Separating dalgona candy (also known as ppopgi in Korean) is one of the “deadly” challenges in the movie Squid Game, requiring meticulousness and a bit of cleverness. In it, each player will be given a needle and a candy with different shapes printed on the surface. Their task is to use the needle to separate the outer edge of the candy so that the shapes inside are as complete as possible.
The candies in Squid Game are printed in 4 shapes: triangle, circle, star, umbrella and players must be extremely careful to separate them along the outline.
Dalgona is a mixture of sugar and baking soda, melted and poured onto an oiled baking tray, then thinned with a flat, round object. While the candy is still not hard, use the available mold to create drawings on the surface of the candy, and finally let it cool for a few minutes before enjoying.
From the simple steps of making and shaping, many people thought that separating the candy was also extremely easy, however, those who have tried it before will realize that this is relatively difficult, because the candy is very porous and easily broken if not careful. It is this seemingly easy but not easy, along with the pressure of the players in the movie, that made the challenge attractive in the eyes of the audience and stimulated their curiosity.
"Candy fever" around the world
Street stalls selling dalgona candy in Korea have also unexpectedly received the attention of a large number of young audiences - who do not mind waiting in line to be able to hold a candy in their hands and participate in the candy splitting challenge right at the store.
An Yong-hui has been running a dalgona candy stand near a university in Seoul for the past eight years, and he and his staff were the ones who made the candy to supply to the Squid Game crew when the show was filming its third episode in June 2020.
An Yong-hui's candy stall in Seoul.
He said that after the drama became popular, he couldn’t go home for a week because he had to make candy to sell to his fans. He sold about 500 pieces of candy a day, more than double the amount he sold before. Each candy sold for 2,000 won (about 40,000 VND).
Fans can take on the candy splitting challenge right at the booth.
According to An Yong-hui, dalgona was once popular in Korea and was associated with the childhoods of many people in previous decades.
Not only famous in Korea, this candy splitting craze has spread to many other countries in the world thanks to the heat of Squid Game. In Singapore, a coffee shop has become famous for turning this candy splitting game into an interesting experience that any customer wants to try when entering the shop.
Pearlyn Tan, owner of Brown Butter Cafe, said: "We are trying to increase brand awareness. My marketing team and I came up with the idea after I accidentally watched the movie, and we didn't expect it to be so successful. We became famous on TikTok." The challenge is held from 12pm to 6pm every day, but is only open to dine-in customers with a bill of at least S$30 (about VND500,000).
Singapore is still implementing some Covid-19 prevention measures so the number of customers entering the shop will be limited. However, the number of people queuing in front of the shop to wait their turn is quite large, especially on weekends.
Each guest who participates in the game will receive a piece of candy printed in one of three shapes: heart, circle, and star, along with a card similar to the one in Squid Game but a cuter version. Players are only allowed to complete the challenge in two minutes, if they succeed, they will receive a random gift from the shop, but if they fail, they will not have to worry because the "punishment" here is also extremely gentle, such as taking a souvenir photo with their product.
In Paris, also ina pop-up store(a type of store that only opens temporarily for a short time, in special, unexpected locations, following trends or popular events), many visitors also experienced the space to simulate the game: splitting dalgona candy and throwing Ddakji envelopes in Squid Game, and they also had their photos taken with the staff dressed in pink, wearing masks like the guards in the movie.
Although the number of visitors entering the pop-up was limited and they were only allowed to stay for a maximum of 10 minutes, many people did not mind waiting and could even queue up to 2 hours to experience the exciting activities.
Activities take place from 11am to 7pm on weekends.
Korean Memories
"Dalgona was one of the cheapest foods at that time, although eating too much was not good for your health, it was very attractive to a 7-year-old child like me at that time" - Maddy Park, a young Korean girl living in Seoul, shared about the street candy.
One of Maddy Park’s earliest memories of dalgona was seeing a mobile stall set up outside her school selling the sweets for about a penny. That’s where her childhood memories of the sugary treat began.
Ms. Park recalled how the vendors created the candy and how she and her classmates would try to separate the candy with a needle without breaking it. If any child successfully completed the challenge, they would be given a free prize at the counter.
Dalgona was popular in Korea around the 1970s and 1980s.
"There's an element of chance like in Squid Game, but there's no life or death," JinJoo Lee, a 55-year-old Korean food blogger, said of the dalgona challenge. Her dalgona recipe was posted in 2018, but in the past few days, traffic to her post has increased by about 30%. She said similar candies are popular in many parts of the world, but they are called by different names.
Albert Park, Associate Professor of Korean History at Claremont McKenna College in California, said dalgona candy filled the sweet void in post-war Korea for children who were used to chocolate given by American soldiers, which was cheap and easy to buy.
In the 1960s, this candy was often sold outside elementary schools and toy stores, Mr. Park shared.
According to Park, dalgona vendors began to disappear in the early 2000s, when online shopping became popular and toy stores began to close. It is also possible that the booming Korean candy industry, coupled with the rise of other candies with similar prices, forced many dalgona makers out of business.
Recently, thanks to the popularity of Squid Game, this candy has returned as a snack that reminds many people of their good memories of the past. “For some young Koreans, it is a way to connect with history without necessarily learning from books,” said the Associate Professor.
Global "Hot Trend"
The development of modern media, connecting with the whole world, has made this candy famous, beyond the framework of Korea. Many fans living all over the world have bought, made and recorded videos to share with everyone on social networks, just like that, dalgona candy has become a new trend that is welcomed by many people, even those who do not watch Squid Game are extremely excited to start doing the challenge.
On the social network Tiktok, just type in the hashtag #squidgamecandy or #dalgonacandy, hundreds of millions of videos sharing users' candy-making experiences will appear, many videos also receive a "huge" amount of interactions and endless supportive comments from other users. Manyhot Tiktokerhave participated in this challenge and the number is still increasing. In addition to Tiktok, there are also countless people posting their candy making experiences on other social networks such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter,... At the same time, candy making tutorials are also appearing more and more and can be found anywhere on the Internet.
The more people participate, the more creativity increases. A series of new cakes "come out of the oven", printed with various shapes, not only making the cake more interesting in the eyes of many people but also increasing the difficulty when participating in the candy splitting challenge.
The "difficult" shapes printed on the candy surface require players to be extremely careful if they want to successfully overcome the challenge.
The dalgona candy "fever" makes many people remember a global "hot trend" that appeared in early 2021 - dalgona coffee (also known as sponge coffee) also started in Korea, after famous actor Jung Il-woo revealed in a game show that he had the opportunity to enjoy a special coffee in Macau, which has a delicious taste like Korean dalgona sponge sugar candy. In the following mornings, sponge coffee suddenly emerged in many countries and became a "sad-relief" drink throughout the days of the epidemic break.
Nancy Wang Yuen, a sociologist and expert on race and racism in Hollywood (USA), said: "Dalgona candy today represents the admiration for Korean music and movies." Through those famous movies or music products, Korean culture will be promoted everywhere, so that everyone in the world can happily exclaim: "Oh, I have a new discovery about Korean culture."
