In 2014, South Korean TV drama Everbody Kimchi featured one epic kimchi slap. It was not an isolated incident. Korean dramas are no stranger to painful slaps—with food or without.
Keep in mind, these programs are soap operas. Just like in the West, they are overblown and overwrought, hence the hyperbolic and humiliating food slapping. For better or worse, food slapping, as Koreaboo explains, has become a Korean drama trope. A painfully messy one at that.
In the wake of that, there was this in Eve’s Love.
Via Koreaboo, the drama Rude Miss Young-Ae featured this meaty slap.
The Lady in Dignity had this one.
Sweden Laundry.
Recently, bulletin board Inven pointed out this latest dramatic use of food.
Which actually might be a not-so-subtle reference to the term “doenjang woman.”
And here’s the food slap.
This might be one way to protect yourself.
That, or don’t star in a Korean TV drama.
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.