Snacks, Main Dishes, Ritual Use, "Can't Sell Enough"... Popular Even During Seollal, Busan's Local Fish Cake

Samjin Eomuk, New Year Seol Holiday Gift Set Renewed Release

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] How about 설 (Seollal) gift sets made by a local fish cake company?

Fish cake is a popular food that is perfect as a snack or main dish and is also used for ancestral rites, making it a staple on the dining table at all times.

Samjin Food, a local company in Busan and one of Korea’s leading fish cake brands, proudly presented its 설 (Seollal) holiday gift sets for the Year of the Black Tiger.

Samjin Fish Cake’s premium fish cake gift sets have been renewed and launched this year.

Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, this 설 holiday is expected to see ‘contactless’ gratitude greetings instead of homecoming visits. The number of consumers enjoying ‘Home-Seol (Home + Seollal)’ at home is expected to increase.

It is expected to attract the attention of Home-Seol consumers as it can be easily cooked at home.

Park Yong-jun, CEO of Samjin Fish Cake, is moving quickly to put fish cake at the top of the 설 gift list. As a third-generation manager who entered the fish cake industry, CEO Park is dedicated to spreading the ‘fish cake gift culture.’

Recently, the premium 'fish cake gift sets' have been selling out early every 설 and Chuseok holiday.

Samjin Fish Cake is releasing top-tier gift sets made with Alaska’s pristine pollock and the Pacific’s finest threadfin bream surimi.

This year, they introduced the Samjin Premium Set, a gift set for the Home-Seol consumers. This set is composed of fish cakes, sauces, and soups that can be easily cooked and enjoyed without any separate ingredient preparation.

The components, weighing about 2kg, include assorted fish cakes for the whole family, seaweed fish cake, seafood pancake, hot pepper roll, our family’s meticulous cream cheese balls, our family’s meticulous potato balls, fish cake soup, Samjin fish cake chunky soup, and wasabi-flavored dip sauce.

Also, the premium line that has consistently gained popularity as a holiday set is the ‘Lee Geum-bok Premium.’ It consists of high-end products designed by Lee Geum-bok, a master fish cake artisan who has continued handmade fish cakes for over 30 years and is the daughter-in-law of the founder of Samjin Fish Cake.

The special edition of the Lee Geum-bok Premium Set includes two types of munju (smoked cheese, walnut almond), premium fish cake soup, high-grade abalone fish cake, red crab meat fish cake, smoked duck fish cake, seafood broth pack, wasabi-flavored dip sauce, fish cake soup, and chunky soup, enhancing the product’s value.

The munju included in the Lee Geum-bok Premium special edition is MSC certified. This certification is given to seafood processed products using sustainable seafood, showcasing eco-friendly values and quality.

The regular Lee Geum-bok Premium is also popular. It consists of assorted fish cakes for the whole family, our family’s meticulous mushroom fish cake, our family’s meticulous vegetable roll fish cake, fisherman’s bar, fish soy sauce, wasabi-flavored dip sauce, fish cake soup, and chunky soup. It is also used for ancestral rites.

Not only the premium line but also the practical line has been configured as a holiday gift set this year. The 1953 set includes red bean fish cake, rice cake roll, vegetable tongtong, vegetable stick, triangular glass noodles, Cheon Oranda, and special Cheon square fish cake.

Samjin Food hinted that production quantities may be limited and early closure is possible.

Samjin Fish Cake ranked in the top 10 popular Korean foods in the U.S. based on the online sales platform ‘Amazon’ ranking. They are challenging the ‘globalization of fish cake.’ In 2020, they were selected as the No. 1 brand in the seafood processed food category in the 23rd Korea Brand Power Index (K-BPI) survey.

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