I'm one day (or a few hours) late, but this is in celebration to 11/11/11, or the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the (techinically) eleventh year! Now in regards to the chocolate-coated cracker sticks pictured below, South Korea is very well-known for these snacks known as Pepero when it comes to special occassions or celebrations.
Topic of the day: Pepero
According to my excellent skills of browsing the internet, Pepero (빼빼로) is a cookie stick dipped in chocolate syrup. A company by the name of Lotte Confectionary began manufacturing these snacks in South Korea in 1983 and has been selling strong ever since. This snack was inspired by the popular Japanese cookie stick, Pocky, that was produced by a company named Glico, and has been referred to as the Korean version of it.
Now what's the deal with this Pepero snack and why is it important to South Korea? Well South Korea has an observance called Pepero Day which is similar to Valentine's Day here in the U.S. The observance is held on November 11th since the date "11/11" resembles four sticks of Pepero (clever, right?) The holiday is observed mostly by young people and couples who exchange Pepero sticks, other candies, and romantic gifts on this day each year. How'd it get started?, one may ask. According to one story, Pepero Day was started in 1994 by students at a girls' middle school in Busan where they exchanged Pepero sticks as gifts to wish one another to grow "as tall and slender as a Pepero". Some teachers have encouraged children to exchange healthy snacks instead of Pepero by proposing the alternative "Garaetteok Day" in order to help combat obesity ... but that's another topic for another post on another day.^^
Currently, Pepero is made and sold in 10 different: Regular (or chocolate), strawberry, almond chocolate, nude (with chocolate in the center), nude lemon cheese, cocoa, and a few others. It all sounds so delicious, I want to buy some ... unfortuantely I don't live in an area where Pepero or Pocky sticks are readily available. However, that shouldn't stop me from celebrating. So ... HAPPY PEPERO DAY, fellow Peperonians!
