The Snacks Selling Out Right Now

Ask a Korean friend what they look for on a trip to Tokyo or Osaka and the answer is rarely a box of traditional sweets. It is the convenience store shelf: the new flavor everyone posted last week, the limited run that is already hard to find. The same thing is happening in reverse in Seoul. The snack that makes a friend at home say "where did you even get this?" is usually a recent hit, not a classic.

Truffle Hamon at CU. This autumn's clearest example is a CU-only series that pairs Italian black truffle with Spanish jamón. CU launched Truffle Hamon Kkang and Truffle Hamon Chip in July and added Truffle Hamon Stick in September. According to CU's operator BGF Retail, the stick was the chain's best-selling snack from October 1 to 15, ahead of long-running national favorites, with the chip at number four and the kkang at number ten. The three passed 1.5 million units by October 15, and sales in the first half of October were already more than double the whole of September. As of the company's October 19 announcement, CU stores had their orders for the series capped because supply could not keep up, a story also reported by Newspim, Money Today and News1. A stick bag costs 1,900 won. If you see a black bag with "Truffle Jamon" on it, pick it up; if the shelf is empty, try another branch or check the Pocket CU app.

Kkokkalcorn's split-by-chain flavors. Lotte Wellfood's Kkokkalcorn, the cone-shaped corn snack Korean kids wear on their fingertips, launched four seasonal limited flavors in late July built around yajang, the habit of eating and drinking at outdoor tables on summer nights. The twist is where you buy them. Maseong Corn, inspired by Mexican elote, is sold at GS25; Walking Taco, with tomato salsa and spice, at CU; Butter-Grilled Squid at 7-Eleven; and Ssamjang Samgyeopsal, the pork-belly-and-dipping-sauce flavor, only at supermarkets and online. The company said the four sold more than 800,000 bags in about two weeks as fans did a "convenience store tour" to collect them all, and several outlets, including Asia Economy and SBS Biz, reported that the samgyeopsal flavor's first production run sold out within about a month. Because these are seasonal, check the shelf rather than counting on them; in mid-October CU's own product list still showed Walking Taco.

New releases change every few weeks, so treat this list as a snapshot of mid-October. The habit is what lasts: walk into two or three different chains, look for the shelf tags marked new or exclusive, and buy the thing you have not seen before.

What Visitors Hunt For, and What to Eat Before You Fly

Some snacks have become standard souvenirs for foreign visitors, and you will hear about them from other travelers before you land. Orion's Bichobi, a biscuit with a whole bar of chocolate pressed between two layers, is one: EDAILY reported in September that its sales from January to August rose 53 percent from a year earlier, with strong sales around Seoul Station, Busan's Jagalchi Market, Jeju and the Gimpo and Incheon airports. GS25 has named honey butter almonds among the items foreign shoppers bought most this year, alongside banana milk and Buldak noodles. Pepero, Lotte's chocolate-dipped biscuit sticks, is the other box people grab; it even has its own unofficial holiday, and you can read how Pepero Day became a national habit every November 11. Visit in early November and the stick biscuits take over the front of every shop.

Then there are the crazes that have already peaked at home but are still on visitors' lists. The Dubai chewy cookie, a ball of marshmallow and chocolate packed with pistachio cream and crisp kataifi pastry, set off sell-outs and queues at Seoul cafés this past January, as the Herald Business and the Kyunghyang Shinmun reported. Domestic interest has since cooled, but the Seoul Economic Daily reported in October that it was still CU's sixth-best seller to foreign customers from January to September, and that a GS25 version ranked third with foreign shoppers. Convenience store versions are easy to find, but many sit on the chilled shelf, so check before you plan to carry one home.

The newest craze is one you should eat in Seoul rather than pack. Rice cake has been reinvented as dessert, and convenience stores are racing to keep up. GS25's yogurt chapssal-tteok, made with the Seongsu dessert brand Han Jeong-seon, launched in early September and, according to the Herald Business, became the chain's top-selling product for the month on its delivery and pickup service, with cumulative sales of 700,000; a pistachio follow-up opened with pre-orders capped at 20,000. These are frozen desserts, eaten half-thawed, and they will not survive a long flight. Buy one on your last night and eat it on the walk back to your room.

