If you ever plan to visit South Korea, I would recommend you trying one of our most famous food called “kimbap” (click here for image). People often refer to kimbap as Korean style sushi rolls, but they differ in their ingredients which I will talk about in this blog post. The main reason why Kimbap is so popular is because people view it as the best “carrying food (literally, food that is easy to carry such as burritos).” I have applied economic concepts that we have learned in class so far to analyze how kimbap has gained such reputation.

As mentioned above, the primary reason why kimbap is so popular in South Korea is because of its conveniency. Kimbap, if translated word to word, means “seaweed rice.” As you can see from the picture I linked above, kimbap is simply steamed rice rolled in a piece of seaweed with carrots, spinach, ham, egg, cucumber, pickled radish, and fish cake inside. The preparation for making kimbap is very simple. Most of the ingredients that are used in kimbap are vegetables, which do not need to be cooked. The rest are processed ham or tuna, which you can easily purchase in any grocery markets. Once you have these simple ingredients ready, it takes less than a minute to roll one kimbap. In other words, kimbap has less implicit cost than making any other Korean dishes, such as kimchi stew, because making kimbap takes much less time.

The opportunity cost of eating outside is another reason why kimbap is famous among people who are busy, such as office workers and students. Kimbap is portable because you can easily slice it into pieces and carry them in a zip-lock while a full set of Korean meal with soup and side meals are not as easy to carry. Many Koreans agree that kimbap is an “easy meal” because the food contains everything that you need in just one roll: rice, ham/tuna/beef, and vegetables. Simply put, a roll of kimbap is equivalent to one meal. Therefore, for workers or students who don’t have time to step out the building for a lunch break can either purchase kimbap or make one for themselves before going to work so that they can save time. For these people, time is very valuable, which means the opportunity cost of going out to eat lunch is very high because they are giving up their time to work.

Finally, kimbap is a great way to minimize our explicit cost. On average, the total cost of purchasing all the ingredients used in making kimbap is about $10. From my own experience, these ingredients are enough to make 5 rolls of kimbap. One roll of kimbap is enough for an individual to be full. Assuming that one roll equals one meal, an average explicit cost of making a roll of kimbap is about $2. Of course, preparing and making kimbap requires time, an implicit cost. However, there is also an implicit cost of eating out because you need to leave your work to go to a cafeteria or a restaurant. When you make an order, you also have to wait for your food to come out, thereby even increasing your implicit cost of eating outside. The act of eating kimbap alone, however, has almost zero implicit cost: it is common to see people working or studying while eating kimbap with their hands. Moreover, the average price of a meal in Korea is about $8, which is about four times the price of a roll of kimbap ($8 / $2 = 4). Given these costs, it makes sense why people favor kimbap in their everyday life. The food is undoubtedly delicious, but at the same time, eating kimbap is an effective way to minimize both our explicit and implicit costs at workplace.