The Rise of Tactile Eating
On a recent weekend afternoon, Hwang In-woo, a university student in Seoul, stood in line for something called Butter rice cakes. He never intended to try them. Like many young Koreans, he was there because his girlfriend had seen the dessert on social media and insisted they experience it together. As Hwang worked his way through Korea’s latest food crazes, he noticed a pattern that went deeper than sweetness or spice. “Most of them are chewy or soft, so you really don’t need much stress or strength to enjoy them,” he told The Korea Times. His observation captures a quiet but decisive shift in Korean food culture, where texture (how something stretches, resists, collapses, or melts in the mouth) has become the central driver of consumption.
Across Korea’s viral desserts, beverages, and seasonal seafood, what matters most is no longer just how something tastes, but how it feels. This transformation reflects broader changes in consumer behavior, social media influence, and the global expansion of Korean culinary innovation. From marshmallow-based cookies to aerated coffee, texture has emerged as the primary language through which a new generation experiences food.
The Meaning of Kkudeok Kkudeok
To understand this movement, one must first understand the Korean concept of “kkudeok kkudeok.” According to the National Institute of Korean Language, the term originally referred to a surface that had partially dried or hardened after being frozen. As moist yet chewy foods dominate viral trends, the word has evolved to describe a distinctive texture: dense, elastic, and yielding with just enough resistance to engage the jaw.
Food columnist Kim Sae-bom, who has spent over a decade covering Korean cuisine, traces this preference to the nature of traditional Korean food. “Koreans grew up eating a lot of foods that are tough and fibrous, like chewy rice cakes, dried seafood, and seasoned greens,” she explained to The Korea Herald. “Because of that, our jaw muscles naturally became stronger. Many people enjoy foods that give their mouth something to push against.” This physical satisfaction, the slight resistance that makes eating feel more substantial, has become a psychological anchor for consumers facing economic pressures. When budgets tighten, a rich, dense texture heightens the sense that spending was worthwhile.
“If you look at the foods that have gone viral, there’s a clear tendency among Koreans to favor chewy, sticky textures that really cling to the palate.”
The term now appears everywhere from mukbang videos to brand advertisements. YouTubers report that thumbnails featuring “kkudeok kkudeok” consistently generate higher view counts. The texture has become content in itself, transforming eating from a private act into a shareable spectacle.
The Viral Cycle: From Dubai to Seoul and Back
The Dubai chewy cookie, known locally as “dujjonku,” exemplifies how texture drives viral fame. Despite its name, the dessert is neither from Dubai nor technically a cookie. It is a Korean innovation inspired by Dubai chocolate bars, which feature pistachio cream and shredded phyllo dough called kataifi. The Korean adaptation replaces the chocolate shell with a marshmallow-based dough, creating a layered textural experience that moves between stickiness, elasticity, and crunch.
The trend began in April 2024 when a local dessert store created the variation. By September, it had driven nationwide sellouts and price hikes. Celebrities and K-pop idols posted about the cookies on social media, accelerating demand. At the peak, baker like Seong Jeongmin sold out of 1,000 units within hours and imposed four-per-customer limits. Major chains including Paris Baguette and A Twosome Place released their own versions, turning “Dubai-style” into shorthand for textural contrast rather than a specific recipe.
Yet the fall was as swift as the rise. By early 2026, display cases sat full of unsold cookies. “Now, when customers come in, they don’t look at it,” Seong told The New York Times. This boom-and-bust pattern is characteristic of Korean food trends. Previous crazes followed similar arcs: “fatcarons” (oversized macarons) in 2018-2019, Pokemon bread in 2022, and tanghulu (candied fruit skewers) in 2023-2024.
Beyond Desserts: Texture in Every Category
The emphasis on mouthfeel has expanded far beyond sweets. In March 2025, Starbucks Korea introduced the “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 flavor, creating a lighter, smoother drinking experience. The response broke records: over 1 million cups sold within a week, marking the fastest such milestone for an iced beverage in the company’s local history. Competitors including Paik’s Coffee and Compose Coffee quickly followed with similar foam-based variations, establishing texture as a new battleground in the nation’s competitive cafe sector.
Seasonal ingredients have also found new life through textural framing. As spring arrives, webfoot octopus (jjukkumi) and ice goby sashimi gain visibility online, prized not just for flavor but for distinctive sensations. Jjukkumi, harvested between March and May, contains roe that offers a granular, chewy experience. Ice goby, available only briefly in early spring, delivers a delicate, almost gelatinous texture. Short-form videos demonstrating how to cook octopus for the “perfect” texture circulate widely, turning familiar ingredients into viral experiences. In each case, the food itself is not new; what has changed is how it is framed and shared.
Even traditional desserts have returned to prominence through texture. Yakgwa (honey-glazed cookies) and gaeseong juak (fried rice cakes coated with syrup) have surged in popularity among younger generations, sparking renewed interest in classic sweets. These items emphasize intensely sweet and sticky textures that align with contemporary preferences.
