean food amongst their predictions, and some people really have a problem with it. Maybe former or current English teachers. Maybe Korea’s crooked private schooling system is finally biting the country on its butt after letting so many guest teachers get cheated without considering that those teachers would become influential in their home countries.
Ah… karma…
The Chowhound forums are leaning toward claiming that Korean food has already peaked on America’s west coast and is gaining steam on the east, especially NYC and DC, and could possibly spread to middle America. On the forefront, some are speaking of banchan, gochujang replacing sriracha (gochujang mayo?), fusion kimchi, more Korean street food trucks, and “Korean is the new Thai.”
The National Restaurant Association’s Chef Survey: What’s Hot in 2010 has Korean food at 37% “hot trend,” 42% “yesterday’s news” and 21% “perennial favorite.” So maybe there is some credence that Korean food has crested, at least on the west coast and the hardcore foodie front. But the following predicted trends sound more positive: black garlic, green tea, newly fabricated cuts of meat (could include L.A. galbi), non-traditional liquors (soju is included) and ethnic condiments (gochujang?).
In my opinion, the three-hour lines and the hype over the taco trucks will create a backlash, thus making it a fad. No matter how good a food is, waiting a long time for it will only set you up for disappointment. Soju will gain traction. I wish makgeolli would, but the milky visuals may turn Americans off. Kimchi will move from fine dining and ethnic restaurants to a few mainstream restaurants–via Korean tacos. Expect to hear rumors of wild experiments by young chefs, such as grape kimchi and powdered kimchi. I think Hanu beef is still under the radar but will be talked about in chefs’ circles (it already is), gaining some press maybe in 2011.
So, tell us. What are your predictions for Korean food and food in Korea for 2010? Is everyone on the mark or full of oxen manure?
January 1, 2010
New Yorkers Like Pumpkin Porridge More than Angelinos?
The Chosun Ilbo relates an event at the Institute of Traditional Korean Food that invited prominent Americans living in Seoul (I wasn’t invited because I was too prominent). It featured 20 Korean dishes that were most favored by Americans. Would love to know what they were and how they figured this out. The killer quote came from ITKF founder Yoon Sook-ja (the author of the kimchi book I like):
“New Yorkers tend to favor dishes that accentuate the flavors of individual ingredients. They also like sweet and soft dishes, such as pumpkin porridge.”
Followed by
“Diners in L.A. also enjoy spicy dishes, which seems to reflect the prevalence of Asian and Mexican foods in that part of the country as it has a large population of immigrants.”
I’ll leave it to you. I’m not from New York or Los Angeles but from the Gulf Coast–ya know, where Tabasco comes from–so we can handle the spice no problem. But do you think there are really distinct differences in what New Yorkers and Angelinos like in Korean food?
(HT to The Marmot)
December 31, 2009
Kennen Sie Korean Food?
Photo by Oliver Plath
Ana Finel Honigman writes a story, picked up by the Korea Herald, on how Korean food is a hit with the hipster crowd in Berlin.
Every international city offers a mix of street foods, but for most cities the culinary culture is defined by a taste for a particular type of exotic cuisine. While London is as famous for its curries and high-end Indian food and New Yorkers take pride in their connoisseurship at Japanese sushi restaurants, Berliners routinely tuck into Thai or Vietnamese food when eating out. Now, thanks to the brilliant new Korean restaurants captivating the tastes of Berlin’s coolest foodies, Korean food is becoming a favored choice for one of Europe’s most international and progressive cities. As Berlin-based video artist Cecile Evans recounts, “There is a great range of Korean dining – from the ultra hardcore purists to some of the more dressed up places catering to the nouveau culture crowd. It’s all surprisingly fresh and the kimchi always has the obligatory kick – hard to find in spice-phobic Europe!”
Read more on the Herald site.
(HT to Edward)
December 30, 2009