Perhaps not surprisingly, dumplings are the most popular item in the South Korean frozen food market, accounting for 55.7% of $1.34 billion in retail sales during 2014. Ranking second were assorted fried food products (13.1%), followed by marinated beef ribs (8.5%), meatballs (8.2%) and snacks (5.7%).
Dumplings, known as mandu in Korean, are available in many forms and flavors. Fillings, which range from a wide variety of shredded vegetables to minced beef, pork and chicken, to squid, tuna and shrimp, are often accented with garlic and ginger.
According to recently posted statistics derived from data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural affairs and Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corp., volume in the overall retail frozen food market has risen by 10.9% since 2012. The increase, said to be due in large part to the increasing number of single-person households, is also attributed to the nation’s high rate of working women.
