Nostalgic Flavors

Snack Bar Goodies Made the Way to and from School Fun

1

The Fun of Picking

Pork Cutlet Skewer

Pork cutlet skewers came in all sorts of shapes, including bears, cartoon characters and circles. They were a snack bar staple from 2000 to 2010. Interestingly, though called a ¡°pork cutlet skewer,¡± it was usually chicken. Cooks generously brushed them with spicy chicken sauce or teriyaki sauce. Since 2010, fewer shops have been selling them, but with so many people missing that nostalgic taste, they¡¯ve become popular online sales items.
What makes pork cutlets so fun is that they come in so many shapes, making it fun to choose. Some snack bar owners even drew pictures with ketchup and mustard on their skewers.

2

Harmony of Sugar and Ketchup

Though called a ¡°hot dog,¡± the Korean take on the Frankfurter is actually a corn dog―a sausage on a wooden stick, dipped in batter and fried, then dipped in batter once more and fried again. In fact, it¡¯s still a popular snack. Cooks typically roll the hot dog once in a container full of sugar to coat it, and sprinkled ketchup or mustard sauce according to taste. Recently, new takes on the ¡°hot dog¡± are appearing in convenience stores and franchise shops, including ones with whole mozzarella instead of sausages and ones with Cheongyang peppers.

3

Tasty and Convenient

¡°Col-pop¡± brings two great tastes together: cola and popcorn chicken. Think of a small paper cup of popcorn chicken on top of a big paper cup of cola. For a while, it was the king of the snack world. The chicken was typically flavored with a barbeque or tangy sauce. It was a relatively expensive snack―it cost KRW 1,500-2,000 at a time when a cup of tteokbokki was just KRW 500. However, few students could turn down that combination of chicken, sauce and carbonated beverage.

4

Beginnings of a Culinary Love Affair

Tteokbokki is Korea¡¯s national snack. The Korean love of tteokbokki begins early thanks to the school zone snackshop. A paper cup of tteokbokki for KRW 500 was a regular snack on their way home from school. The main ingredients of a cup of tteokbokki used to be rice cakes, fish cakes and eggs. Compared to today¡¯s more extravagant tteokbokki with sausages and glass noodles, it was quite simple. Nevertheless, many people miss the old cups of tteokbokki, probably because of the generosity of the snack bars owners who used to serve tteokbokki full to the brim.

5

KRW 200 Happiness

Along with cups of tteokbokki, the chicken heart skewer was a typical snack bar treat that dominated an era. Three to four halves of chicken hearts are skewered and grilled, and then soy sauce or teriyaki sauce is brushed on the skewer. The chewy texture, savory taste and low price of KRW 200 made the chicken heart skewer very popular. Chicken heart skewers were grilled in advance and stacked like mountains in time for the end of school, taken out one by one to be served.