Field notes from Seoul
What inflation? South Koreans continue to queue for ginseng chicken soup in peak summer
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The queue at the popular Tosokchon Samgyetang restaurant in Seoul started forming even before the eatery opened at 10am on July 15, the first of the three hottest days of summer in South Korea.
ST PHOTO: WENDY TEO
- Many South Koreans continue to eat samgyetang during boknal despite a nearly 30% price rise over five years due to its traditional belief in health benefits.
- Rising costs of chicken, rice, and ginseng, along with inflation, have pushed samgyetang prices up, but government measures aim to ease food price pressures.
- Restaurants see increased boknal customers even amid inflation, while some families save by preparing samgyetang at home, turning the tradition into a family bonding time.
AI generated
SEOUL – It was not yet 10am and the eatery in central Seoul was still shut, but a queue had already formed outside the popular Tosokchon Samgyetang restaurant, a stone’s throw from Gyeongbokgung Palace.
It was July 15, or chobok, the first of the three hottest days of summer collectively known in South Korea as boknal, when it is tradition for South Koreans to tuck into a steaming bowl of samgyetang, or ginseng chicken soup, made from a whole young chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, ginseng, garlic and jujube.
