How Daegu became mecca of Korean-style fried chicken

Fried chicken and beer served at this year's Daegu Chimac Festival / Courtesy of Daegu Chimac Festival Organizing Committee

Korea's poultry industry hub became birthplace of fried chicken

By Lee Hae-rin

"Chimaek," a portmanteau of chicken and "maekju," the Korean word for beer, is among Korean people's favorite foods. It is also a fun way of socializing. Koreans consume a yearly average of 14 kilograms of poultry, equivalent to around 20 chickens, according to the Korean Broiler Council.

Nearly 30,000 fried chicken restaurants affiliated with over 700 franchise brands are in business nationwide as of 2021, according to the Fair Trade Commission. The figure is the highest since records began being kept in 2012 and the second-highest after Korean cuisine categories.

At the heart of the country's ongoing chicken craze is the southern city of Daegu, home to dozens of franchises and the host city of the annual Daegu Chimac Festival.

Visitors enjoy fried chicken and beer at Duryu Park during the 11th edition of the Daegu Chimac Festival in Daegu, Sept. 1. Korea Times photo by Ryu Su-hyun

Home of Korean fried chicken

Daegu is "a mecca for Korean-style fried chicken," according to food columnist Hwang Young-cheol. Even the origin of the region's name is possibly related to chicken, he said, explaining the city has a long and special relationship with poultry.

"Daegu's old name is Dalgubeol and the old generation used to call it, 'Dalgu,' for short. Interestingly, the term is from an old local dialect that literally means chicken," Hwang said during a recent phone interview with The Korea Times.

Food columnist Hwang Young-cheol / Courtesy of Hwang Young-cheol

Historical records show that the southern city already had a major poultry market in the Gyeongsang Province region as early as 1903.

Daegu grew to become a southeastern logistics hub with large flatlands in the early 20th century, which made it suitable for housing the country's largest poultry farms in the 1960s. Around 70 percent to 80 percent of poultry distributed across the country came from Daegu at the time.

"Unlike other livestock, such as cows and pigs that have a large body mass and take a long time to grow, chickens only take 60 days to grow into an edible size, which Koreans saw as convenient at the time," said another food columnist Park Chung-bae, referring to the time of economic hardship experienced after the 1950-53 Korean War.

Along with the growth of the country's poultry industry, the mass production of cooking oil in the 1970s formed the setting for Korea to see the rise of fried chicken as a food of the people, he said.

Finally, in 1978, Daegu saw the opening of a fried chicken restaurant in Hyomok Market, which later became Mexican Chicken, the country's first fried chicken franchise.

Following its immediate success, dozens of franchises sprang up in Daegu and grew to dominate the market to the present day, including Mexicana, Cheogajip and Hosigi Chicken.

Models dressed in red shirts pose with fried chicken and beer to promote BBQ's new menu in celebration for the 2014 Brazil World Cup, in this photo taken on June 11, 2014. Fried chicken became a symbolic dish for the country's football fans after the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Korean variation of fried chicken

Although some say Korea's fried chicken originated from America's KFC and the U.S. Army, the nation's first record of eating fried chicken is found in the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom, according to Hwang. At the time, the dish was a specialty served only at the king's table.

Then the food became popular among the public over more recent decades in Daegu, adapting to modern Korean taste buds.

"The reason we never grow sick of fried chicken … is because Koreans have a special way of preparing fried dishes," Hwang said. "Koreans have an old culinary custom of eating 'buchimgae' (Korean pancake) and know how to fry a dish with just the right amount of oil, giving it a crispy and rich texture."

Then fried chicken quickly evolved to an authentic Korean dish, accompanied by pickled radish and red chili sauce to get rid of the greasy taste, he said.

"The red sauce, made of garlic, onion, ginger, pepper sauce and starch syrup, suits Korean people's love of spicy food, so, it was added to keep it tasty even when the fried chicken cools down and becomes dry and less juicy," Park said, explaining that the first restaurant in Daegu that tried the red sauce on chicken was another immediate and huge success in 1985.

Delivery services accelerated the nationwide spread of fried chicken as a popular family meal by the early 2000s.

Also, the festive, massive fan gatherings that arose during the 2002 FIFA World Cup hosted in Korea and Japan gave birth to chimaek culture, as Korean soccer fans, wearing red T-shirts, had chicken and beer while watching football matches. From then on, having fried chicken with beer became people's go-to casual dining option, perfect for socializing in a more relaxed setting.

Foreign visitors enjoy fried chicken and beer during Daegu Chimac Festival in Daegu, in this undated photo taken in 2022. Courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization

Global fame of Korean fried chicken

Thanks to the popularity of K-dramas featuring the dish, namely "My Love from the Star" (2014), starring Jun Ji-hyun, the Korean fried chicken craze spread to many Asian countries including China.

Daegu-born franchise Kyochon now has 67 restaurants in 15 foreign countries, including the United States, China, Thailand and Indonesia, while the word chimaek was added to the Oxford Dictionary along with terms such as K-drama, "hallyu," (Korean wave) and mukbang ( the livestreaming of a person eating a large quantity of food) in 2021.

Since 2013, Daegu has hosted the Daegu Chimac Festival each summer, establishing itself as the mecca of Korean fried chicken.

Over a million visitors flocked to the city to join this year's five-day festival, which ran from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3, with nearly 100 fried chicken manufacturers running outdoor stalls and live music performances offered.

According to Daegu Metropolitan City, the event sparked 29.6 billion won worth ($22.3 million) of economic activity in other industries and an added value of 12.2 billion won for the local economy this year.

Visitors cheer during a live music performance at this year's Daegu Chimac Festival in Daegu in this undated provided photo. Courtesy of Daegu Chimac Festival Organizing Committee