Koreans’ favourite snacks with interesting stories behind

If you have been to South Korea’s large supermarkets, you might probably be amazed at the great variety of snacks on sale.  In this blog post, I will talk about four Koreans’ favourite snacks which have interesting stories behind them, namely, honey butter chips, choco pies, pepero and saewookkang.

Choco Pies (초코파이)

Choco pies appeal to not only South Koreans but also North Koreans.  In the Gaesong Industrial Complex (a joint venture between South Korea and North Korea located in North Korea), part of the North Korean factory workers’ compensation is paid by choco pies.  As North Koreans like choco pies, the factory workers can resell the choco pies at a price which can be 4 to 5 times the original price in the black markets in North Korea.

Honey Butter Chips (허니버터칩)

Honey butter chips made by the Haitai-Calbee joint venture have become very popular in South Korea recently. According to the producer, this product is made of potato chips featuring the taste of French butter and acacia honey.  It combines the sweet, salty and buttery tastes into one.  Through word-of-mouth on the social media, this product sold like hot cakes in South Korea.  Within 100 days since its debut in August 2014, its sales reached US$9 million. This product was said to be sold out within 30 minutes after they were out in the supermarkets and convenience stores. Owing to the shortage of supply, a bag of chips with original price of 2,400 won could worth almost double the original price at online auctions.