"Top Comfort Food for Me in the COVID Era is Tteokbokki"

Seoul City Selects 10 'Comfort Foods' ... Linking with Next Month's 'Seoul Gourmet Week' Event to Foster New Vitality

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] What kind of food offers delicious comfort to us who are tired and exhausted living in the era of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19)?

On the 16th, Seoul City announced that in a survey titled 'Food that comforts me,' conducted through an online vote of over 10,000 people nationwide last September, 'Tteokbokki' was selected as the number one comfort food.

Following that, chicken, kimchi jjigae, samgyeopsal, samgyetang, ramen, doenjang jjigae, cake, beef, and dakbal were ranked as comforting foods in order. Although not making the top 10, pizza, ice cream, galbijjim, kimchi, and miyeokguk also ranked high among popular foods.

This survey was conducted as part of the 'Seoul Gourmet Week' event scheduled to be held throughout Seoul from November 11 to 15. Seoul City, preparing a new concept gourmet event themed around 'food' and 'comfort' to support citizens exhausted by COVID-19, explained that it plans to actively use the survey results as basic data for events aimed at coexisting with small business owners.

Notably, most citizens who participated in this survey cited reasons such as 'because it is homemade by mom' and 'the taste my mother used to make during childhood' for selecting the food, drawing attention to the fact that 'mother' and 'food' symbolize comfort.

It was also interesting that the ranking of 'food that comforts me' chosen by 50 foreigners living in Seoul was not significantly different from the preferences of Koreans. Nigerian Aiyanyo Titi ranked tteokbokki first, saying, "It was so spicy that I cried like a drama protagonist, but I remember continuing to eat it because it was delicious," and Pakistani Majad Mustaq introduced samgyetang as "a food that helps me endure the cold winter and chilly winds."

Seoul City plans to collaborate with illustrator artist Noisin to transform the top 10 comforting foods, including tteokbokki and chicken, into cute emoticons. During Seoul Gourmet Week, citizens who use participating restaurants in tourist districts will be offered free KakaoTalk emoticon downloads, creating a festive atmosphere and providing small joys.

To help restaurants hit hard by COVID-19 in sales, Seoul City plans to provide packaging systems and eco-friendly lunchbox packages to restaurants that previously did not offer takeout or delivery services, offering practical support to improve small business sales.

Additionally, Seoul City will carry out various programs such as the 'Wheel Restaurant' for medical staff and volunteers working hard to overcome COVID-19, and the 'City·Rak (都市·樂) Concert,' an on-tact travel experience with celebrities.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.