It’s interesting how culture can influence young minds—the most recent craze among Indians is all about the K-culture also referred to as Korean culture.
From all the drool-worthy delicacies ruling the internet to K-pop winning hearts, Korean culture seems to have become a huge influence.
K-culture trends began way back in the 1980s, its popularity grew even more in India due to the pandemic. Covid-19 brought several changes in our lives, one of them being the way we consume food.
South Korea has become the major exporter of pop culture. It first began with K-dramas and then K-pop that spread like wildfire among the youth.
Binge-watching these Korean tv shows and movies made people curious about a whole new cuisine, new food items, people got more and more curious to try out all the new flavors that Korean cuisine had to offer.
Their collaboration with food chains also fueled this culture’s growth in India. All the die heart K-drama fans almost everywhere in the country were all ingrained to try out Korean food, which led to restaurant owners trying their hands at the new cuisine.
Also Read: Korean Food: 5 Items Which Are Close To Indian Food
The rising popularity of K-food brought a unique growth opportunity for Korean food manufacturers, ingredients and condiments manufacturers, and even for the consumer foodservice sector in India post-2020.
Netflix reported a year-over-year jump in the viewership of K dramas and K pops by 370% in 2020, the same year import of Korean Noodles in India increased by 162%.
It’s crazy how one associates tv shows with a particular food item an actor is consuming. K-dramas gained popularity in India because of factors like their storyline, fashion, and cute little aesthetics.
Reports stated that 88% of people were excited and were willing to try out Korean food, the rest 40% were simply missing out on happiness. “We have seen the number of customers grow with the fame of K-dramas in India,” shared a spokesperson at a restaurant in Pune that serves Korean food in the city.
“Most of the customers that we get at our restaurant are youngsters, college students who enjoy eating Korean noodles and ramen.”
It’s not that surprising why Indians are drawn towards Korean food. Similar ingredients like rice, noodles, vegetables, meat, chili, pepper, soy, and spices are used in Indian cuisine as well.
What’s different in the Korean food plate is their sides that consist of meat or tofu, broth, rice, and dishes like kimchi, seaweed, anchovies, etc.
Indians love experimenting with food, all they need is access to information and online recipes. They are not going to shy away from experimenting with Korean cuisine and giving it an Indian twist.
There are about 30 standalone authentic Korean restaurants in the country right now in cities like Chennai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, and Mumbai.
Korean dramas like the teen favorite, “Boys Over Flowers” have their protagonists quarrel over who gets more ramen, for three consecutive episodes, will have anyone run to the nearest noodle bar.
Even McDonald’s launched their exclusive BTS X McDonald’s merchandise this May. This collection is inspired by the K-pop band BTS, with dynamite threads like hoodies, purple bathrobes, socks, and sandals.
McDonald’s fry box logo has seven fries for each BTS member, it’s a perfect representation of two fan-favorite brands.
With all this, it’s fair to say that Korean culture has gained huge acceptance in India in 2020 and continues to do so in 2021.
Image Sources: Google Images
Sources: Times Of India, Economic Times, Indian Express, +More
Find The Blogger: @Natashaly05
This post is tagged under: Korean cuisine, Indian, food, K-culture, K-pop, K-dramas, Netflix, pandemic, delicacies, influence, trends, popularity, pop culture, tv shows, movies, Boys over flowers, BTS, Band, youth, food chains, collaborations, fans, growth, country, restaurants, foodservice sector, Pune, online recipes, experimenting, Chennai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, authentic, ramen, McDonald, box logo, dynamite, merchandise, fan-favorite
Other Recommendations:
We Visited The Korean Culture Centre And We Are Bursting To Tell You All About It!