The Screen-to-Table Pipeline
Unlike taste, which cannot be fully transmitted digitally, texture lends itself to visual translation. In an ecosystem shaped by short-form video, eating begins not at the table but on screen. Social media clips rarely present these foods as flavors; instead, they frame them as moments. A hand pulls apart a sticky surface. A piece stretches just long enough to satisfy the viewer’s anticipation. The visual language translates tactile sensation into something that can be consumed through a screen, turning food into an experience that can be anticipated before it is ever consumed.
Lee Eun-hui, a consumer science professor at Inha University, describes Korea’s snack and dessert market as one of the most dynamic in the world. “Food is no longer just something you eat,” she said in a recent interview. “They are becoming a form of content consumption, combined with experience and narrative.” Younger consumers, particularly those in their 20s and 30s, engage with trends they encounter online with unprecedented speed, accelerating both the rise and decline of specific items.
This mediated relationship with food has created new opportunities for culinary creators. The viral Korean sweet potato hack, which involves dunking roasted potatoes in an ice water bath halfway through cooking, gained millions of views by promising a custard-like, silky interior. While food scientists note that the texture largely depends on the specific variety of sweet potato used, the method spread globally because it offered a visual and tactile promise that could be understood instantly through video.
Global Reach and Cultural Export
Korea’s texture obsession is no longer confined to the peninsula. Korean fried chicken, known for its ultra-crispy double-fried coating, topped a 2025 global survey of preferred Korean foods, with 14 percent of 11,000 consumers across 22 major cities citing it as their favorite. The satisfaction rate for Korean food among international consumers reached 94.2 percent, with over 80 percent indicating they would eat it again.
The influence extends through the “mukbang” phenomenon, where creators broadcast their eating experiences to millions. This cultural export has inspired virtual dining brands like Mukbang Burger, which recently expanded to 200 Ruby Tuesday locations across the United States. The brand features oversized sliders designed for visual impact and shareable consumption, bringing the Korean concept of eating as entertainment to American consumers.
Global chains have taken notice. Sweetgreen introduced a Korean BBQ menu featuring roasted chicken with cucumber kimchi and apple kimchi sauce, explicitly highlighting “a layered mix of textures and flavors.” Nestle has identified texture as “the new frontier of food and beverage” in its 2026 trend forecasts, noting that while crunchy textures previously dominated, smoother sensations like “velvety” are now surging 40 percent quarter over quarter in social media mentions.
The Psychology of Resistance
Consumer research supports the observation that texture has overtaken other attributes in importance. According to Innova Market Insights, South Korean consumers show a strong preference for texture and flavor in meal preparation, far more than the global average. This suggests a growing demand for innovative options that cater to specific tactile preferences.
The appeal lies in the multisensory nature of textured foods. When inflation squeezes budgets, consumers increasingly turn to physical sensation as a way to feel their spending is justified. A 26-year-old YouTuber focusing on dessert content explained the phenomenon to The Korea Herald: “Even when people eat alone, they seem to look for food that stimulates not just taste but also visual and auditory senses. People are really into foods with strong textures these days.”
Food scientist Shawn Matijevich of the Institute of Culinary Education explains that texture affects perception at a chemical level. “When starches heat up, cool down, and then heat again, they can change structure slightly,” he noted regarding the viral sweet potato method. This structural change creates the smooth, custard-like consistency that consumers crave, demonstrating how physical transformation translates into emotional satisfaction.
The Next Wave of Sensory Innovation
Looking ahead, experts expect the trend to evolve beyond single-note sensations toward more complex compositions. While chewiness currently dominates, the future likely holds products where contrasting textures layer within a single bite: crispy bits suspended in soft matrices, or alternating zones of resistance and yield.
Korean cuisine’s traditional emphasis on banchan (side dishes) and mixed rice bowls already provides a foundation for this approach. Bibimbap, which combines soft rice with crunchy vegetables, chewy meat, and crispy seaweed, exemplifies the harmony of textures that has long characterized Korean meals. Modern innovators are extending this principle into new formats, from butter rice cakes with crisp exteriors and dense interiors to aerated coffees that float between liquid and foam.
The speed of these trends shows no sign of slowing. As Lee Eun-hui noted, “The speed of these trends is extremely fast, and that speed itself is shaping the market.” For brands and retailers, the challenge lies in balancing innovation with authenticity, creating products that offer genuine tactile satisfaction rather than novelty for its own sake.
What to Know
- Texture has replaced flavor as the primary driver of viral food trends in South Korea, with consumers seeking specific mouthfeels described as “kkudeok kkudeok” (chewy and elastic).
- The Dubai chewy cookie (dujjonku) exemplifies the boom-and-bust cycle of Korean food trends, rising to national fame in 2024 and declining by early 2026 as the market saturated.
- Starbucks Korea’s Aerocano coffee sold over 1 million cups in one week by using aeration technology to alter mouthfeel without changing flavor, sparking imitation products across the cafe sector.
- Social media platforms, particularly short-form video, accelerate these trends by allowing texture to be communicated visually before food is physically consumed.
- Korean fried chicken topped global surveys as the most popular Korean dish in 2025, with texture-driven foods achieving 94.2 percent satisfaction rates among international consumers.
- Experts predict the trend will move toward complex, layered textures combining multiple sensations within single products, building on Korea’s traditional culinary emphasis on textural variety.
