Meet the Instagrammer who wants to make gimbap the new hamburger
Jung Da-hyeon, 30, calls herself a gimbap [seaweed-wrapped rice rolls] curator.
Spending the last two years traveling across Korea and visiting some 400 gimbap eateries, she picked the best 136 places and wrote about them in her new book, “National Gimbap Expedition” (translated), published last month.
Jung is best known by her Instagram handle @foogeul, an account with prolific posts about eateries across the country. She has been operating it since 2020 and it had 133,000 followers as of Thursday. Her second Instagram account, @gimbapzip, recorded Jung's recent gimbap journey in real-time. It had 113,000 followers as of Thursday. She also newly opened a YouTube channel which will soon have English subtitles available.
“I embarked on my gimbap journey because I began to find myself obsessing over the number of likes and only visiting eateries that seemed ‘Instagrammable’” Jung told the Korea JoongAng Daily in a recent email interview. “When I realized this, I began to question myself and my work, especially because I had quit my job in order to do what I really loved.”
Jung used to work in the marketing department at a local food and beverage conglomerate before becoming a successful Instagrammer.
“So I thought long and hard about what I really liked and the answer was gimbap,” she said.
Gimbap was intriguing to Jung because it was such a familiar dish to everyone in Korea. “I thought it would be fun to try and change some people’s perspective of gimbap.
“I also eat it three, four times a week; I think it is the one dish that I never get sick of no matter how many times I have it.”
Gimbap also held a special place in Jung's heart as food that she often ate at a time when her family was struggling financially.
“I remember gimbap as something that filled me up whenever I was hungry, and now, it has become something that will help me achieve my dream!”
Jung plans to open her own gimbap eatery within the next three years.
“With my target set, I needed to know everything about gimbap, so I began by traveling across the country and trying every gimbap there is in Korea!”
Jung has traveled to over 10 regions in Korea, including Gangwon, Jeolla, Chungchung and Jeju Island, and tried all kinds of gimbap, from ones that just use salt, rice and seaweed to rolls as big as her arm and gimbap packed with unexpected ingredients such as tangsuyuk (Korean take on Chinese sweet and sour pork) or japchae (Korean stir-fried noodles). Her recent book also lists the top 10 favorite gimbap eateries that she would personally revisit, in addition to the 136 places she curated.
After tasting so many different types, Jung said a good gimbap requires balance.
“When one ingredient like the dry seaweed, rice, inner ingredients or the seasoning stands out too much, it disrupts the roll’s balance and isn’t very tasty. Also, to me personally, I love gimbap that uses good rice that is seasoned perfectly.”
Her ultimate dream is for gimbap to become an international dish.
“I dream of gimbap eateries being all around the world, as common as McDonald's!
“I believe it does really have the potential to become a globally popular snack, just like a hamburger. It is the reason why I operate my YouTube channel and Instagram. I plan to continue presenting new, fun content about gimbap.”
BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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