Roasted sweet potatoes, a traditional Korean snack known as gungoguma, are emerging as a lunch alternative as rising food prices force workers to rethink how much they spend on midday meals.
A recent report by The New York Post said roasted sweet potatoes are gaining popularity in Midtown New York,where office workers struggling with high dining costs are increasingly turning away from fast food.
The shift has been summed up by a phrase circulating among locals: grabbing roasted sweet potatoes instead of a Big Mac.
The same trend can be seen at H Mart in Los Angeles Koreatown.
A visit to the market showed steady foot traffic at a roasted sweet potato sales corner near the entrance, where shoppers checked price tags and compared sizes and quantities while looking for a cost-effective lunch option.
A store representative said each bag contains three to four sweet potatoes and is priced at $3.99 per pound, adding that customer demand has remained steady.
While roasted sweet potatoes are often viewed as a seasonal snack, the store sells them 365 days a year, the representative said.
The growing attention to roasted sweet potatoes as a lunch substitute reflects mounting pressure from rising prices.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.7 percent year over year as of December last year.
In Los Angeles Koreatown, the average price of a Korean meal is around $20, and it commonly exceeds $25 once tips and parking costs are added.
By comparison, roasted sweet potatoes can be purchased for about $1 to $2 per piece without additional preparation or costs, making them easy to eat anywhere. Their natural sweetness and ability to provide a feeling of fullness have also made them appealing as a simple meal replacement.
Hyewon Park, an office worker in Koreatown, said the cost of eating out every day has become too heavy a burden. She said roasted sweet potatoes are affordable, filling even when eating just one or two, and convenient for a busy workday.
She added that she has also heard they are helpful for dieting and general health.
Interest in roasted sweet potatoes has also spread on social media, where short videos continue to appear on Instagram and TikTok under hashtags such as #sweetpotato and #goguma.
Posts showing different ways to eat them, including adding cheese or butter or freezing them, have further fueled attention.
As long as dining costs remain high, the popularity of roasted sweet potatoes as a convenient and affordable lunch option is likely to continue.
BY YEONGCHAE SONG [song.yeongchae@koreadaily.com]
