8 billion packets eaten in a year! Why do Koreans love instant noodles so much? It turns out that it has something to do with the United States?
South Korea is one of the most volatile of the three East Asian countries, and young people sleep only four hours a day, relying on instant noodles and iced American.
How crazy are Koreans eating instant noodles? 8 billion packs are eaten a year, and the average number of instant noodle barrels per person per year is the highest in the world, reaching 160 packs! Instant noodles are almost a staple food for Koreans.
Is instant noodles so delicious? In fact, young Koreans have no choice.
With a population of more than 50 million, the country's land area is not as large as China's Anhui Province, and the per capita cultivated land area is very small. The most terrible thing is that the land in South Korea is not very good, the latitude is high, the winter is long and cold, and there are only a few kinds of grain and vegetables that can be grown, which leads to the very high cost of Korean agricultural products.
As a developed country, South Korea's per capita meat consumption is lower than that of developing countries such as China, and in 2023, South Korea's per capita meat intake is 584 kg, and more than 70 kg in China. A pound of pork in South Korea is about 50 yuan a catty, the fluctuation is very large, when it is high, it can reach 180 yuan a catty, and it is ordinary pork, which is almost 4 times that of Chinese pork. And the salary of Koreans is only 1 of ours5 times, the average monthly salary is about 3 million won, which is about 160,000 RMB. This salary looks good, but it is very small when converted into pork.
It's just that you can't afford meat, and now Koreans can't even afford to eat rice, and that's not a joke.
Some time ago, a "human flesh back food passenger" who was traveling to and from South Korea was stopped by the staff at the airport in my country because his luggage was overweight. After opening the package at the airport security check, it was found that it was all rice, with a total weight of more than 70 kilograms. Now the price of rice in South Korea is very expensive, and the most inferior rice is also 17 yuan a catty, which is about 8 times that of China.
In this way, the "human flesh carrying food customer" is carrying 2,300 yuan, and flying to South Korea can earn 2,000 yuan in more than an hour after deducting the ticket money. Last year, South Korea's rice output was only 3.6 million tons, and Anhui Province was five times that, including wheat and corn, which are staple grains, South Korea's annual grain output was only 4.5 million tons, and Anhui Province was 10 times that.
Regardless of the fact that South Koreans are usually very nervous, in fact, if they do not import food, the famine in this country may be worse than that of North Korea. It was instant noodles that saved South Korea, and a bucket of low-end instant noodles in Korea is only 475 yuan, similar to China's barreled instant noodles **, but the Chinese only take instant noodles for emergencies, Koreans really take it as a meal, ** if it is higher, Koreans can't live.
Of course, there are also two raw materials for making instant noodles, one is corn and the other is palm oil. The largest corn production in the world is the United States, with 3600 million tons. Instant noodles are just one of the more than 14 million tons of corn that South Korea imports from the United States every year, which is processed into a variety of foods. It's no wonder that Koreans are called "cobs", and for good reason, this is a country that lives on corn on the cob.
After the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, all countries have reduced their food exports, in order to cope with the global food crisis, this year's South Korea** also encourages young people to eat instant noodles, 1000 barrels of instant noodles per person, is it difficult to eat them in a year? It's a piece of cake for Koreans.
When it comes to side dishes, we have to talk about Korean kimchi, which is a small material area in my country, and nitrite is seriously exceeded. Even so, if Shandong breaks off Chinese cabbage**, Koreans won't even be able to eat kimchi.
In fact, it is healthier for Koreans to eat instant noodles than to eat kimchi for a meal, and people in this country are very tired of life, and they usually have no spare time to cook, and there is nothing to cook. It's no surprise that instant noodles are all the rage in South Korea.
Here I want to give you a science about the history of instant noodles. Instant noodles were invented in 1958 by Momofuku Ando, a Japanese-Chinese born in Chiayi County, Taiwan Province, China, as a businessman who ran a clothing company as well as a food business. Sympathetic to seeing many people queuing for a bowl of ramen, he began researching how to make a convenient, quick, delicious noodle dish that could be preserved for a long time.
After countless experiments, Momofuku Ando finally succeeded in developing noodles that only need hot water to brew and eat, and add some vegetables that have been drained of water to the noodles. This instant noodle is not only convenient and quick, but also delicious, and is loved by consumers, so Ando Momofuku is known as the "father of fast food".
As we all know, Koreans like to steal the intangible cultural heritage of other countries, and our Malatang Koreans have only eaten it for less than five years, and then they say that it is theirs, and now they say that the sugar gourd is "Korean-style sugar gourd". So isn't the next target instant noodles? Japan's status as the inventor of instant noodles may not be guaranteed.
In the future, the life of Koreans will be even more difficult, as China's industrial upgrading continues, South Korea's semiconductors, integrated circuits, communication manufacturing, cosmetics, and even Korean entertainment will be impacted by our country, and the ** deficit will make South Korea poorer and poorer. , instant noodles are good! South Korea's affluence is short-lived, and it will eventually return to its original position.