Foreign tourists crowded Myeongdong Street in Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea on Feb. 15. to buy strawberries from a stall. A pack of 15 strawberries costs $11.26 (15,000 won), which is quite expensive, but foreigners still lined up to buy them. Haikal Safwen, a 22-year-old Malaysian tourist, said, “In Malaysia, Korean strawberries are a luxury fruit that not everyone can afford, but here they are really cheap. I plan to buy two or three packs and eat them back at my hostel.”
HBAF, which specializes in almond snacks, is popular among foreigners. Despite its high rental cost in Myeongdong, it is always crowded with foreign tourists carrying dozens of tins of almond snacks. The store offers 27 flavors of almond snacks, from honey butter to wasabi, all of which the visitors can taste and purchase. Kurumi Tazawa, a 19-year-old from Japan, said, “K-almonds are more famous than dried seaweed in Japan these days,” and bought 20 boxes of flavored almonds that are not available in Japan.
CU Ramyun Library, a ramyun specialty store situated at the entrance of Hongdae in Mapo-gu, opened in December last year. Currently, seven out of ten customers at this store are foreigners. Initially, it was designed as a spot for young adults to grab a quick bite. However, it has become a “ramyun mecca” for foreigners as the word spread on social media that they can try all of Korea’s ramyun varieties. “Originally, we categorized ramen products by manufacturer, but many foreign tourists asked, ‘Which one is less spicy,’ so we organized them into five levels of spiciness,” said a CU official.
The food items mentioned above have in common that they are more expensive overseas. Lee Hoon, a professor of tourism at Hanyang University, said, “This is an example of how overseas exports of K-food helped drive domestic gastronomy tourism from international visitors.”
The popularity of Korean strawberries is growing every year. According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, Korea’s strawberry exports increased 30.6% from $54.44 million in 2019 to $71.08 million in 2023. They are mainly exported to Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Vietnam. Korean strawberries are said to be cheaper than Japanese strawberries but have a superior flavor and aroma. For almonds, HBAF’s honey butter almonds and wasabi flavored almonds are popular, while Samyang Food’s Buldak fried noodles are the mainstay of ramyun.
Recently, banana-flavored milk served in an ice cup has become a popular trend in convenience stores. According to 7-Eleven’s analysis of the top 10 foods that foreigners purchased from 10 convenience stores in Seoul last year, banana-flavored milk was the most popular item. Boiled eggs ranked second, while sweet potatoes came in third. Many foreigners prefer to drink their banana-flavored milk in an ice cup.