Tteokbokki is a cylinder-shaped rice cake dish with South Korean’s famous hot chili paste, Gochujang, and cooked with fish cakes and vegetables.
According to the recent survey conducted by Kyung Hee University Institute of International Education, Tteokbokki was the number 1 street food among the foreigners living in South Korea. The second most favored street food was Dak-kkochi, which is a spicy grilled chicken skewer and Soondae took the 3rd place which is a pig’s intestine stuffed with vegetables and rice noodles.
The survey was conducted on 455 foreigners living in Korea from 62 different nations from March 21 to April 3.
93.6 percent of the foreigners said they like Korean food and the most common reason was simply because it was tasty (32.1 percent); then nutritious (25 percent) and healthy (20.5 percent).
In addition, over half of the foreigners answered that they can cook Korean dishes. The most popular dish the foreigners knew how to cook was Kimchi stew followed by Tteokbokki and Kimbap (South Korean sushi).
The survey also showed that the foreigners not only liked the Korean food but Korean food culture as well. Oscar, a 30-year-old Ugandan said, “I was surprised that the side dishes were given as much as you liked and was free of charge.”
The colorful flavors and the generosity of South Korean food culture are irresistible.
(아주경제 이수지 기자)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com