M&S is hoping to cash in on shoppers’ growing appetite for Korean cuisine, having added tteokbokki to its Taste of Asia range.
Tteokbokki is a popular Korean street food dish, comprising rice cakes in a spicy gochujang-based sauce.
Two 350g variants – Sweet & Spicy and Katsu – have rolled into M&S stores and Ocado, with an rsp of £4 each.
Microwaveable and ready to eat in five minutes, they were “perfect for a warming autumn lunch or for those wanting to relive a Korean holiday at home”, according to an M&S spokeswoman.
Mintel last year predicted tteokbokki would go mainstream in the UK in 2024, noting that 23% of UK consumers had eaten Korean food at home in the three months to March 2023.
The dish was already gaining ground in foodservice, with Wagamama including it on its Korean menu in 2023.
Meanwhile, a tteokbokki recipe video posted to TikTok by influencer Michael Finch had been liked 3.6 million times by the time of writing.
Suppliers and retailers alike have sought to expand their world food ranges in recent years to cater to growing demand for K-food.
World foods manufacturer Surya Foods added a range of Korean store cupboard ingredients into Tesco under a new brand, Sun Hee, in 2021.
Ocado listed 50 new Korean products in 2023 after noticing searches for ‘kimchi’ on its site had increased by over 40% in two years.
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