What Images Comes into Mind about Korean Food?

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korean Food Promotion Institute conducted a survey of locals in 18 cities including Beijing, Saigon, and New York in 2023 to find out global perception of Korean food.

According to the survey results, approximately 40.2% (answers repeated included) of the respondents said that Kimchi was the Korean food that comes first into their mind when hearing the word Korean food, known as “hansik.” This was followed by bibimbap (23.6%), Korean-style fried chicken (16.2%), bulgogi (13.3%), and Korean barbecue (12.0%). The images associated with hansik were “flavourful,” “reasonable prices,” “enjoyed by many people,” and “recently popular.”

In addition, Korean-style fried chicken ranked first (16.5% respondents) as the most favorite Korean food, with instant ramen ranking second (11.1%) and Kimchi ranking third (9.8%). Approximately 29.4% (answers repeated included) of the respondents said that Korean-style fried chicken was the Korean food they consumed most frequently for the past one year, with Kimchi (28.6%) and ramen (26.9%) coming second and third.

Also, 60.0% of the respondents said that they were familiar with Korean food, up by 2.4 percentage point from the previous year. This figure has been on the rise for the past five consecutive years. 86.5% said that they heard of Korean food for the past one year.  

* 54.6% (2019) → 57.4% (2020) → 55.9% (2021) → 57.6% (2022) → 60.0% (2023)

Overseas consumers’ satisfaction level for Korean food has been at 90% or above for the past five years with the figure in the 2023 survey reaching 92.5%.

* 93.2% (2019) → 91.0% (2020) → 94.5% (2021) → 94.2% (2022) → 92.5% (2023)

Editor Jun-Beom