Korean food 4th-most popular cuisine on Instagram

By Jun Ji-hye

Korean food has become the fourth-most popular cuisine on Instagram, beating out some of the most highly regarded fares in the world such as French, Thai and Chinese cuisines, according to a recent study by international foodie magazine Chef’s Pencil.

The magazine said it analyzed Instagram tags to reveal what cuisines and foods were trending around the world, as the photo and video-sharing social networking service has been a main venue for showcasing food, with millions of people sharing their culinary experiences online.

As of February, #food alone accounted for 430 million Instagram posts, according to the magazine.

The research showed that Japanese food ranked highest with about 15.5 million related tags, followed by Italian dishes at 14.7 million tags and Indian cuisine at 8.5 million tags.

Apart from Italian and Mexican, which came sixth with 6.7 million tags, the top 10 Instagram hits were for the cuisines of Asia, with Korean food ranked fourth with 7.5 million tags.

“Some Asian foods such as Korean offer what foodies have begun craving ― an experience. It’s not only about the food you’re fed ― the experience itself is just as important,” the magazine said. “And perhaps the huge success of the film Parasite helped turn the world’s attention to Korea and everything it has to offer.”

The magazine added that Asian food has gained a reputation for being healthier than Western food, noting that the health-conscious MZ generation ― those born between the 1980s and the early 2000s as a combination of millennials and Generation Z ― “love to take to Instagram to brag about their healthy food choices, which not only look great but also make them look better and healthier.”