A samgyetang restaurant in central Seoul on July 5.YONHAP
On Tuesday, a day before chobok — the first of Korea's three boknal days, or the traditional three hottest days of summer— Lee Hyun-yong barely had time to catch his breath at his fried chicken restaurant in Gangbuk District, northern Seoul. Boknal is his single best sales day of the year.
"On boknal, chicken sells like it's during a World Cup match between Korea and Japan," Lee said. "I usually sell around 150 chickens on a weekend, but I have to prepare more than 400 for boknal."
He said customers now choose from a much wider range of dishes rather than sticking to the food traditionally associated with the occasion. For generations, samgyetang — a soup made with whole young chicken, glutinous rice, ginseng, jujube and garlic — has been the dish most associated with the day. It embodies the traditional principle of iyeol chiyeol, or "fighting heat with heat" — the belief that eating hot food helps the body withstand summer's peak heat.
“These days, boknal has become a day to eat whatever nourishing food you want — chicken, eel, abalone or anything else you like. The days when everyone ate only samgyetang are gone,” Lee added.
This summer's bok season has begun. This year's three boknal days fall on July 15 for chobok, the first day; July 25 for jungbok, the middle day; and Aug. 14 for malbok, the last day.
Now, a wide range of other foods are challenging samgyetang's dominance, and retailers are introducing new products to match changing tastes.
Emart is running discounts on ingredients such as seaweed-fed live abalone from Wando, South Jeolla,and freshwater eel. Lotte Mart's deli counters are offering grilled whole eel, eel rice bowls and eel sushi. Fried chicken chain KFC is sellingthe Bok Bucket, a limited-edition bucket menu released for the boknal season, through Aug. 17 to cover the three boknal days.
Bok Bucket from fried chicken chain KFCKFC
As samgyetang prices climb year after year, more consumers are looking for affordable ways to mark the occasion.
In Seoul, the average price reached 18,154 won ($12) in May, up 2.8 percent from 17,654 won a year earlier, according to the Korea Consumer Agency. The average May price stood at 16,885 won in 2024, 16,423 won in 2023 and 14,577 won in 2022, showing a steady increase over the past five years.
Samgyetang prices rose 3.0 percent in June from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
Convenience store chains are competing for customers with boknal meals priced below 10,000 won.
GS25 released its limited-edition boknal lunch box, which includes freshwater eel, duck and Hamburg steak, for 6,900 won. CU launched a samgyetang burger that sells for 4,700 won, a samgyetang rice ball for 2,000 won and an eel-and-samgyetang rice bowl for 5,500 won on July 7. Emart24 is offering an eel chirashisushi lunch box — a bowl of vinegared rice topped with grilled eel and assorted garnishes — for 9,900 won and freshwater eel gimbap for 6,500 won.
Sales are also rising as convenience stores roll out seasonal products. According to CU, its sales of nourishing summer foods during the summer months from June to August rose 28.5 percent in 2023, 25.1 percent in 2024 and 19.8 percent in 2025, maintaining double-digit growth for three consecutive years.
BY KANG BO-HYUN [kim.hayoon1@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
