News:It's Pepero Day! Well, here in Korea it is. Since this blog is tied to Chicago Central time, you just have to add 15 hours to see it's officially 11/11 here in the land of the morning calm. I live in the future; It's awesome. I'm too lazy to use my own words to explain or comment on this holiest of holidays, so enjoy this cut and paste directly taken from the most trustworthy of sources next to Fox News, Wikipedia. ;)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Pepero (빼빼로) is a cookie stick, dipped in chocolate syrup, manufactured by Lotte in South Korea since 1983.[1] It was inspired by the Japanese product, Pocky produced by Glico.[2]
Pepero Day:
Pepero Day is an observance in South Korea similar to Valentine's Day. It is named after the Korean snack Pepero and held on November 11, since the date "11/11" resembles four sticks of Pepero.[3][4] The holiday is observed mostly by young people and couples, who exchange Pepero sticks, other candies, and romantic gifts. Lotte denies starting the holiday and instead states that they noticed a bump in Pepero sales around November 11th and after continued popularity they decided to then encourage the holiday with special gift boxes and other promotions.[2] Some consider it to be a contrived holiday and some teachers have encouraged children to exchange healthy snacks to help combat obesity.
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".[5]
In Japan, a similar Pocky Day was started however it has failed to gain traction.[2]
[edit] Sales and Melamine discovery in 2008
Lotte usually does about 55% of their Pepero business in November every year. In early October 2008 melamine was found in some Pepero.[6]
Flavors:
As of 2007, it was sold in 10 different flavors:
* Regular or Chocolate
* Strawberry-flavored
* Almond Chocolate
* Nude (chocolate in the center)
* Nude Lemon Cheese
* Cocoa
* Soft
* Cheese
* "Woman in White" and "Man in Black" are slightly more "classy" brands of Pepero, and both have chocolate cookie bits scattered throughout the chocolate dip.
* Topic, a style similar to Japanese Toppo, also manufactured by Lotte.
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