Why Chinese Food Dominates in the US, While Korean Food Struggles? Analysis Reveals the Truth
We all know that each country has its own unique culinary culture, and what it says is basically renowned throughout the world. No matter where you go, for Chinese restaurants, it is often frequently seen. It is also very popular, and even many countries have set up a lot of Chinese restaurants. The business of Chinese food in America is really more prosperous than in China. After all, China's culinary culture has a particularly deep foundation, and there are more than 60,000 traditional dishes. In addition, as a representative of Eastern delicacies, Chinese food culture indirectly influences Europe and Africa, and has become a prominent cultural treasure in world cinema.
When it comes to Eastern cuisine, Korean cuisine also has an undeniable position in Asian cuisine, especially in the minds of the public, the first word that comes to mind is Korean cuisine. If you put Southeast Asian cuisine, gourmet food, Chinese cuisine, and Korean cuisine in front of you, can you easily distinguish which is Korean cuisine? In fact, Korean cuisine is called 'Five Colors and Five Flavors' – sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty, red, yellow, white, green, and black. Although such a unique and distinctive Korean cuisine has been overlooked by Americans, Korean restaurants are often doing poorly and cannot maintain turnover. What's the reason for this? It's heartbreaking for Koreans to analyze this.
The reason why Chinese food is more popular than Korean food is diverse, but it satisfies Americans' preferences, which is a major benefit for Chinese restaurants. We all know that people's thinking and lifestyle paces are fast, and with the continuous development of technology and economy, fast food has originated in Western countries. Taking McDonald's and KFC as an example, fast food is particularly suitable for American dietary habits. They also operate very well in terms of management, regardless of which country, city, or store, the source of customers is never a factor that operators should consider, because there are always many people who autonomously choose to enjoy fast food. Under this situation, the fast food market is in a saturated state. So how can Chinese restaurants break into the American market?
First, the fast food operating model has undergone a long history of development, and for Chinese restaurants, it is no longer as rigid as in the old society, but gradually integrating with international standards, especially in America, Chinese restaurants have adjusted to fast-food-style operations to adapt to local people's lifestyles, resulting in self-service restaurants, express meals, and fast food, which meets American dietary habits. Second, the diversity of food. We all know that Chinese cuisine is particularly diverse, representing the eight major cuisines of traditional Chinese culture, and has experienced a long history, with a hundred flowers blooming, and distributed by people from all countries. Among these tens of thousands of dishes, there will always be one that you like, because you can change your diet and eat a different dish every day, and it will never be repeated. Third, affordable prices. Chinese cuisine is diverse, but in terms of ingredient cultivation and breeding, it is not difficult at all. The cooking methods are simple, and their dependence on machines is much smaller than that of Americans, making the cooking cost low and the food tasty. When you eat at a restaurant, you can have a Chinese meal with a side of fries and a burger.
Korean restaurants are lacking in these aspects. For Korean cuisine, it is relatively single, mostly with flavors that are somewhat light and sweet and spicy. Furthermore, Korean cuisine is particularly fond of mixing ingredients, such as spam, kimchi, instant noodles, tteokbokki, and various ingredients cooked together are truly lazy meals. Eating such dishes repeatedly will easily lead to disgust, and it cannot satisfy the American palate. Secondly, the essence of Korean cuisine lies in the combination of sauces, such as ginger, garlic, and chili, which make delicious side dishes, even better than the main dishes, which is a distraction. Most importantly, the various flavors of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty have been consumed, and the resulting bad breath is a problem that Americans cannot accept. In terms of price, it is not cheap, similar to Japanese cuisine.
