Gen Z’s Choice of Traditional Desserts
Retro is the New Hip
Yakgwa, a traditional Korean honey cookie, is gaining popularity in Korea. Along with these cookies that have been long known as a popular snack for old ladies, young Koreans are now rocking the so-called “granny chic style” when it comes to the latest trend in food and fashion. The trend “halmae-nials”, a compound word made by combining the Korean word “halmae,” which means “granny,” and “millennial” embrace and redefine the granny style, with Yakgwa becoming Millennials and Gen Z’s favorite snack. They don’t even mind waiting in a long line to buy some handmade Yakgwa that they call “halmaenial dessert.” Find out which traditional Korean snacks became hot to Korean Gen Z.
Party Rice Cake, Reinterpretation of Rice Cake
Rice cakes have been a staple food in most East Asian countries that grow rice as their staple crop, and they're especially popular as a snack in Korea, where they can be found in convenience stores and subway station kiosks. Because rice cakes are quite filling, they were either thought of as more of meal replacements or old-fashioned snacks associated with traditional tea, especially in terms of their characteristic chewiness and sweetness. Due to these facts, they were more popular among the older generations, rather than youngsters.
But with the retro wave sweeping over the world of desserts in Korea, fusion-style desserts made with rice cakes are becoming ever more popular with the younger generation. Instead of more common types of rice cake that are usually chewy or springier in texture, snow white rice cake and steamed rice cake with a light and fluffy texture are used as the sponge of the cake. Put together with cream and various toppings, these fusion-style rice cakes go well not only with traditional beverages but also with cafe-style beverages like coffee and ade as well.
Furthermore, these cakes utilize the “halmae-nial” ingredients like black sesame, matcha, and pumpkin to seamlessly connect the art of rice cakes with contemporary dessert cakes and capture the trendy taste buds of young consumers. Snow white rice cake topped with bittersweet matcha cream and rice roll cake topped with black sesame became particularly popular among people of all age and gender.
The popularity of such rice cakes can be seen in the fact that