Old Favorites Worth a Corner of Your Bag

Trend-hunting does not mean skipping the classics, and a few of them have become fashionable again. Yakgwa, a flower-shaped cookie of flour, sesame oil and honey that dates back to the Goryeo Kingdom, made a comeback when young Koreans calling themselves halmaenials, a blend of the words for grandmother and millennial, started sharing it on YouTube and TikTok, as the Korea Herald described in 2023. It is now sold in individually wrapped pieces at supermarkets, convenience stores and Daiso, where boxes sized for gifting sit near the checkout, as our guide to Daiso Korea's aisles notes. A box usually costs between a few thousand and about fifteen thousand won. Its airy cousin yugwa, puffed rice dough rolled in honey and popped rice, is just as good but shatters easily, so buy it in a rigid box.

Gim is the smart buy. Seasoned seaweed is what plenty of young Koreans pack for friends abroad, because it is light, cheap and almost universally liked. A multi-pack of snack trays costs a few thousand won at a supermarket, and you will also find seaweed chips and gim snacks layered with almonds. Korea's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said in January that gim exports reached about 1.13 billion dollars in 2025, a record, with Japan the largest buyer. Pack it in a box or along the edge of your suitcase, because it crumbles under weight.

In late autumn and winter, look for gotgam, chewy dried persimmons frosted with natural sugar, in gift boxes at markets and department store food halls. They suit friends' parents more than office desks. Walnut-shaped hodu-gwaja, sold warm at train stations, are best eaten the same day.

Where to Buy, and How to Get It Home

Convenience stores. Korea's four big chains, CU, GS25, 7-Eleven and emart24, each carry their own exclusive snacks and collaborations, which is why it pays to walk into more than one. Every chain runs monthly promotions marked on the shelf tag as 1+1 (buy one, get one free) or 2+1 (buy two, get a third free), and they change at the start of each month. CU and GS25 also have apps, Pocket CU and Woori Dongne GS, that show stock at nearby stores, useful when a limited item is hard to find. If you have not explored the aisles yet, our guide to Korean convenience store food walks you through them.

Supermarkets. For boxes, multi-packs and the lowest everyday prices, go to a large supermarket. The Lotte Mart beside Seoul Station is a last stop for many visitors heading to the airport train; the Financial News reported in February that foreigners made up an estimated 60 to 70 percent of its shoppers on the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday, and that the store has guides in four languages and an international shipping desk. E-mart and Homeplus branches in tourist areas work the same way, and they carry supermarket-only flavors such as Kkokkalcorn's samgyeopsal. At stores registered as tax-free shops, a purchase of 15,000 won or more qualifies for a tax refund, so bring your passport. Daiso is useful for cheap wrapped sweets, and if you are filling a bag with small gifts, a tube of Korean hand cream is the other classic that packs flat. The airport is a fallback: shops past security carry the famous boxes, but not the newest flavors, and prices are higher.

Getting it home. Dry, sealed snacks can go in either bag; crushable chips do better in a carry-on. Kimchi and other foods packed in brine or sauce, gochujang and jarred teas count as liquids or gels: Incheon Airport allows them in carry-on luggage only in containers of 100 ml or less inside a single one-liter clear bag, so larger jars belong in checked luggage, sealed and bagged against leaks. The airport reported that 10.7 tons of kimchi were taken from departing passengers in 2024. Your home country's rules matter as much. Japan, for example, prohibits bringing in meat products, including jerky, sausages and foods containing meat such as dumplings, regardless of quantity, and travelers must declare them at the animal quarantine counter. Some of this season's hits are flavored with real ham or pork, so read the ingredient list and declare anything you are unsure about. Rules on meat, fruit and nuts differ by country and change from time to time, so check your airport's and customs authority's current notices before you fly.