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| Meal kit products of traditional foods are popular ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls on Feb. 11 to 14, as many people plan to prepare small amounts of food following a ban on large family gatherings to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Korea Times file |
By Bahk Eun-ji
It is a tradition for people to visit their hometowns for the Lunar New Year holiday and cook lots of food to offer ancestral rites and share with relatives.
But fear of COVID-19 and the government's ban on gatherings of groups of five or more people have forced many to cancel visits to their hometowns, and this has made people seek smaller amounts of food for their own immediate family and choose easier ways to prepare it while staying at home.
Jo Yong-soon, a 58-year-old homemaker living in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, said she didn't invite relatives over for this holiday, but plans to prepare some food for her family.
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"I usually become so busy two or three days before Lunar New Year or Chuseok as I have to prepare a lot of food for about a dozen relatives. But this time, I will cook two to three kinds of food that my children like," Jo said.
"Although I enjoy cooking, my daughter has ordered meal kits for some labor-intensive traditional offerings like japchae (stir-fried glass noodle) and galbijjim (braised beef short ribs)."
Like Jo, more and more people tend to replace foods for the ancestral rites with ready-made products. The tendency of simplifying cooking for the holidays has been growing in recent years especially among younger generations. But it has become widespread this holiday specifically following the gathering ban against the pandemic.
Kim Dae-young, a 35-year-old office worker living in Mapo District, Seoul, said he is not visiting his parents in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province this year. But Kim said he is ordering a couple of meal kits to get into the holiday spirit.
"I'm thinking of ordering some holiday food from an online mall. Even though I'm not visiting my parents, I can buy holiday food at convenience stores or have it delivered," Kim said.
This trend has translated into a huge increase in sales of meal kits with prepped ingredients and sauces and other types of home meal replacement (HMR) products.
E-mart, the country's largest hypermarket chain operated by Shinsegae, said sales of its HMR products increased 21.2 percent from Jan. 29 to Feb. 7 compared to a similar 10-day period before last year's Lunar New Year. E-mart manufactures the "Peacock" brand of HMR products, such as "jeon" (pan-fried delicacies), that are mainly used for ancestral rites.
"This year, we expect growing demand for HMR products due to the changed lifestyles of people in pandemic times," an E-mart official was quoted as saying by Yonhap.
Homeplus said it also posted growth in sales of its meal kit products. Sales of easy-to-cook food products increased 60 percent from Feb. 1 to 7, compared to the similar period before last year's Lunar New Year, Homeplus said.
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