KFC

A familiar smell wafted out of the Jamsil Lotte Hotel in summer 2018 as 500 people across South Korea gathered in Seoul to receive one of the highest bragging rights in the local food scene. In the last leg of the competition with 578,000 hopeful applicants, the final contestants challenged their palates in a blind taste test for the accolade in question – achimmelier(chicken sommelier) certification. That familiar smell? It’s the greasy aroma of a national obsession: KFC – Korean fried chicken.