Couple gets year of fried chicken after hosting Koreans during blizzard

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Couple gets year of fried chicken after hosting Koreans during blizzard

Published: 05 Jan. 2023, 18:51 Updated: 06 Jan. 2023, 13:05

Alexander Campagna and his wife Andrea sheltered 10 travelers, including 9 Korean tourists, at their place in Williamsville, New York, during a severe snowstorm. [ALEXANDER CAMPAGNA]

A family in Upstate New York has been rewarded with a year of free fried chicken after hosting a Korean group stuck during a blizzard.

On Dec. 23, a group of Korean tourists traveling in a van and their driver got stuck in the middle of a snowstorm in Williamsville, New York, on their way from Washington to Niagara Falls.

A van carrying 10 travelers, including nine Korean tourists, is stuck in the snow during a severe snowstorm, in Williamsville, New York. [ALEXANDER CAMPAGNA]

When the travelers trudged to a nearby house and asked a couple for a shovel to dig out the van, the couple let them into their place instead, and hosted them for three days until the snowstorm subsided.

The area had been hit with the worst storm in four decades. It lasted four days and killed 39 people.

The sheltered travelers cooked Korean food — such as jaeyuk bokkeum, or stir-fried spicy pork — for the couple — Alex Campagna, a dentist, and his wife Andrea, a nurse — during their stay, with Korean ingredients the Campagnas stocked before the snowstorm hit the region.

The couple were familiar with Korean food and had their first date at a Korean restaurant, according to the JoongAng Ilbo.

Genesis BBQ, the Korean fried chicken franchise, will present them with a coupon for the fried chicken on Jan. 11. The company has 150 BB.Q Chicken restaurants in the United States, one in Williamsville.

BY SHIN HA-NEE, KIM PIL-GYU [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]