Sauces and Japchae are common popular factors
“It’s good because it has a variety of flavors compared to other fast food.”
One of the directly managed stores of Korean startup ‘Utah Cupbap’
As frozen kimbap is capturing the taste buds of Americans, local people’s affection for cup rice is also coming into the spotlight.
According to YouTube on the 9th, a video related to cup rice posted on the Korea-related content channel ‘Awesome Korea’ was classified as a trending video. It is believed that the reason is that it reached 440,000 views in just two days.
The video shows foreigners enjoying cup rice at a Korean-style cup rice store, believed to be located in the western United States. An American who visited the store with his family mentioned the variety of sauces, saying, “Everyone has different tastes, and I like that you can choose the sauce to suit your taste.”
He held up the japchae and said to his wife, “It’s amazing how transparent it is. “It’s my first time trying it, but I really like it,” she said. He added, “It’s nice to be able to adjust the spiciness to suit your taste.” Although Korean food is usually known for being spicy, it is mentioned that in the case of cup rice, the intensity can be adjusted from level 1 to level 10. As with Korean food, even for beginners, locals say it is “spicy” to their tastes. The children who came with them also seemed to enjoy the chicken and japchae that were added to the cup rice.
There was also a picture of the brothers visiting a Cupbap store. When asked by the older brother, “From 1 to 10, how many points do you think this (Cupbob) is?” the younger brother answered “50 points,” giving a score five times higher than the highest score. In common with the previous family, the brothers also cited sauce and japchae as delicious elements. He also added that the combination of sauce, japchae, chicken, and rice goes well together.
When asked about their perception of Korean food, Americans responded, “I like it because it has a variety of flavors,” compared to American fast food. There were also cases where the answer was “because it’s delicious.”
It is understood that the Cupbop store in question in the video is one of about 48 directly managed stores of the Korean startup ‘Utah Cupbop.’ Utah Cupbap began in May 2013 when CEO Song Jeong-hoon, who got the idea from ‘Noryangjin Cupbap’, sold it in a small food truck in downtown Salt Lake, Utah. In the summer of 2022, on ABC’s popular program ‘Shark Tank’, in which CEO Song appeared, American billionaire Mark Cuban decided to invest in Utah Cupbop, which became a hot topic.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.