It was not easy for latecomer Samyang Foods Co. to come up with a recipe for its own instant ramen noodle 60 years ago when Japanese rival Nissin Foods Holdings Co. had already indulged taste buds around the world with the world’s first-ever instant ramen noodle, which hit the market in 1958.
But now the tide has been reversed and Korean instant ramen noodles are sweeping the globe given Korean ramen producers’ relentless efforts to develop products to satisfy the sophisticated palates of people from different countries and cultures.
Nissin Foods, which so long ago rejected Samyang Foods’ request to transfer its secret ramen recipes, is now accused of copying the Korean noodle rival’s global hit, the mouth-numbing spicy instant ramen noodle Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen, or buldak-bokkeum-myeon.
Exports of Korean ramen noodle products also topped $200 million for the first time in the first three months of this year.
It has taken only five years for Korea’s quarterly ramen export sales to double after breaking the $100 million mark for the first time in the first quarter of 2018.
Considering that shipments of Korean ramen noodles produced at overseas factories were excluded from the tally, the total global sales of Korean ramen noodles should be much higher than $200 million.
KOREAN RAMEN'S REVOLT
Samyang finally introduced Korean consumers to the country’s first-ever ramen product on September 15, 1963 with the help of Nissin Foods rival Myojo Foods, which is now under Nissin Foods.
In 1985, another Korean ramen giant Nongshim Co. launched what is now Korea’s best-selling ramen Shin Ramyun, which is also the best-selling Korean ramen worldwide. The company claimed at that time that it found Shin Ramyun's spicy flavor widely accepted by Koreans.
Thanks to the efforts of Korean ramen makers to satisfy global consumers, K-ramen has become an almost global staple food with flavors that amuse the taste buds of people from all around the world.
But the worldwide fame of Korean content that is enjoying its heyday is also behind the global advance of Korean ramen.
K-CONTENT BEHIND K-RAMEN'S GLOBAL SENSATION
After the Korean class-conscious thriller "Parasite" became the first foreign film to win as best picture at the 2020 Academy Awards, Ram-Don, or Jjapaguri featured in the film, became an instant hit worldwide. It was made of two popular Korean instant ramen noodle products Jjapaghetti and Neoguri.
Joo Yeo-jeong, a close confidant of Moon Dong-eun assisting her revenge in Netflix’s latest hit Korean drama series "The Glory," introduces himself as a hospital CEO’s son who is a fan of ramen.
"The Glory" was rated as the most-watched Netflix series globally for two weeks in a row last month.
Bloomberg last week said in its report that Netflix has finally learned that Asia’s cultural hub is South Korea, not Japan.
Met with the growing global fascination for all things Korean fanned by K-content’s success, K-ramen can pave the way for new K-sensations powered by innovation.
Strike while the iron is hot.
Write to Sul-Li Jun at sljun@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.
