Carbonara-style Jin Jjamppong? Food companies race to turn viral SNS recipes into products

'Modisumer' trend gains momentum across South Korea's food and retail industry

Chef Park Eun-young, known as the "Chinese food goddess," shares her "mara cream Jin Jjamppong" recipe on YouTube on Sept. 4. The recipe calls for adding milk, cheddar cheese and mara tang sauce. [Yeogane YouTube]

South Korea's food and retail industry is rushing to commercialize popular SNS recipes, tapping into the so-called "modisumer" trend — in which consumers customize products to their own tastes — as a driver of new product development.

According to industry sources Monday, Ottogi recently completed a product manufacturing registration with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for a new item called "Deep Carbonara Jin Jjamppong." The registration is an administrative step required before factory production begins and typically takes place just before a product launch. An Ottogi official said, however, that no specific release schedule had been set.

Ottogi first introduced Jin Jjamppong in 2015, sparking a craze for spicy seafood ramyun. The company has since expanded the line with a range of flavors and formats, including a stir-fried version (now discontinued), a cream variety, a rice dish, an oyster flavor, a cup noodle version and a shrimp cup product.

Deep Carbonara Jin Jjamppong appears to draw on a viral SNS recipe trend that maximizes the rich taste of dairy. On TikTok and YouTube, recipes combining Jin Jjamppong with milk and cheese have been widely shared — some replace water entirely with milk and cheese to create a thick, carbonara-like broth, while others add spicy sauces such as mara. Ottogi used a similar approach in May, launching "Ro Yeol Ramen" based on a popular recipe pairing its Yeol Ramen with milk and cheese.

Competitors are also moving quickly to meet the modisumer trend, targeting younger consumers who follow online food culture and want to enjoy familiar products in new combinations.

Convenience store GS25 used its in-house AI trend analysis system to commercialize two SNS-inspired recipes, launching "cheese miyeok-guk" (seaweed soup with cheese) and "curry dangmyeon" (curry glass noodles) on Friday. The chain also released a highball drink based on a viral recipe using the canned fruit product "Sampo Kkangpodo."

CU commercialized "bokso-sa," a drink combination that went viral on SNS near the Han River, releasing it as "Boksosa-ju." The product was inspired by a sharp rise in sales of bokbunja-ju (Korean black raspberry wine), soju and cider at convenience stores near the Han River, and blends bokbunja-ju, distilled spirits and carbonated water in a 1:1:1 ratio.

Paldo went a step further, launching "Wang Ttukkeong Gukmul Rabokki" in February specifically targeting the modisumer trend. Recipes adding toppings such as rice cakes, sausage and cheese to the product have consistently drawn attention on SNS.

Jin Jjamppong-based recipes trending on SNS [YouTube]

spa@heraldcorp.com