India loves a Hallyu of Korean cookery at home, inspired by K-dramas

If you’re a fan of Korean dramas, you’ve probably heard of kimchi, jajangmyeon (black bean sauce noodles), and Korean BBQ. After binge-watching Crash Landing on You, Hospital Playlist, Itaewon Class, and Oh My Ghost (to name a few), I developed a want to try the food, which rapidly turned into a desire to learn how to make kimbap and Korean pancakes (jjapchae) at home.

My search for true Korean cuisine began with kimchi ramen and led to two discoveries: eateries providing authentic Korean cuisine and supplies to prepare Korean dishes. Like me, you’ve definitely sat on your sofa at late, entranced by ramen-slurping sequences that make you need kimchi that neither Swiggy nor Zomato can supply.

This explains the recent increase in demand for Korean products such as gochujang (the fundamental, alluringly sweet and spicy sauce); Daenjang (Korean soybean paste); and dried seaweed sheets.

The Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued online reports indicating an increase in K-noodle consumption in India. In 2020, Netflix’s viewing of Korean dramas and K-pop increased by 370 percent year over year (YoY), and the number of Korean noodles imported into India increased by 162 percent.

“When I founded the fan club in 2016, 98 percent of K-drama watchers were women,” Sanjay Ramjhi, founder of the K-wave India (one of the largest offline Korean cultural organizations in South India), said of the increase in watching as a result of the pandemic and accompanying lockdowns. Men now account for 10% of K-drama fans, which is a significant increase.”

He goes on to say that the most active topic in the group is Korean food and ingredient sourcing. “Because a high number of Korean nationals work in the city, there are many Korean cuisine outlets in Chennai.” Almost all restaurants in Chennai have started posting descriptions of meals detailing the ingredients on their menus, which has sparked interest in attempting to recreate Korean food at home.

Because to the presence of KIA Motors India’s production facility in Penukonda in Anantapur, the district of Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh features over a dozen Korean cuisine restaurants. Pallab Dey, who works for a multinational corporation in Hyderabad, buys most of his groceries online, but he’s willing to go almost 450 kilometers to Penukonda (in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district) for luxury items like Nori chips, potato pork dumplings, and bibigo doenjang chigae. “I shop for what I want in Penukonda,” he adds, adding, “then have a lunch at any of the four Korean restaurants there.”