Cycle 4 – Item 45
19 (Tue) February 2013
Topokki
2.0
by me
at home
-Oksu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-
with W and DJ
Recently, I’ve noticed that various sources have taken to spelling ddeokbokki as “topokki” these days. I first saw it about a year go on the FB page of an acquaintance, who’s Taiwanese-American and living in Los Angeles, leading me to assume that she’d misheard and then misspelled the term; I guess “ddeokbokki” might sound like “topokki” if said quickly. But “topokki” keeps popping up even here in Korea, on signs and menus and such, including the label of a gochujang manufactured by a major food company as a base for making the dish (see photo below).
The new spelling is so commonplace that I’m forced to conclude that it’s the result of some concerted marketing strategy, though I have no idea who’s behind it. Try as I might, I can’t think of any other Korean dish that’s been subject to such rebranding. I’m not against the idea categorically, even though, in this specific case, “topokki” does become nonsensical when transliterated back into Korean (“토포끼”?). I’ve always maintained that Korean cuisine will need serious/significant image work, especially concerning the names of dishes and how they’re spelled, before it can truly go global. So, for whatever it’s worth, I’ll support the cause, at least until they come up with something better.
(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)
