Fusion rice cakes bring new energy to traditional markets

By Hankookilbo

• Published Sep 24, 2026 12:31 PM KST

Rice cake variations, including 'pizza seolgi,' outshine staples like 'songpyeon'

A few days before the Chuseok holiday, a long line of customers stretched past three neighboring stores outside Pungnyeon Tteok, a rice cake shop in Incheon’s Bupyeong Traditional Market earlier this week.

They were not waiting for “songpyeon,” the traditional rice cake associated with Chuseok, but for “pizza seolgi,” a fusion rice cake topped with tomato sauce, cheese and pepperoni slices on a base of steamed white rice cake.

Despite a limit of four pieces per customer, the line showed no sign of letting up.

Pungnyeon Tteok owner Hwang Seong-un, 50, said he has been selling pizza seolgi for about two months, with an average of around 1,000 people visiting daily. He said the rice cakes typically sell out between 5:30 and 6 p.m. That day, ingredients ran out at around 5:40 p.m., prompting the shop to put up a notice saying it had closed for the day.

Traditional-market rice cake shops are bustling ahead of Chuseok, thanks in part to the popularity of unusual rice cake varieties such as pizza seolgi on social media, particularly among people in their 20s and 30s. New slang terms have even emerged, including “tteokjirisunrye,” referring to visiting rice cake shops one after another, and “tteokpeon,” describing the practice of lining up before a shop opens to buy rice cakes.

Lee Geum-sun, 60, who has run a rice cake shop in Myeonmok Market in Seoul’s Jungnang District for 30 years, has also noticed a change in customer response since introducing pizza seolgi late last month. She said she experimented repeatedly with the recipe after waiting an hour at another rice cake shop to try its pizza seolgi herself.

Word of mouth has helped her shop take off, with sales of pizza seolgi alone reaching as many as 2,000 pieces a day.

“Markets used to be visited mostly by older people, but now, everyone from students to office workers stopp by after work,” Lee said. “For 2,000 won, you can get a taste similar to a whole pizza, so people can buy it without worrying too much about the cost.”

With group orders from companies and public institutions pouring in ahead of Chuseok, Lee said she plans to focus on a limited selection of items, including songpyeon and pizza seolgi, during the holiday.

Pizza seolgi has won over customers of all ages, from young people who are less familiar with traditional rice cakes to middle-aged and older customers who prefer to avoid instant foods. On Tuesday, two days before the start of the holiday, colorful fusion rice cakes ranging from pizza seolgi to mango and fig varieties were selling briskly at Mirae Tteok in Kkachisan Market in Seoul’s Gangseo District. Piles of songpyeon sitting nearby were getting little attention.

Choi, a 23-year-old college student, said the rice cakes were less expensive than “Dubai chewy cookies” and, being about the size of a piece of toast, looked filling.

Oh, a 44-year-old homemaker, stopped by the store while shopping at the market. “There were so many rice cakes I had never seen before that they caught my eye,” she said with a smile. “I’m thinking of buying several to give to relatives instead of songpyeon for Chuseok.”

The pizza seolgi craze is also bringing new energy to traditional markets, which have been struggling with declining business.

“Business is better than it was around this time last year because so many young people are coming. Especially on weekends, customers who come to the rice cake shop are also stopping by nearby stores,” said Baek, 62, who runs a toast shop near Bupyeong Traditional Market.

Ko, 41, who runs a Chinese restaurant in the area, said, “The number of visitors has noticeably increased since pizza seolgi started becoming popular about a month ago. Our sales have also been gradually improving.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.