The Results of the Survey on the Korean Food Consumption of Overseas Consumers

Sejong, 25 November 2025 — From 3 July to 25 August in 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) and the Korean Food Promotion Institute (KFPI) conducted a survey on the Korean food consumption of overseas consumers. A total of 11,000 consumers in 22 cities across the world (500 respondents per city) gave their answers in the survey.

The findings showed that “Korean-style fried chicken” was the Korean dish that overseas consumers ate most frequently and liked the most over the past year. Bibimbap and kimchi also captivated global taste buds. This trend shows that the brand value of Korean cuisine is rising in the global market.

When asked about how familiar they were with Korean food, 68.6% of the respondents said they were familiar with it—an increase of 2.9 percentage points from the previous year, as well as the highest level recorded since the survey began.

Among those who had tried Korean food, an average of 94.2% of the respondents in the 22 cities said they were satisfied, with over 90% expressing satisfaction in most of the cities. Also, 80.6% of the respondents said they had the intention to eat Korean food again in the future, up by 4.5 percentage points from the previous year.

Over the past year, 71.7% of the respondents said they had visited a Korean restaurant in their residence areas. Among those, 93.1% said they were satisfied with the restaurant they visited, and 90.7% said they intended to
visit the restaurant again.

Notably, 65.1% of the respondents said that, after experiencing Korean cultural content (such as K-dramas, K-pop, or films), they either tried Korean food or became interested in it. This shows a synergistic effect between cultural content and cuisine.

By taking advantage of the survey results, the MAFRA plans to continue to expand Korean food promotion strategies tailored to the needs of local consumers, strengthen the competitiveness of Korean restaurants, and advance the policies for making Korean food go global in connection with Korean cultural content and replacements for traditional home-cooked meals.