South Korean Candy Maker Succes His Lick Of ‘The Squid Game’

The owner of a stall that sells the traditional South Korean sweet that appears in the series “The Squid Game”, A worldwide cultural phenomenon,“ won the lottery ”with the Netflix show.

The hit series shows a group of people in debt from South Korea who compete in children’s games to contest prizes for 38 million dollars (33 million euros), with lethal consequences.

In one of the challenges, the participants try to cut shapes like stars or umbrellas in a candy called dalgona, without breaking it, and whoever fails dies.

The game of life and death was inspired by the experiences of director Hwang Dong-hyuk during his childhood in Seoul in the 70s: Back then, the prize for the child who managed to make the form was another dalgona.

Hwang always wanted to win another candy and remembers using different tactics, such as licking the treat to carve the shape or using a hot needle, techniques that appear in the exciting dalgona contest scene.

“I was surprised to achieve the difficult shape of the umbrella”the director commented in a recent YouTube video.

The candy was difficult to handle during filming because it softens easily, especially during the humid South Korean rainy season, so Hwang and Art Director Chae Kyung-sun hired “Dalgona experts” to make the candy on site. .

Those specialists were Lim Chang-joo and his wife Jung Jung-soon, who made between 300 and 400 dalgonas in the three days of recording.

Now his humble street stall in Seoul’s theater district is one of the most popular spots in the South Korean capital.

Orders for these sweets that cost 2,000 won ($ 1.70, 1.4 euros) add up as soon as you open, and some customers wait six hours for theirs.

In about 90 seconds, Lim melts an individual serving of sugar on a burner, before adding baking soda, flattening it, and shaping the customer’s request.

It offers a wide range of shapes in addition to the four featured in the series, and recently added an “N” for Netflix.

“I never imagined that he would become so popular,” Lim told AFP and acknowledges that his life became “super hectic.”

“Of course I’m happy because my business is doing well and now the dalgonas are famous in other countries,” he said.

Financial crisis

Historians say that dalgona first appeared in the 1960s when the South lived in postwar poverty and desserts, such as ice cream and chocolate, were prohibitively expensive.

The sweet, with hints of nuts and bitterness, became hugely popular, and many vendors have stalls near schools.

Lim and Jung started selling dalgonas after having to close the tailor shop they had run for 20 years due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

The candy continued to be sold throughout the rise of the South to become the 12th largest economy in the world, after decades of rapid economic growth.

“Squid Games” It is the latest manifestation of the growing influence of South Korean popular culture, following K-pop sensation BTS and the award-winning film “Parasite.”

“South Korea has always been a nexus between modern and pre-modern, between western tools and eastern ways, and in preserving the past while sacrificing everything for the future.”said Michael Hurt, professor of cultural theory at Korea National University of the Arts.

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