A scene of a vendor at the Yeonje Ancient Tombs Festival in Busan dipping a bag of sundae into fish cake broth was captured, sparking controversy online.
On the 6th, a post and photos were uploaded on social media (SNS) saying, "Oncheoncheon Yeonje Ancient Tombs Festival. They are steaming sundae with the bag on and boiling it in the fish cake broth with the bag on."
In the photos released with the post, sundae with its packaging unopened is placed directly in a sundae steamer. A photo also shows sundae in a bag inside a large pot used to boil fish cakes.
Heating packaged sundae by double boiling it in the bag is a cooking method allowed by manufacturers, but after seeing it put into the fish cake broth, internet users are raising hygiene concerns. Fish cakes and their broth are served to customers, and some point out that boiling them together with plastic packaging is unsanitary.
Internet users reacted by saying, "It makes no sense to warm sundae in fish cake broth," and, "Festival food has problems with price and hygiene."
Earlier, on Feb. 2, at a vendor at the "Taebaeksan Snow Festival" in Taebaek, Gangwon, a scene of putting a bottle of makgeolli into a fish cake soup pot was also made public. Taebaek, Gangwon, immediately removed the problematic stall.
The Yeonje Ancient Tombs Festival is a local event held on Apr. 3–5 at Oncheon Citizens' Park and around the burial mound complex in Yeonsan-dong, Yeonje District, Busan.