Western Products Taking South Korea By Storm

When my family and I first arrived in South Korea in 2004, one of the most difficult things to adjust to was scant supply of Western products. Coming from America, we were unprepared at first for the lack of options we found in Korea. Many basic food ingredients that my mother was accustomed to using were nonexistent in markets and grocery stores. Red meat was very rare, and dairy was hard to come by. In order to accommodate my family of five, we often bought out the entire store’s milk supply, as they would only stock one gallon at a time. The only cereal we could find that first year was a Post brand cereal designed to appeal to Koreans; it was black bean flavored, and we never grew to enjoy it. Interestingly, though, Post was one of the first companies to see the potential in introducing Western products to Korea, and soon we had many variations of cereal. In the early years, the only restaurants in our small, ocean-side village were McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts. I remember being very grateful for these restaurant’s existence; a bulgolgi burger or kimchi donut was still better than nothing at all. At the same time, we had difficulty finding clothes that fit us and Western-style furniture. The lack of familiarity in our new home was discouraging, but my family slowly learned to adapt. We slept on the floor, like Koreans, and learned how to simulate American tastes using Asian ingredients.

Occasionally, though, we still missed things from home, such as coffee, cheese, bread, and other products that many in Europe and America take for granted. For the first year, we ate a lot of Spam, the only food we could find to assuage our cravings. Kindly, our relatives in the United States would send us items that we needed, snacks that could survive the shipping process, and items of clothing, but sometimes that wasn’t enough. Fortunately, a Korean style Costco was only three hours away. We drove there about once each year to stock up on such luxuries as candy bars and a Thanksgiving turkey, if we were lucky. Once, around 2007, a Walmart opened up in our town. However, shortly it had to shut down. Koreans disliked the department store style of shopping, their local market where they had personal relationships with vendors. Korea was not yet ready for change, but in only a few short years, it was.

With a Free Trade Agreement that Korea signed with the United States and other European countries in 2011, Western products began to slowly appear. Multiple Starbucks opened in our small town, as well as other American restaurants. Even more excitingly, many new products began to come to Korea, via a partnership between a British retailer called Tesco, and a Korean department store called Home-Plus. My family and I have watched in great appreciation as stores grew increasingly stocked with items that we never imagined would make it to Korea. It is difficult to imagine being excited over finding pasta, a baguette, Kit-Kats, cheese, frozen peas, or American home-decor, yet for us, having access to such items at all, much less at reasonable prices was a reason to celebrate. At the same time, Korean products are being exported increasingly to England and America, allowing for both cultures to thrive off the demand for each other’s products.

Unlike in earlier years, where Western style foods and other products were rejected, Korea seems to be open to the onslaught of Western merchandise. Many are enjoying sampling Western dishes, just as those in America enjoy trying exotic foods from Asia.
Sources:
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Jung-yoon, Kim. “Homeplus helps Brits discover Korea.” Joonang Daily, 7 September, 2007.
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http://www.topics-mag.com/globalization/food-korea.htm
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http://www.ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/korus-fta