Let's check what are they eating!
Here we go,
a picture of Jimin of BTS eating tteokbokki in front of a street vendor near Dongdaemun Market in Seoul.
yes. it is local Tteokk bo kki street stall.
A few years ago, tteokbokki’s popularity outside of Korea began growing by leaps and bounds. The most noteworthy aspect of this explosion in popularity is that it is the result of foreigners voluntarily and actively seeking out the spicy dish as opposed to unilateral advertising (by Korea). Another element is that multiple types of tteokbokki have become popular, including the cheese-topped version, which makes it more accessible, and the traditional tteokbokki that was enjoyed several centuries ago. What is the reason for this sudden interest?
Article Noh Yunyoung (Editorial Team) Source “Tteokbokki Chronicle: From Cup-bokki to King-bokki” (Dong-A Ilbo), “Tteokbokki races ahead on the back of K-pop” (The Scoop)
Tteokbokki since the Joseon dynasty
Tteokbokki’s main ingredient is garaetteok (rice cake sticks). Rice- or flour-based tteok is mixed with several sub-ingredients, such as eomuk (fish cakes) or vegetables, and a seasoning made with gochujang (red pepper paste). It is easy to cook and has an addictive sweet-and-spicy flavor, which is why it has come to be served at street shops, franchise restaurants, and at home.
Today, tteokbokki is known primarily for its pepper paste-based sauce. If we broaden the scope of the sauce, however, the dish can be traced as far back as the Joseon dynasty. At the time, “tteokbokki” referred to soy sauce-marinated beef stir-fried with rice cakes and was enjoyed by the royal family and upper classes. Writings of Gyeomam (1595) by Yu Woonryong and Writings of Seosan (1907) by Kim Heunglak state that tteokbokki was served for ancestral rites. Seungjeongwon Ilgi (Journal of the Royal Secretariat) (1751) and Book of Royal Recipes of the Lee Dynasty (1957) also mention tteokbokki. One aspect of the tteokbokki that was served in the palace was the use of costly ingredients such as abalone, sea cucumber, and beef, which commoners could afford only a few times a year.
Tteokbokki gained its current reputation as a “people’s food” after the Korean War with the emergence of a gochujang-based sauce. There are several theories about its origin: one is that someone named Ma Bokrim began selling flour-based garaetteok mixed with gochujang in Seoul’s Sillim-dong district in the 1950s. Tteokbokki became an everyday dish as a result of flour donations from the US in the 1950s and the “Mixed Grain Movement” of the late 1960s, a campaign that encouraged citizens to consume a mixture of white rice and other grains due to the low levels of rice production at the time. It was immensely popular for its affordability (due to the use of flour for the cakes) and, in the heyday of bunsik (flour-based snack food) roadside shops, consumed with dishes such as gimbap and sundae because of its ability to complement virtually any food.
Today, tteokbokki is continuing to evolve. Both rice- and flour-based cakes are enjoyed, while the side ingredients have become much more diverse, including cheese, sweet potatoes, and ramyeon. It is flavored not only with gochujang but also jjajang (black bean sauce), soy sauce, oil, curry, or even carbonara sauce.
Until just a decade ago, experts were predicting that tteokbokki would be difficult to sell outside of Korea because foreigners are repelled by its characteristic stickiness. Over the past few years, however, tteokbokki’s standing in the international food market has changed completely. It is actively sought out by people in 80 countries, going beyond Asia (e.g. Vietnam, Japan) to even France and the US.
This increase in demand is leading to a noticeable increase in sales and exports: in 2009, 778 tons of tteokbokki were exported. This figure rose to 15,406 tons in (November) 2020. Even more interestingly, it is foreign consumers, once viewed as the targets of PR efforts, who are leading this pro-tteokbokki trend. The method of choice is “self-advertising,” in which consumers eat tteokbokki and then convey their experiences to others via online mediums.
Recently, a tteokbokki meokbang (literally, “eating show”) video posted by a Japanese YouTuber exceeded 10 million views—a phenomenon that those in the export industry attribute to the transfer of interest in Hallyu (K-pop, film, dramas, etc.) to Korean culinary culture. Foreigners become interested in tteokbokki after seeing it enjoyed by K-pop stars and featured in dramas and movies, leading to increased exports—in other words, globalization—of tteokbokki. This elevated status of tteokbokki among global consumers, fueled by the spread of Hallyu from Asia to all parts of the world, has persisted for the past few years and is expected to continue going forward. One event that helped launch its popularity is when BTS member Jimin posted a photo of himself enjoying tteokbokki in Dongdaemun.
Tteokbokki’s sticky texture, which was believed to be its biggest flaw, is no longer an issue now that people are voluntarily seeking it out (and know what to expect). It is now simply part of the tteokbokki experience. Another fact that helped tteokbokki become so well-regarded is the fact that other Korean foods, such as kimchi, bibimbap, bulgogi, ramyeon, and seasonings (e.g. gochujang) were already being consumed around the world. Efforts are also underway to develop tteokbokki sauces tailored to the tastes of consumers of each country. Now that Korean food has entered the mainstream, tteokbokki’s flavors are easier to accept, and this spicy rice cake dish is well on its way to becoming a fixture in the arsenal of globalized Korean cuisine.