Corn With No Corn: Why Korea's Street Snacks Are Shaped Like Things They Aren't
7-minute video · EpicKor
Korea's favourite street snacks are shaped like things they aren't. Deli Manjoo is corn with no corn, bungeoppang is a fish with no fish, and Gyeongju's ten-won bread costs about three hundred times the coin it copies. We open the mould on all four — including a walnut cake whose origin a 1931 newspaper photo just threw into dispute.
Read the full guide
- Deli Manjoo (Delimanjoo): Korea's Corn-Shaped Custard Cake, Prices and Recipe
- Korean Subway Snacks Guide: Deli Manjoo, Hotteok, Food
- Cham Bungeoppang: The Korean Fish Snack That Is Four Different Fish Abroad
- Myeongdong, Seoul: Street Food Prices and K-Beauty Shopping
- Jongno 3-ga Pojangmacha Street, Seoul: Which Exit, When to Go and What a Night Costs
Chapters
- 0:00This is corn. There is no corn in it.
- 0:50Bungeoppang: why the fish got downgraded
- 1:43The app for finding fish bread
- 2:02From three for ₩1,000 to one
- 2:24Deli Manjoo: the subway smell (1998)
- 3:09600 stores, then receivership
- 3:55So why is it shaped like corn?
- 4:25Ten-won bread vs the Bank of Korea
- 5:13Hodu-gwaja: the only honest name
- 5:34A 1931 photo reopens the walnut cake
- 6:06What's really in the mould
Sources
- Asia Economy, 15 Dec 2013 (bungeoppang and taiyaki, 1930s, 1990s revival)
- Etoday, 3 Jan 2023 ("Three Thousand Won in My Heart" app users; ingredient prices from Korea Price Information)
- Sisa NewsPeople, 2009 (Delis founded 1998); ize magazine, 2 Sep 2015 (the name, ~90 station shops, the roasted-corn shape)
- Herald Economy, 24 Aug 2015 (about 600 stores at end-2013, US subsidiary, receivership filed 19 Aug 2015)
- delimanjoo.kr company history (exports incl. Indonesia, July 2020)
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, 만두 [饅頭]
- Kyunghyang Shinmun, 29 Aug 2024; Bank of Korea, Guidelines on the Use of Currency Designs (current text)
- Hakhwa Hodu-gwaja, company history (1934)
- Kukinews, 4 Jan 2026, and Cheonan local-history journal no. 12 (Dec 2025): Joseon Shinmun photo of 27 Sep 1931
- Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities, 24 Feb 2025 (1930 design registration)
- Search terms: EpicKor's own Google Search Console, 29 Jun–27 Sep 2026
