South Korea is currently captivated by “Mapamin” (a combination of “mapda,” meaning spicy in Korean, and dopamine). People are craving more intense and exciting flavors. Globally, Korean cuisine is renowned for its fiery taste, characterized by gochujang (red pepper paste) and gochugaru (chili powder). Samyang Foods’ Buldak Ramen, known for its intense spiciness, has even been recalled in Denmark due to high capsaicin levels posing a risk of acute poisoning. Despite this, consumer demand for spicier foods continues to grow, and the market is responding with new products. Some bubble tea shops even offer pearls mixed with tteokbokki sauce, and there’s constant competition to produce the spiciest items, often labeled with terms like “heat,” “fire,” “hot,” and “spicy.”
Spicy challenge videos (spicy food mukbang challenges) are widely popular on social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram. Click-bait thumbnails with captions such as “Save me,” “Risk of blindness,” “The owner says you can’t eat this,” “Experience of hellfire,” “Jjamppong made with the world’s spiciest pepper listed in the Guinness Book,” “Fainting while eating,” and “Signing a waiver to eat this super spicy Jajangmyeon” instantly make viewers’ mouths water from the imagined spiciness.
There are three notable spicy spots in South Korea, famous for their extremely spicy jjamppong, donkatsu, and naengmyeon: Sin-gil-dong Spicy Jjamppong, Sin-dae-bang Samgeori Dijinda (deadly spicy) Donkatsu, and Songju Fire Naengmyeon. Influencers who call themselves “spicy masters” often share stories about how they had to drink liters of milk to handle the heat of these dishes. Despite the intensity, these restaurants are so popular that customers often need to queue to get in. Consequently, places selling curry, dumplings, pasta, chicken feet, and gimbap advertise their spiciness on a scale from 1 to 10, with some even offering levels described as “atomic bomb” or “death.”
Franchises and food companies selling chicken, burgers, snacks, and ramen are also fiercely competing to make their products spicier. The trend of spicy food became a mega-trend in the food market around 2020, following the success of Buldak Ramen. Consumers have shown a growing preference for higher levels of spiciness. Nongshim’s Shin Ramyun, for instance, had a Scoville heat units (SHU) of 1300 when it was released in the 1980s, but this has increased to 3400 SHU over 40 years. This shift indicates how much consumers’ tastes have evolved. Recently, ramen such as Yeomla Daewang Ramen with 21,000 SHU and Paldo Teumsae Ramen Extreme Experience with 15,000 SHU, boasting even greater spiciness than the 13,000 SHU of “3x Spicy Buldak Ramen,” have entered the market. The craze for spicy food is not limited to Korea. In the United States, Coca-Cola has introduced a spicy cola, and Starbucks has launched a beverage with spicy chili powder.
There’s a saying in the industry that “spicy food sells better in tough economic times.” Capsaicin, the component that gives spicy food its heat, is known to release adrenaline and endorphins, providing temporary stress relief. Therefore, the popularity of spicy foods may reflect high levels of societal stress. However, recent analyses suggest that the “spicy pride” (spicy flavor + pride) of the MZ generation (a combined group of Millennials and Generation Z), the key consumer demographic, plays a significant role in this trend.
