Pepero Day is celebrated annually on November 11th in Korea. Friends and loved ones exchange Pepero snacks, chocolate-dipped sticks, that resemble the number “1.” Emily Kim has more.
This episode originally aired as part of our 11/11 Special Broadcast.
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF PEPERO DAY?
IT’S A HOLIDAY THAT OCCURS EVERY NOVEMBER 11TH WHEN KOREANS
EXCHANGE PEPERO- CHOCOLATE DIPPED STICKS THAT LOOK LIKE THE
NUMBER 1 THAT IS SAID TO… APPARENTLY… MAKE YOU SLIM. PICTURE POCKY STICKS.
IT’S A DAY TO EXPRESS YOUR LOVE OR FRIENDSHIP FOR ANOTHER AMONG
FRIENDS AND LOVERS THROUGH BOXES OF PEPERO TO EACH OTHER.
IT’S SIMILAR TO VALENTINE’S DAY IN AMERICA.
SO WHY NOVEMBER 11TH?
THE EXACT ORIGIN AND FOUNDERS OF THIS HOLIDAY ARE STILL UNKNOWN TO THIS DAY.
ONE THEORY OF WHY IT IS CELEBRATED ON NOVEMBER 11TH IS THAT
PEPERO LOOKS LIKE THE NUMBER ONE.
THERE IS ALSO A MYTH THAT IT STARTED WHEN TWO FEMALE MIDDLE
SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE YEONGNAM REGION EXCHANGED PEPERO TO
BECOME TALL AND THIN IN 1983.
AS A MATTER OF FACT…
TO BECOME TALL AND THIN, YOU MUST EAT 11 PACKETS OF PEPERO IN
EXACTLY 11 SECONDS AT 11:11 AM AND 11:11 PM ON NOVEMBER 11TH.
YOU MAY HAVE COME ACROSS THIS SNACK AS IT IS KNOWN TO BE A FAMOUS
COOKIE STICK IN KOREA. MANY KOREANS OF ALL AGES ENJOY IT AND
CONSIDER IT TO BE NOSTALGIC.
LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF OUR FAVORITE FLAVORS AROUND
NORTHWESTERN.
SO, BECAUSE IT’S PEPERO DAY, I’M ASKING PEOPLE ABOUT THEIR FAVORITE
FLAVOR OF PEPERO.
EK: CAN YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND TELL ME WHAT YOUR FAVORITE
FLAVOR IS AND WHY?
[Angela] Hi, I’m Angela Choi. I’m a sophomore from New York. My favorite pepero
would be the chocolate with the almond crunch and it’s my favorite because
you’re getting more bang for your buck. The pepero stick is bigger, so I love it.
[Chris Jung] Hi, I’m Chris. I’m a junior here at Northwestern and my favorite flavor
of pepero is for sure the almond one- and the reasoning for that is because I
really like a little bit of textural variety in my snacks and food whenever, and
pepero is included in that. The almonds just create a variety. Additionally, I’m a
nuts and chocolate kind of guy. I even like almond joys, which is not a popular
opinion, so I think that translates well to pepero. I really like the almond ones.
[Michelle Jung] Hi, my name is Michelle Jung. My favorite flavor is the pepero
with chocolate and nuts. The reason why is because I just love the nutty flavor.
AS PEPERO DAY HAS SPREAD IN POPULARITY, THE VARIETY OF FLAVORS HAS
EXPANDED EACH YEAR WITH MORE BIZARRE AND YUMMY FLAVORS.
NORTHWESTERN’S KOREAN AMERICAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION, KNOWN AS
KASA, HOLDS AN ANNUAL EVENT FOR PEPERO DAY.
HERE’S MORE FROM KASA’S FUNDRAISING CHAIR IRENE CHEON.
[Irene Cheon] My name is Irene Cheon and I am one of the three fundraising
chairs of KASA.
I HEARD THAT KASA THIS YEAR IS DOING SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE PEPERO
DAY. CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THAT?
[IC] Yeah, so it’s one of our annual fundraisers slash cultural events. In order to
celebrate the cultural aspect of it, we kind of talked about it in our general
meeting last week, like the cultural significance of it- like why pepero?
IS THERE SOMETHING THAT YOU’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO, BEING PART OF THIS
EVENT THIS YEAR?
[IC] I’m a sophomore, so last year when I was a freshman, it was, I guess it was
exciting to have someone send me a pepero on pepero day, but this year I think
it’s a little more fun seeing how upperclassmen are paired with underclassmen, or
not paired, but who’s sending what to who- and since I’m on the back end of it, I
get to see what’s going on, like the logistics, and stuff like that.
ARE THEY PACKAGED? DO YOU GET TO WRITE A LITTLE MESSAGE ON THEM?
[IC] We have the menu of four peperos and two drinks and you can write a
message for a dollar. If you choose to write a message, we print it out and then,
the night before we pass them all out. Before our day that we pass it out, we
package everything into lunch, brown lunch bags, and then write from who to
who, and then have the little message if they choose to write one.
ONE LAST QUESTION, LET ME ASK YOU, WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FLAVOR AND WHY?
I’m personally a fan of just the almonds pepero because it’s a little more than the
basic cracker and chocolate. I don’t know, I really like the crunch of it.
THAT WAS MY FAVORITE TOO.
IT’S COMMON TO FIND BOXES AND STACKS OF PEPERO IN KOREAN
DEPARTMENT STORES AND CONVENIENCE STORES. THESE SNACKS ARE
QUITE CHEAP- 1.99 A BOX.
YOU CAN EVEN MAKE YOUR OWN PEPERO STICKS AT HOME BY DIPPING
BISCUIT STICKS OR PRETZEL STICKS IN CHOCOLATE AND THEN WRAPPING
THEM UP.
IT’S FUN TO SHARE PEPERO WITH PEOPLE YOU LOVE, BUT IT’S ALSO NICE TO
TREAT YOURSELF TO LOTS OF PEPERO TODAY!
HOPE YOU HAVE A HAPPY PEPERO DAY!
FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M EMILY KIM.
