It's okay, you can make Korean food.
In K-Culture News
Whenever a K-pop comeback, a K-drama, or anything else from Korea goes viral and has a food angle, we link it to a recipe you can actually make. Here's every pick so far.
Fried chicken and beer became a worldwide craving after the heroine of My Love from the Star praised 'chimaek' on a snowy day. Chain restaurants even queued customers for hours abroad. It's a real dish tie-in with a classic drama. (Source publish date could not be verified; set to the proposal date.)
Related recipe
Which Korean food craze actually lasted, and which vanished overnight?
Honey Butter Chip, tanghulu, dujjonku
Korea Times traces which Korean snack trends actually stuck and which flamed out. None of them are in our recipe list yet — but it's a good prompt to pick the next one worth covering.
Related recipe
Even demon slayers need a bowl of ramyeon after work.
Ramyeon as the idols' comfort food
The director deliberately skipped the usual kimchi cliché — "I never want anybody to feature it," she said — but ramyeon still shows up as comfort food for the demon-slaying idols of Huntrix. If a cartoon got you curious about Korean food, this is the easiest real dish to start with.
Recreate the scene
First the music, then the menu — fans are following K-pop all the way to dinner.
Fans heading to a Korean restaurant for the food
Fans discovering Korea through K-pop and movies like KPop Demon Hunters are showing up at Korean restaurants for the food next. If that's how you found your way here too — ramen is the easiest first dish to make at home.
On the idol menu
Your bias cooks too — and the easiest dish on their list is kimchi fried rice.
Jin's noodle soup, Chanyeol's tteokbokki
UAE outlet Gulf News rounds up K-pop idol home-cooking favorites for fans in the Gulf, from Jin's anchovy-broth noodles to Chanyeol's tteokbokki, with kimchi fried rice as the easiest starting point. It shows how the idols' kitchen moments travel to home cooks far from Korea, using ingredients found in local supermarkets.
On the idol menu
Did you spot the sweet pancake in the middle of the Mukbang Bingo race?
Hotteok and ssukkulae in the Mokpo Mukbang Bingo race
GMA's Running Man Philippines took its celebrity runners to Mokpo, South Korea, for a Mukbang Bingo race built around local snacks. The write-up names ssukkulae and hotteok among the treats they tasted along the way. It's a Philippine-press view of a Korean variety format, with a street pancake you can make in your own kitchen.
From the show's table
Can't find the usual fillings? Manila did it with kangkong.
Woo Young-woo's gimbap, made with kangkong and sayote
Philippine outlet Inquirer Lifestyle recreates the gimbap that lawyer Woo Young-woo eats throughout the hit Netflix drama, using locally available vegetables like kangkong and sayote in place of the usual fillings. It shows how the show's signature comfort food travels to home kitchens far from Korea.
Cook what they ate
Behind the deadliest candy on TV is a 500-orders-a-day street vendor.
Dalgona candy in the honeycomb challenge
The Seoul street vendor who made the dalgona candies for Squid Game's honeycomb challenge saw his daily orders jump from about 200 to more than 500 after the show aired. Dalgona (ppopgi) is a real childhood street snack made from just sugar and baking soda — and it's easy to try at home.
Cook what they ate
The stew the Danbam staff eat after closing — and you can make it tonight.
Saeroyi's after-closing sundubu-jjigae
In Itaewon Class, Park Saeroyi's sundubu-jjigae is the spicy, warming stew his pub staff gladly eat after closing. It's a genuine everyday Korean dish, and the show sent viewers looking for ways to cook it at home.
Cook what they ate
Two instant noodles, one Oscar-winning joke about steak.
'Ram-don' (jjapaguri) in Parasite
After Parasite swept the Oscars, the instant noodles behind the film's 'ram-don' scene — Chapagetti and Neoguri, mixed together as jjapaguri — became a sales and social-media hit. It's a real everyday Korean noodle hack, and the steak on top is the movie's joke rather than a requirement.
Recreate the scene
