Summer Vacation Season Without Overseas Travel... Unique Foods Catch Attention

MyChef Meal Kit

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] As the peak summer vacation season approaches, the food industry is introducing unique food items to attract consumers amid difficulties in overseas travel due to the spread of COVID-19.

On the 17th, according to the food industry, meal kit specialist company Mychef launched meal kit products such as ‘Shrimp-filled Kung Pao Pong Curry’, ‘Thai-style Tom Yum Goong’, and ‘Sawadikap Pad Thai’, allowing customers to cook Southeast Asian dishes themselves. These products involved long-term efforts in sauce development to faithfully reproduce the authentic taste of Thailand.

Domino’s Pizza introduced the ‘Blockbuster 4 Pizza’, which lets customers enjoy dishes from four cities around the world on one pizza. It features steak fondue from Zurich, Switzerland; white cream shrimp from Vancouver, Canada; horseradish calamari from Louisiana, USA; and smoky beef tapas from Le?n, Spain?all on a single pizza.

Exotic snacks are also popular. Angel-in-us Coffee partnered with Samyang Foods to release the ‘Shin (辛) Buldak Banh Mi’. This Vietnamese-style sandwich, banh mi, is coated with Samyang Foods’ Buldak sauce, famous for its addictive spiciness and annual sales of 500 million units, delivering an intense spicy flavor.

Overseas foods can also be found at convenience stores. CU introduced three Singaporean ready meals using chili crab sauce and kaya jam. The ‘Chili Crab Shrimp Rice Lunchbox’ is a product where crab meat fried rice is mixed with chili crab sauce. The ‘Singapore Chili Crab Burger’ combines a chewy shrimp patty with chili crab sauce, and the ‘Singapore Kaya Toast’ harmonizes whole wheat bread with butter cream and kaya jam.

A food industry official explained, "As overseas travel routes have been blocked, the number of consumers trying to feel the nostalgia of travel through food has greatly increased," adding, "The industry plans to continue releasing various products that capture the authentic local flavors."

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