If you only ever try one Korean snack food, it’s got to be Choco Pie. The round chocolate and marshmallow treat is a favourite with Koreans of all ages, and a standard treat for sugar-deprived men doing their military service. There are two popular brands making the snack: Orion and Lotte. You’ll have to try both to decide which you prefer!
Orion first launched the snack in Korea in 1974, after one of the company’s reps tasted a Moonpie on a trip to America. Lotte followed with their version in 1978, and despite many more copycat versions, these two brands have dominated the market. This week, Orion launched a banana version to celebrate the company’s 60th anniversary.
Available at convenience stores and supermarkets nationally, Orion Choco Pies raked in about KRW 102 billion last year in Korea, and a whopping KRW 302 billion in overseas sales. Russia, China and Vietnam all love the snack, according to this report.
Choco Pie has even made it north of the border via smugglers and black markets. In the past, it has even been given to North Koreans as part of their meagre wages. Two years ago, North Korea was said to be manufacturing its own version of the snack to keep out the South Korean influence, but that hasn’t stopped the smugglers. Or the activists, who regularly send some over the border by balloon, as reported by the Guardian here.
To give you an idea of what it’s like, Choco Pie has the soft texture and taste of a Tunnock’s marshmallow teacake, and looks like a smaller, fatter kind of Wagon Wheel.
Here’s a pack of 12 Orion Choco Pies for £2.99
Or get them on Amazon for £7.99
