Here's a follow up to Lunalil's story on Pepero.  11/11 or November 11 th is Pepero Day in Korea and there is a very good chance that you will receive a couple of boxes of these long thin snacks on this day. The classic pepero sold by Lotte is a thin biscuit stick that is dipped in chocolate. Over time these have evolved into thin pretzel wrappers with chocolate inside (called Nude Pepero), Almond Chocolate, Strawberry, Blueberry, Nude Lemon Cheese, and then huge peperos that are the length of an adult’s arm. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the number of these strange thin snacks that swarm the Korea landscape on 11/11. So how did it start?  The Lotte Confectionary Company introduced Pepero to Korea back in the 1980s. Many people believe that the company invented this day to increase their sales. If the Lotte Company did do this then it was a huge success. It sells almost two-thirds of it’s yearly total of these snacks in the two months before November 11 th (Source: Lin...

Tomorrow is 11/11/08. That means it's Pepero Day! Pepero is a lot like Pocky , but doesn't seem to come in as wide a variety of flavors. In the past I've preferred Pocky just because of the variety of flavors available. However, in the last few weeks I noticed "healthy pepero " type snacks. My favorite has been a blueberry 100 calorie version by Orion. Right, back to the holiday. Pepero Day is an obviously commercial holiday, where you give Pepero sticks to teachers, coworkers, friends etc... Every convenience store, grocery store, and bakery in Seoul has some sort of display of Pepero and Pepero like products for people to buy and give to their family, friends and loved ones. It's hard to miss the store displays. You can often find pre -made packages with Pepero , stuffed animals or flowers in addition to Pepero boxes. My students have been trying to convince me that I should give them all Pepero too, but seeing as how there are about 2000 of them, ...