My Love from the Star
“My Love from the Star” Spreads Chimaek
▲ Drama Poster
“It's perfect to have Chimaek on a snowy day!”
It is an word of Cheon Song-i (Jeon Ji-hyun), the female protagonist of "My Love from the Star," which ended in popularity in 2014.
In addition to this, the word "Chimaek" appears a lot in the drama.
With this line, there was a craze for "Chimaek" in China.
As the drama "My Love from the Star" is also loved by China, more and more Chinese people want to taste the "Chimaek" mentioned in the drama.
Immediately after the drama's broadcast, sales of Korean-style chicken restaurants in China rose, and "Chimaek" was listed on the popular search term on Chinese portal sites.
#What is Chimaek?
"Chimaek" is short for chicken and beer.
Here, chicken refers to Korean chicken. It is a food made by covering sliced chicken with fried clothes or dough and frying it in oil. There is not just fried chicken. There are various types of chicken according to spices and recipes, such as seasoned chicken, soy sauce chicken, green onion chicken, and chicken gangjeong. Korean-style chicken is characterized by a thinner thickness of fried chicken than American chicken.
In 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korean Food Promotion Agency conducted a survey of local people living in 18 major cities abroad, including Beijing, Ho Chi Minh City and New York. According to the survey results, "Korean-style chicken" was selected as the most preferred Korean food by foreign locals.
Brazil, which is emerging as a new base for the globalization of Korean food, announced its plan to screen "My Love from the Star" in 2023. Now, Korean food culture, including Chimaek, will spread not only in East Asia but also on the other side of the world.
#“Chimaek” listed in Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary is a dictionary published by Oxford University Press in England and is one of the most prestigious English dictionaries in the world. Starting with 'Kimchi' and 'Makgeolli' in 1976, Korean words are constantly listed in the dictionary.
The word 'chimaek' was registered in the dictionary and became a hot topic. In the case of 'chimaek', it was not registered in the Korean Standard Korean Dictionary. In addition to chimaek, many words referring to Korean foods such as banchan, bulgogi, dongchimi, galbi, japchae, gimbap, and samgyeopsal have been listed.
The Oxford English Dictionary explained why Korean words have been updated, saying, "As Korean pop culture has gained international popularity, everything seems to have a prefix of 'K-'" adding, "We are all at the peak of the Korean Wave, which can be felt not only in movies, music, fashion, but also in words."
The fact that Korean food culture is registered in the Oxford Dictionary means that Korean food culture is also attracting attention and influencing around the world.
In the future, I hope that Korean food culture will expand to the world and enjoy not only the fun that foreign Korean Wave fans see but also the fun of eating