Hello, everyone! It’s your local Korean friend Bibi, bringing you the most authentic tastes and vibrant lifestyle stories from Korea.
When you think of “Korean snacks,” what kind of flavors or images come to your mind first?
Since South Korea is a peninsula surrounded by the sea on three sides, we have a highly developed and unique culture of seafood-based snacks that are both savory and delicious.
From the ultimate pioneer of shrimp snacks, ‘Saewookkang,’ to the octopus-shaped ‘Jagalchi,’ the savory blue crab-flavored ‘Kkotgerang,’ and ‘Goraebab’ filled with various cute sea creature shapes, walked into any Korean supermarket or convenience store, and you will find an incredible array of seafood snacks that delight your eyes.
Among all these amazing options, today I want to introduce a personal favorite of mine: Nongshim Squid Chips (Ojing-eojip). Launched way back in 1985, this legendary snack has been deeply loved by Koreans for over 40 years.
🦑 Butter-Grilled Flavor: The Rich Aroma Created by a Touch of Magic
The official name of this snack is ‘Squid Chips Butter-Grilled Flavor.’ It beautifully replicates the taste of ‘butter-grilled squid,’ a highly popular street food and movie theater snack in Korea, into a crunchy chip format.
An interesting fact hidden in the ingredients list is that it contains only 5.6% squid and a tiny 0.04% butter. You might wonder, “Can it really taste like squid with such small percentages?” However, the moment you tear open the bag, all your doubts will instantly vanish into thin air.
As soon as the bag opens, a rich, savory, and sweet aroma of butter-grilled squid instantly fills the room! When you take your first bite, you will experience an explosion of the classic Korean ‘Dan-jjan-dan-jjan’ (sweet and salty) flavor combination. Thanks to the rich butter notes, the snack has a slightly oily, rich finish, which creates an incredibly addictive quality.
Because of this, for Korean adults, Squid Chips are not just a simple children’s snack; they are widely recognized as one of the best ‘light beer snacks’ to pair with a cold can of lager. After a long, exhausting day at work, taking a sip of refreshing beer followed by a handful of crunchy Squid Chips makes all the stress melt away completely.
🦑 Savory squid flavor
🧈 Rich buttery taste
🕸️ Cute Squid Body Shape and a Soft, Melt-in-Your-Mouth Texture
Another charming element of Squid Chips lies in their unique appearance and satisfying texture.
When you pour the snacks out of the bag, you will see cute, hollow chips designed to look like the actual body of a squid. They feature a distinct honeycomb-like grid pattern carved into them, making them visually entertaining to eat.
Thanks to this unique lattice structure, the texture is an absolute masterpiece.
Your first bite delivers a light, crispy “crunch!” sound, but the moment it sits on your tongue, it gently melts away with a surprisingly soft finish. It is not hard or tough at all; instead, it has a fluffy, pillowy crunch that anyone of any age can enjoy without any burden on their teeth.
As you enjoy the satisfying rustling sound and delightful texture, you will find yourself staring at an empty bag in the blink of an eye. It truly feels like magic.
⏳ A Nostalgic Journey Back to Childhood with a Single Bag of Chips
It is a strange but universal truth that even though hundreds of fancy, trendy new snacks flood the market every single day, we eventually find ourselves reaching for the nostalgic snacks we used to eat during our childhood. Have you ever experienced this?
The taste of that specific snack you bought with your tiny allowance from your parents, holding it tightly in your small hands, is something you can never forget even when you grow up. Even now, as a full-grown adult, I find it fascinating how my hands naturally reach for a bag of Squid Chips whenever I walk through the supermarket snack aisle.
Come to think of it, the snacks my father occasionally brings home from the grocery store are always the same as well. They are very old-fashioned, classic snacks. I realize those must be the precious tastes of nostalgia that my dad used to eat with sparkling eyes when he was a little boy.
Isn’t it incredibly romantic that simply sharing a bag of snacks can transcend generations and instantly take us on a nostalgic time-travel journey back to each other’s childhoods?
This makes me deeply curious about your own personal stories! What kind of snacks did you enjoy eating the most when you were a child? Every country must have its own soulful snack that has been loved for generations. Please leave a comment below and let me know all about your favorite childhood treats!
🏆 Coming Up Next: Oreo Rules the World, But What Rules Korea?
As a fun side note, do you know what the best-selling snack in the entire world is? It is none other than the famous ‘Oreo.’
Then, what do you think is the number one best-selling processed food and national snack in South Korea? As I briefly mentioned earlier, it is ‘Saewookkang’, the ultimate ancestor of all Korean seafood snacks!
I will bring you a super interesting and detailed review of Saewookkang—the true soul food of Koreans—in my next blog post, so please look forward to it!
If you ever plan a trip to Korea, make sure to visit a local convenience store, grab a bag of Nongshim Squid Chips, and enjoy them with a nice, ice-cold beer!
