Buldak Noodles

 

Buldak Noodles - Day 47

If there was one thing in the world that I would try, it would probably be something unique, or expensive, or something that would make me wealthy, not Buldak. But if the question was, if there was one type of noodles that I could try, it would be a Korean, Japanese or Indonesian one, and luckily, Buldak is a Korean one. Buldak is a Korean company that produces noodles with over 4  billion of them being sold by August 2022 since 2012. Fun fact, the mascot for Buldak company is called "Hochi" and is a chicken.

History

The first Buldak noodle packet was the Buldak Hot Chicken Flavour Ramen and it was first launched in April 2012. It was inspired by a spicy chicken stir-fry dish that Kim Jung-soo, a member of Samyang Foods' sales department, observed while eating lunch at a restaurant in 2010. Kim recalled that the dish had the customers "sweating and fanning their tongues, but with also both pleasure and pain reaction". When Samyang's food scientists created prototypes for the ramen, she repeatedly told them to make it spicier. This is what lead to Buldak being so spicy. Buldak is also a Korean word for Hot / Fire chicken. 

The popularity of the noodles gained rapid traction once The Fire Noodle Challenge went viral on YouTube. The challenge was first started by the YouTube Channel by "Korean Englishman" in 2014, in which Josh Carrott, the main host of the channel, challenged his friends in the UK to see who could finish the noodles the fastest without drinking any water or beverage to cool the heat down. The popularity of the video led to other YouTubers all around the world to do the same challenge and therefore cause a surge in the noodle's popularity. This viral sensation increased the company sales, reputation, and would lead them to increasingly make new flavours, spices, and different seasonings packets - with the worldwide beloved Buldak carbonara.

Surprisingly, some flavours of noodles were recalled and almost banned a few flavours in Denmark in 2024, with the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration stating that a single packet's capsaicin levels are so high that consumers risked "acute poisoning". Later, Denmark authorities reviewed the recall against Samyang Buldak 2x Spicy Hot Chicken and Samyang Buldak Hot Chicken Stew, but maintained the prohibition on Buldak 3x Spicy Hot Chicken. It is really crazy to think that a few flavours almost got banned - the 2x spicy, 3x spicy and the hot chicken stew- just because the spice was too much and it became prohibited as it could lead to poisoning because of the risks that the capsaicin levels.

This point can be proven and backed up with the fact that Buldak ramen is considered one of the spiciest brands of instant noodles available in the Korean market, with the original packet having 4,404 Scoville units. It doesn't seem much and it really actually isn't much, but 4,404 Scoville units, and especially the 2x spicy and 3x spicy, can be very irritating for the average Europeans, especially for the people in the Nordics who mainly eat seafood ( not going after them but it is a bit funny ). It is a type of 'stir-fried' dry noodle: after boiling, the noodles are drained, and mixed with a spicy sauce and a topping. Just like the point at the beginning The product became famous due to the Fire Noodle Challenge, a viral social media challenge where people film themselves eating the sauce pack or bowl of noodles, and due to the extremely high Scoville unit and the spice, it gave viral and crazy reactions, making me people like the videos, making it a super viral trend globally around the world.

Foreign imitation products

With its rising popularity and recognition internationally, Chinese and Japanese food companies have begun to roll out products that mimic Buldak ramen to capitalize on this trend. Other countries or companies wanted greed and wanted to get some of that popularity, fame and profit from the trend.

In 2021, Samyang, decided to cooperate with the Korea Food Industry Association (KFIA), to file a intellectual property lawsuit against Chinese companies that produced and distributed its imitated products. Later, in March 2023, a Chinese court admitted that Chinese companies had infringed on intellectual property rights by imitating trademarks and designs in a lawsuit filed by four Korean companies, including Samyang, and ordered them to pay reparations. This lead to one less company imitating Buldak unique and extremely spicy noodles concept, and the legend original company lives on.

Although in April 2023, Nissin Foods, a Japanese food company, sparked controversy in South Korea by launching a Korean-style stir-fried instant ramen with spicy sauce that mimics a packaging design similar to Samyang's Carbonara Buldak ramen. Afterwards, Samyang reviewed a legal case against Nissin, but decided to give up because the chances of winning the case were slim due to the different product names, and decided to focus more on the brand marketing of its products in the future. This lead to other brands deciding to also copy what Nissin had did, and also advertise the packaging similar to the carbonara flavour, including the flavour and spice, but rather have possibly different mascots on the front, different names, and possibly different ingredients to make it not fully identical, making it nearly impossibly for it to get copyrighted and for the company to get an incoming law suit.

Noodle Sales

Hot Chicken Flavour Ramen is Samyang Foods' best-selling product by far with over 4 billion cumulative sales were reached in August 2022 and possibly more as of 2025. Not just that but the brand attained monthly sales of 6 to 7 billion won the following year (5.1 to 5.9 million United States dollars). From the second half of 2016, as exports of this product increased, they became the company's best-seller. In 2017, the Buldak range accounted for more than 85% of Samyang Food's total exports and 55% of total sales. In 2016, when Buldak-bokkeummyeon began to be sold in earnest, Samyang Foods' sales grew 23.5% to 359.3 billion won, followed by a double-digit growth rate in 2017 with a sales of 450 billion won (estimated value). Just for some context, 450 billion won is estimated to be about 300 million US dollars if the cumulative sales are correct and the amount as well. For this reason, Samyang Foods received the '100 Million Dollar Export Tower' at the "54th Trade Day 2017" event. This was an incredible achievement for Buldak, especially just for a noodle selling company from Korea, from nothing to something, to possibly in the future, everything, the future of noodles, the future of tastes, the future of seasoning, and definitely the future of spice.

My experience

Anyways during my experience on trying out the Buldak ramen noodles, it was really spicy don't get me wrong, but it wasn't that spicy. It was just chemically spicy once you got to the 2x spicy, but the carbonara and the regular is actually really good. You can still tastes the intense spice while not affecting the flavour that much. This gives a good balance for me AT LEAST. My brothers and friends have different opinions on that because they were going mayhem when they were trying it out and when they just took a bite, they need to go to the kitchen for milk and to watch their whole mouths rotating from each other. It was crazy. Screaming. Pulling out milk, yogurt, but not the ice cream which was weird. Before that we also tried the Dubai chocolate and so we had no left over to try again after the Buldak challenge. Anyways the 2x spicy was just too spicy for me. It was not my type. I like spicy, like the original and carbonara. I can eat those without drinking, but the 2x spicy was just chemically and stuff as well. It was just not good. I believe I will stick to the weird and special flavours, like the lime and habanero like the takis flavour one. Those flavours including the carbonara and the regular, curry and cheese one, are actually the best and you need to try them out. Anyways that is all for me to write and for my experience. I continued to clean all the dishes and clean the mess my friends had made, played Football, unsuccessfully played as there were no goals free to play with, then went back inside, then made boba, did my class, helped my little sisters, more noodles, had to take a massive number 2 due to the spice, played some games, and now I am here. Hope you like my experience and I hope you as well can try out Buldak, but just be careful as it is really spicy and powerful. Thank you for reading, goodbye.