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The Korea Times

By Pyo Kyung-min
On a recent weekend afternoon, Hwang In-woo, a university student in his 20s, found himself standing in line for something called “butter rice cakes” – yet another trending dessert he never intended to try.
Hwang said he has been eating his way through South Korea’s latest food crazes largely at the urging of his girlfriend, who regularly discovers new items on social media and insists they try them together.
“I wouldn’t usually go out of my way to buy these if it weren’t for her,” he said.
But as he found himself unintentionally following the trends, he began to notice they all shared something in common beyond just flavour.
“Most of them are chewy or soft, so you really don’t need much stress or strength to enjoy them,” he said. “The Dubai-style cookie was the most surprising. It looks soft, but then you get these crispy bits inside. That feeling really stayed with me.”












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Hwang’s observation points to a quiet but decisive shift in South Korea’s food culture, where texture – how something stretches, resists, collapses or melts in the mouth – has become a central driver of consumption.
Across South Korea’s viral desserts, beverages and even seasonal seafood, what matters most is not just how something tastes, but how it feels.
The change is most visible in the dessert scene, where a series of food items has built momentum around the same sensory appeal.
Dubai chewy cookies, which gained widespread attention earlier this year, helped set the tone. Made from a marshmallow-based dough filled with pistachio cream and kataifi pastry, the cookies offer a layered textural experience that moves between stickiness, elasticity and crunch.

Though the initial rush has begun to taper, the format has endured. Major bakery and cafe chains in South Korea, including Paris Baguette and A Twosome Place, have since released their own variations, effectively turning “Dubai-style” into shorthand for that textural contrast rather than a specific recipe.
The trend has continued to evolve. Butter rice cakes have recently surged in popularity, combining a light, crisp exterior with a dense, buttery and chewy interior.
Similarly, in the southwest city of Gwangju, the long-established rice cake brand Changeok has drawn renewed attention for its pumpkin injeolmi, a variation on traditional Korean rice cakes that emphasises weight, elasticity and a slow, yielding bite.
On social media, these foods are rarely presented as flavours. Instead, they are framed as moments – a hand pulling apart a sticky surface, a piece stretching just long enough to satisfy the viewer’s anticipation.

The visual language is repetitive but effective, translating tactile sensation into something that can be consumed through a screen.
The shift points to a bigger change in how younger consumers engage with food. In an ecosystem shaped by short-form video, eating no longer begins at the table, but on screen. Unlike taste, which cannot be fully transmitted digitally, texture lends itself to visual translation that can be instantly understood.
In this sense, texture functions as a bridge between the physical act of eating and its mediated, on-screen anticipation, turning food into something that can be experienced – at least in part – before it is ever consumed.
The same logic has begun to shape Korea’s drink market.
Last month, Starbucks South Korea introduced “Aerocano”, an Americano infused with microfoam through aeration technology. By injecting air into the drink, the company altered the coffee’s mouthfeel without significantly changing its flavour, creating a lighter, smoother drinking experience.

The response was immediate. The drink surpassed 1 million cups sold within a week, marking the fastest such milestone for an iced drink in the company’s local history. Competitors, including Paik’s Coffee and Compose Coffee, quickly followed with similar foam-based variations, suggesting that texture has also become a new front in the nation’s highly competitive cafe sector.
The emphasis on texture extends beyond desserts and drinks into South Korea’s seasonal food culture. As spring arrives, ingredients such as webfoot octopus, or jjukkumi, and ice goby sashimi have gained renewed visibility online, not only for their taste but for their distinctive textures.
Jjukkumi, harvested in South Korea’s western and southern coasts between March and May, is prized for the roe packed inside its head, offering a granular, chewy sensation that has long been appreciated in Korean cuisine. Recently, short-form videos showing how to cook the octopus for the “perfect” texture have circulated widely, turning a familiar ingredient into a viral experience.
Ice goby, a small translucent species of fish available briefly in South Korea’s early spring, has followed a similar trajectory. Its delicate, almost gelatinous texture has made it a subject of curiosity-driven content, particularly in clips showing it being consumed fresh.

In each case, the food itself is not new. What has changed is the way it is framed and shared.
Lee Eun-hui, a consumer science professor at Inha University, describes South Korea’s snack and dessert market as one of the most dynamic in the world, driven by a rapid cycle of experimentation and adoption.
“Food is no longer just something you eat,” she said in a recent interview with a local media outlet. “They are becoming a form of content consumption, combined with experience and narrative.”
She added that younger consumers, particularly those in their twenties and thirties, are more willing to engage with trends they encounter online, accelerating both their rise and decline.
“The speed of these trends is extremely fast, and that speed itself is shaping the market,” she said.

Looking ahead, experts expect the trend to move beyond single-note sensations such as chewiness towards more complex compositions, where contrasting textures are layered within a single product.
For consumers, however, the appeal remains simple.
In a market saturated with options, texture offers something that can be instantly understood, visually shared and physically felt. It turns eating into an experience that begins on a screen and lingers in memory – not as a taste, but as a sensation.
Read the full story at The Korea Times


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Crispy, chewy, soft: why texture, not taste, rules South Korea’s current viral food trends

Texture, not taste, is driving South Korea’s viral food trends. Think chewy, crispy snacks like butter rice cakes (pictured) and gelatinous ice goby sashimi. Photo: courtesy of Mond Cookie

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Starbucks in South Korea has launched the Aerocano at its stores across the country. Photo: courtesy of Starbucks

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Ice goby is a small translucent species of fish available briefly in South Korea’s early spring. Photo: Threads/awesomelee_official 

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Unique Slow Rise Bakery is located at the Klahanie Campground in Squamish. Photo: Unique Slow Rise Bakery

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Food & Drink

Korean food trends are prioritising texture over taste thanks to social media videos in which food can be experienced as a tactile sensation


Korean food trends are prioritising texture over taste thanks to social media videos in which food can be experienced as a tactile sensation.


Korea Times

South Korea

What's hot in Korea

Social media

Crispy, chewy, soft: why texture, not taste, rules South Korea’s current viral food trends

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Korean food trends are prioritising texture over taste thanks to social media videos in which food can be experienced as a tactile sensation

Korean food trends are prioritising texture over taste thanks to social media videos in which food can be experienced as a tactile sensation