After Cardi B, a global pop star and American rapper, showed a gochu tuna "mukbang," the gochu tuna challenge is trending among foreigners.
According to the food industry on the 24th, Cardi B said on an Instagram live broadcast recently that she bought Korean gochu tuna at H Mart (the largest Korean mart in the United States), then mixed rice, gochu tuna, and mayonnaise and wrapped it in gim to eat. She marveled, saying, "Koreans are crazy," and "The combination of gochu tuna and gim is perfect."
An edited version of the video has drawn strong attention, surpassing 4 million views on YouTube. On social media, the hashtag "#GochuTunaChallenge (gochu tuna challenge)" is spreading. Riding the trend, Dongwon F&B recently expanded the number of countries to which it exports gochu tuna to 28, including the United States, Japan, Vietnam, and China.
Cardi B also posted a video on TikTok in March eating Korean red ginseng. She said, "It works better than coffee. I feel awake all day." Thanks to the video, which surpassed 1 million views in two weeks, an "overseas red ginseng craze" even occurred.
Many foods have become famous after being mentioned by K-pop stars. Ramyeon such as Buldak spicy ramyeon and Chacharoni, which BTS members often ate, became standard-bearers of K-food. Banana Kick, which Jennie of BLACKPINK mentioned early this year on the U.S. talk show "The Jennifer Hudson Show" as her favorite Korean snack, saw its U.S. export volume in April jump 69% from the previous month right after that. Domestic sales also jumped more than 40%.
K-food exports have grown sharply over the past 10 years. According to the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Korea Trade Statistics Promotion Institute, last year's K-food exports totaled $7.02 billion (about 10 trillion won), doubling compared with 10 years ago. Ramyeon ($1.36 billion) accounted for the largest share, and interest is also increasing in a variety of items such as ready-to-eat foods like kimbap, tteokbokki, and dumplings ($980 million), health foods such as red ginseng and ginseng ($820 million), and seasoned gim ($630 million).