Get Your Very Own Pokémon Spam in South Korea
With South Korea gearing up for the Chuseok harvest festival on September 24-26, the Pokémon franchise announced on September 11 that it has partnered with canned meat brand Spam for a Chuseok gift set. The gift sets will be available on the KakaoTalk Gift and CJ The Market stores online for 63,700 won (about US$47.40).
South Korea's Love of Spam
While Spam is oft considered a low-grade meat product in North America, South Korea has a vastly different opinion of the product. A September 23, 2018 article by Hormel Foods discussed why Spam is popular in South Korea with Korean cookery teacher and author Da-Hae West. West said, “Because Spam is both salty and high in fat, it compliments the spicy, tangy elements of Korean food very well – particularly kimchi, as the flavors balance each other out.”
Hormel Foods added that Spam entered South Korea during the 1950-1953 Korean War with United States soldiers giving the tins out or civilians “[finding] scraps of discarded Spam near military encampments.” The article said the food product gained popularity as a gift during the 1990s during the Asian financial crisis as an “affordable alternative to fruit baskets and beef sets.”
The international food company CJ CheilJedang now distributes Spam in South Korea under license from Hormel Foods.
Sources: Pokémon's Korean X/Twitter account, KakaoTalk Gift's website, Hormel Foods, CJ CheilJedang's website via Essential Japan
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