Korean Food in Thailand

[Anchor Lead]

Korean food is becoming more and more popular in Thailand. Korean ingredients were featured in a cooking competition show where famous hotel chefs started learning about Korean cuisine.

[Pkg]

This is a popular cooking competition show on Thai TV. The day's secret ingredients are different types of Korean rice cake, ddeok.

[Soundbite] "Today's secret ingredient is Korean ddeok."

Driven by the growing popularity of Korean food, the show has programmed a Korean food special. The chicken and ginseng soup called samgyetang is also popular in Thailand, after the dish was featured on the smash hit drama "Descendants of the Sun." As Thai people have become aware of the health benefits of ginseng, samgyetang has been spotlighted as a health-boosting dish.

[Soundbite] Office Worker in Thailand : "Samgyetang smells very good and it's also delicious. It has rice inside and I have never tasted anything like it."

A well-known hotel franchise in Thailand invited a chef from Korea to hold Korean cooking classes for its kitchen staff. The hotel plans to add about ten Korean dishes, including kimchi, japchae, and braised beef ribs, to its restaurant menus.

[Soundbite] Prachoom Tantiprasertsuk(Vice Pres., Dusit International)

With the rising popularity of Korean cuisine, Thailand is importing more Korean food ingredients. In fact, Thailand's import of kimchi and doenjang has increased this year by 36% and 58%, respectively. Interest in Korean culture, which started with TV shows and K-pop, is now spreading to Korean cuisine and other cultural areas as well.