イカゲームの「カルメ焼きのプロ」、屋台が大繁盛　韓国

【ソウルＡＦＰ＝時事】米動画配信大手ネットフリックスで配信され世界で人気を博している韓国ドラマ「イカゲーム」で使われた「ダルゴナ（カルメ焼き）」を作った夫婦の営む屋台が、連日大繁盛している。（写真は韓国ソウルの屋台でダルゴナを作るイム・チャンジュさん）
　ドラマは、巨額の借金を抱えた４５６人が賞金４５６億ウォン（約４３億円）を獲得するため子どもの遊びで競い、脱落者は即座に殺されるというストーリー。暴力シーンは残忍だが、拡大する経済格差がテーマとなっている。
　この中で参加者は、カルメ焼きの型抜きに挑戦する。星や傘などの形をうまく切り取れず、カルメ焼きを途中で割ってしまうと殺される。
　型抜き遊びは、１９７０年代に首都ソウルで育ったファン・ドンヒョク監督の実体験に基づいている。ただ、当時は成功するとカルメ焼きが無料でもう１枚もらえるだけだった。
　カルメ焼きはすぐにやわらかくなってしまうため、湿気が多い時期のドラマ撮影は困難を極めた。そこでファン監督と美術監督は「カルメ焼きのプロ」を雇って、現場で出来たてを用意することにした。
　雇われたのは、イム・チャンジュさんと妻のジョン・ジョンスンさんだった。２人は３日間の撮影で３００～４００枚を作った。
　２人が営むソウルの簡素な屋台は今、市内で最も人気のスポットの一つとなっている。開店するや否や次々と注文が入り、行列ができ、時には６時間待ちになる。価格は１枚２０００ウォン（約１９０円）。あまりの人気にあきらめて手ぶらで帰る人もいる。
　砂糖をバーナーで溶かし、重曹を加え、丸い平たい形にしてから客の選んだ型を押す。イムさんは約９０秒で一連の作業を終える。
　型はドラマに出てきた４種類の他にもさまざまだ。最近はネットフリックスの頭文字「Ｎ」の型も始めた。
　イムさんはＡＦＰに、ドラマがこれほど人気になるとは思わなかったとし、「大忙しだ」と語った。「商売は繁盛しているし、ダルゴナが他の国でも有名になってうれしい」
　歴史学者によると、カルメ焼きが韓国に初めて登場したのは１９６０年代だった。戦後の貧しい時代で、アイスクリームやチョコレートといったお菓子はあまり出回っておらず、手が出ないほどの高級品だった。
　イムさんとジョンさんは、１９９７年のアジア通貨危機前後に２０年間営んだ仕立屋をたたみ、３万ウォン（現レートで約２９００円）を元手にカルメ焼きを始めた。
　韓国経済は戦後の権威主義体制下で急成長し、数十年で世界１２位にまでなったが、カルメ焼きが姿を消すことはなかった。
　イカゲームは、ＢＴＳ（防弾少年団）やアカデミー賞を受賞した映画『パラサイト 半地下の家族』に続き世界を席巻した韓国大衆文化の仲間入りを果たした。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/10/14-14:12）

Simple, sweet, and fictionally fatal: the stallholder who makes the traditional South Korean children's treat featured in the global cultural phenomenon Squid Game -- and once associated with post-war poverty -- has hit a real-life jackpot.
The Netflix smash hit series features a group of South Korea's most marginalised and deeply in debt, who compete in children's games for the chance of 45.6 billion won ($38 million), with lethal consequences.
In one particular challenge, the contestants try to cut out shapes including a star and an umbrella from a crisp sugar candy called a dalgona, without it cracking -- and those who fail are killed.
The life-or-death game was inspired by director Hwang Dong-hyuk's experience growing up in Seoul in the 1970s: but then, the prize for a child who successfully removed the shape was another free dalgona.
Hwang was always determined to win an extra treat and remembers employing multiple tactics in his efforts, including licking the candy to loosen the shape and using a needle heated over briquettes -- techniques repeated in the show's nail-biting dalgona challenge scene.
I would make the dalgona maker extremely perplexed by succeeding on the most difficult shape of umbrella, the director recently said in a YouTube video.
But the candy was a difficult prop to manage on set as it softens easily, especially during South Korea's humid rainy season, so Hwang and artistic director Chae Kyung-sun hired dalgona experts to have the candy freshly made on location.
Those specialists were Lim Chang-joo and his wife Jung Jung-soon, who produced between 300 and 400 dalgonas over three days of filming.
Now, their humble roadside stall in Seoul's theatre district -- little more than an umbrella, an awning and their equipment -- is one of the hottest spots in the South Korean capital.
Orders for the 2,000-won (about $1.70) sweets start piling up as soon as it opens, and before long, customers face six-hour waits, with some giving up and leaving empty-handed.
In about 90 seconds, Lim melts an individual portion of sugar above a burner, before adding baking soda, flattening it into a circle, and punching it with the customer's preferred shape.
He offers a wider range of choices than the four forms in the show -- and has a newly added N for Netflix.
I never imagined it would become this popular, Lim told AFP of the series, adding that his life has now become super hectic.
Of course, I'm happy because my business is doing well and how dalgona has become famous in other countries.
I hope they make and eat their own dalgonas, he added.
- Financial crisis -
Historians say dalgona first emerged in the 1960s when the South was still assailed by post-war poverty while desserts -- such as ice cream or chocolates -- were not widely available and prohibitively expensive.
Very sweet, with hints of nuts and bitterness, the candy was hugely popular, with many vendors setting up their stalls near schools.
Lim and Jung started their dalgona operation with 30,000 won after closing their tailoring business of 20 years around the time of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
The sweet endured throughout the South's rise to become the world's 12th-largest economy, following decades of rapid economic growth during the authoritarian rule of the post-war period.
And Squid Game is the latest manifestation of the ever-widening influence of the country's popular culture, epitomised by K-pop sensation BTS and the Oscar-winning movie Parasite.
South Korea has always been at the nexus of the modern and pre-modern, Western tools and Eastern ways, and preserving the past while sacrificing everything for the future, said Michael Hurt, who teaches cultural theory at the Korea National University of Arts.
Dalgona is a nexus item in a nexus culture.