Korea is the origin of snack culture?
Snack culture, as is known, means enjoying web dramas, webtoons, funny video clips, or sports highlight videos during rush hour or a short break time. It does not have to be rush hour or a break. When walking at the subway station for a transfer, when going upstairs on an escalator or an elevator or during the TV commercials, we can have enough time to enjoy the snack culture.
I have recently asked some Korean expats who are working as professors in the U.S. if they know the term ‘snack culture.’ They answered that they had never heard of it. And at my explanation of the term, they had the aha moment, admitting that the term was more than perfect.
According to the American IT magazine Wired, the term ‘snack culture’ came into use in late 2000 to explain the new business model called fast fashion. In the fast fashion business model, the entire fashion business activities are integrated from manufacturing to distributing and sales, like Zara or GAP. Also called SPA (Specialty stores retailer of Privatelabel Apparel), the fast fashion enabled companies to cope with the quickly changing fashion trend, thus to present new products to the market in a speedy way. This phenomenon was called snack culture. Like a fast food restaurant where people leave after having a quick bite and new people come in to fill the spots, fashion trend today shows quick turnover rate, earning the nickname snack culture.
The snack culture in Korea, however, has somewhat different meaning and usages. It is more related to media content than to fashion. Wikipedia defines ‘snack culture’ as ‘the South Korean trend of consuming entertainment or other media in brief periods, typically of 15 minutes or less.’ We can’t say that snack culture originated in Korea, but Wikipedia’s explanation makes it clear that snack culture refers to a Korean trend and is a term used in Korea.
Snack culture is Konglish? a localized term?
Unlike in Korea, the term snack culture is rarely used in English speaking countries, whether in fashion or in media. Then should we say it is a kind of Konglish (Korean-style English)? Not necessarily. It would be better to say that snack culture is a localized term, most suitable to describe the life style found specifically in Korea.
There is no exact English counterpart for Korea’s snack culture, but ‘Tiktok culture’ in the U.S. seems to deliver similar meaning. Tiktok is a platform that allows users to produce and share short-form videos of 15 seconds to 1 minute. This pattern of consuming media is close to that of the snack culture in Korea. Tiktok in Korea is not so popular other than among some teens, but the term ‘Tiktok culture’ will easily make sense in the U.S. which has more than 100 million users. Just like ‘snack culture’ in Korea, ‘Tiktok culture’ can be regarded as a localized term in the U.S.
Compared to Tiktok culture that is mostly related to young generation like generation MZ, Korea’s snack culture is being enjoyed by a wider range of generation from youth to middle or even elderly generation. What could explain this?
In Korea’s snack culture
I would pick three things that are intertwined with the snack culture widespread in Korean society. First, it is closely related to times. We are living in the times when mobile and smart digital devices are so popular that they are almost considered as part of human body, not just part of our lives
Second, it is related to space. Most Koreans are familiar with the ‘quick quick culture,’ and it seems to have been rampant not only in the present Korean society but in Koreans of the past. There is even a Korean saying, “You can’t have uncooked rice even if you want rice cake.” The ‘quick quick
culture’ is often mentioned as one of the factors that had lead Korea’s rapid economic growth, but its negative effect has been more highlighted. But now we live a society which requires us to cope with the changing world in a speedy way, and the change goes well with the ‘quick quick culture.’ In Korea, low speed internet connection is not just regarded as an inconvenience but almost as a crime.
Third, the snack culture is related to content. The information society full of impatient Korean people carrying smartphones has met media content. And the content such as webtoon or web drama is something that can maximize the strengths of mobile devices. People can enjoy the fun that the content provide, but are often given opportunities to be moved by serious messages. They cannot but be indulged in the snack culture.
A snack like a formal dinner, a formal dinner like a snack
We cannot stay healthy depending only on snacks. Formal dinners are needed as well. Yet it is true that snacks are easier to take than formal dinners. It is not something to be ashamed of or to be avoided. Both snacks and formal dining give us pleasure in their own way. Same is true with art and culture.
What would be a snack and a formal dinner in art and culture? Can we say that the so-called high-end culture is a formal dinner and the pop culture is a snack? Would the opera of Mozart be of high quality and the music video of an idol band is frivolous? Enjoying the music video can be an act of snack culture, but that does not mean the band itself is like a snack. Considering that the conventional way of ranking people, organizations or cultural content based on traditional standards is being challenged, the dichotomy of a ‘snack’ and a ‘formal dinner’ in art and culture need to be reconsidered.
It would be necessary to take the criticism on the commercial aspects of some snack culture serious, but I also hope the high-end or formal culture will not remain closed-minded within its so-called elegant content. Formal dinner of art and culture content can sometimes be easily enjoyed like a snack, and the content of snack culture can also be recognized for its quality and value. As for art and culture content, once a snack does not have to be a snack forever. I hope that a snack like a formal dinner and a formal dinner like a snack will be easily available to enjoy whenever wanted. And I believe it will make the table of art and culture more colorful and fuller of flavor.
Seol Kyujoo Gyeongin National University of Education / Translated by Ok Eurom
* 《Cultura》 2021 October (Vol. 87) *
