K-Snacks: Old School Korean Snacks Making a Comeback? 🍪

Yakgwa (약과)

Instagram | @mukseein

Remember when we first introduced Korean snacks to you? Well, I thought why not tell you about some of the childhood snacks that Koreans grew up with 🤔  One of them is Yakgwa, a very traditional sweet made out of wheat flour, honey and sesame oil dipped in honey ginger syrup. It has a chewy cookie-like texture and traditionally had during festive seasons like Chuseok. But recently, Yakgwa has made a come back in Korea and you’ll find it literally EVERYWHERE, even convenience stores! You’ll even see it served as a topping on a cookie, as a drink flavour, and people are even mixing it in with McDonald’s soft serve 🍦 

Matdongsan (맛동산)

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Haitai’s Matdongsan has been around since 1975 - that’s almost half a decade 🤯 So it wouldn’t have been a childhood snack for the MZ Generation per se but more our parents’ age. If your parents grew up in Korea, Matdongsan would bring them all the nostalgia! It’s a glazed wheat stick covered in savoury peanut sprinkles for a flavourful nuttiness. Surprisingly, it’s actually made out of fermented dough so it gives it a soft inside with a crunchy exterior. Haitai apparently has said that the secret recipe to the yumminess is playing Korean traditional music during the fermentation process. Who’s to say that this isn’t true when the snack is that delicious, right? Even BTS’s Jungkook was seen eating this snack during rehearsal in a Bangtan Bomb video!  

Jjanggu (짱구)

Instagram | @imcharmming

Did anyone watch Crayon Shin-chan growing up? Well, 짱구 is the Korean name for this Japanese manga series. The snack, 짱구 didn’t have anything related to the series when Samyang released it 50 years ago. But now that Crayon Shin-chan is a trend in Korea and everything is decorated with this iconic character, it just makes sense that it had to feature on the snack of the same name. In the Crayon Shin-chan special edition you’d find stickers of the iconic characters for everyone to collect. As far as the snack goes, there’s quite a few flavours, but the original is honey-dipped with roasted sesame all throughout. How about putting them through your fingers for a snack experience that will bring you back to childhood?