Next Korean sensation?: This dish was the No. 1 trending recipe on Google this year

Korea popped up more than once in Google’s “year in search” statistics for 2023 Bibimbap (Getty Images Bank) Bibimbap was the recipe that saw the biggest jump in Google’s global search rankings compared to the previous year. While bibimbap was not the most-searched recipe in terms of raw numbers, this shows that more people have been interested in bibimbap and looking up recipes this year. Google announced Tuesday that bibimbap was its top trending recipe around the world for 2023. The other recipes on the list were espeto (a Spanish dish of skewered and grilled fish), papeda (Indonesian porridge made of starch), scooped bagel, and pasta e fagioli (an Italian soup made of beans and pasta). This year’s trending search terms are the ones whose web traffic has increased the most compared to last year. Google releases its “year in search” statistics each year. For 2023, it used search statistics running from Jan. 1 to Nov. 27. The country where bibimbap was the most popular search in that timeframe was India, followed by Singapore, Sweden, the Philippines and Malaysia. Google explained that these country rankings do not reflect the absolute number of searches, but rather the search terms’ percentage of total searches in each country. Bibimbap did not make it onto the trending recipe list for Korean users. The trending recipes there were pickled garlic, seasoned oysters, spicy radish salad, potato salad, and green onion kimchi. In addition to bibimbap, a number of Korean musicians and TV dramas appeared on this year’s lists of trending search terms. For example, “Cupid” by idol group Fifty Fifty ranked fifth on global trending songs. “Seven” by BTS member Jungkook also came in at No. 10 on the list. In Korea, the top trending song was (G)i-dle’s “Queencard,” followed by “Event Horizon” by Younha, and “OMG,” “ETA” and “Ditto” all by NewJeans. Korean dramas “King the Land” (JTBC) and “The Glory” (Netflix) ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, on the list of trending TV shows across the globe. “The Glory” came in at No. 1 on the list of trending TV shows in South Korea. “Moving” (Disney+), “Mask Girl” (Netflix), “Casino” (Disney+), and “Revenant” (SBS) rounded out the top 5 in the country. Typhoon Khanun, which rocked the country a little more than a week into August of this year, was the top trending local news search in Korea. Jeon Cheong-jo, the former fiancé of fencing pro Nam Hyun-hee who was alleged to have defrauded people of billions of won, was second on the list. “Superconductors” came in third after a group of Korean researchers claimed to have synthesized a room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor. The No. 4 news story on the list was the sudden passing of Astro member Moonbin, who died on April 19. No. 5 was the stabbing rampage at Sillim Station that took place in July. After war erupted between Israel and Hamas, “War in Israel and Gaza” reached the top of the trending international news list for the year. After that, Koreans searched for X (formerly Twitter), OpenAI, the earthquake in Türkiye and Bondee. By Joh Yun-yeong, staff reporter Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]