A shocking reveal: the spring cabbage bibimbap that became comedian and former ssireum champion Kang Ho-dong’s trademark mukbang moment was actually made with a different ingredient.
On the 17th, PD Na Young-seok’s YouTube channel channel fullmoon featured Na alongside Egg Is Coming CEO Lee Myung-han, where they shared behind-the-scenes stories from filming KBS2’s variety show 2 Days & 1 Night. The bomdong (spring cabbage) bibimbap mukbang Kang showcased back then went viral and has long been hailed as a legendary scene.
Na recalled, "That clip is trending again lately, but the only people who actually tasted that bibimbap were Kang Ho-dong and me." He added that he tried recreating the exact flavor multiple times after the broadcast, but it never matched what he remembered, leaving him puzzled.
The reason was unexpected. Na revealed, "It turns out the ingredient wasn’t spring cabbage at all — it was young napa cabbage," adding, "On set, the grandmother kept calling it spring cabbage, so we trusted her and aired it that way." Lee Myung-han chimed in, "That was the first time I ever heard the word for spring cabbage," drawing laughs.
The mix-up had surprising ripple effects. After the episode aired, spring cabbage saw such a surge in popularity that markets even ran out of stock. As the clip recently resurfaced on YouTube and across social media, it’s gone viral all over again, racking up millions of views while spring cabbage bibimbap recipes spread rapidly online.
Toward the end, Na also weighed in on Kang Ho-dong’s mukbang style. "Kang’s mukbang is all about neat, one-bite spoonfuls," he said. "The point is how he shows the exact, just-right amount — never too much, never too little."