The Korean Fried Chicken Obsession Is Finally Explained

by Luigi Joson / Mar 03, 2017 07:34 AM EST
The crunchy and spicy Korean fried chicken is a hot food item found all over South Korea. (Maangchi / YouTube)

The ingredients for a delicious Korean fried chicken are no secret to most South Koreans. The world's obsession with the Asian chicken recipe is a match for KFC enthusiasts but most will be surprised that the most common elements used are basically garlic and soy sauce.

The Korean fried chicken industry is big business in South Korea with about 50,000 fried chicken restaurants spread throughout the country. Most of them are composed of small restaurants that deliver door to door using motorbikes. There are so many fried chicken establishments that the South korean government has placed regulations to limit the number of places that can be opened in a single neighborhood.

Author Jeong Eun-jeong who wrote the book "The Tale of Chicken in the Republic of Korea", said that the Korean fried chicken burst into the food scene 20 years ago right after the Asian financial crisis as cited by USA Today. Plenty of unemployed middle-aged Korean men opened fried chicken restaurants. All of a sudden there were all these restaurants popping up in every city and that explains why South Koreans became enamored with fried chicken.

According to World Crunch, the biggest difference between Korean fried chicken and the American version is how the flavor combination is applied. The most popular chicken restaurants in Seoul use the classic Korean flavor widely recognized as  yangnyum.

Every year almost half of all Korean fried chicken restaurants in South Korea end up bankrupt. But the risk of losing isn't stopping young entrepreneurs from taking their shot in the food industry. This is due to the low capital needed to start the business and having no experience in cooking or the service industry won't be a problem.

An example is Park Shi-kyung, an aspiring entrepreneur who took out a loan that cost him $150,000 in order to open a Korean fried chicken restaurant three years ago. He already started a sign-making business but he wanted to make more money to pay for his children's tuition.

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