Episode Details

In South Korea, food crazes can explode overnight—and vanish just as quickly. The “Dubai chewy cookie,” or dujjonku, rode a wave of social media hype and collective bandwagoning, drawing long queues before market saturation sent sales tumbling. In a culture where novelty often outweighs flavor, today’s must-try dessert can become tomorrow’s forgotten fad, leaving small businesses scrambling to invent the next sensation. In this episode, we explore the rapid boom-and-bust cycle of Korean food trends—and what it reveals about consumer culture in the age of viral influence.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/world/asia/south-korea-dubai-chewy-cookies.html