📣 The Mash-Up Americans presents Big Korean Energy 📣

Everything is Korean!

Oct 07, 2025

We at The Mash-Up Americans have been thinking for decades about what it means when cultures come together to create a new way of being, at this place in time, while staying rooted in our respective traditions.

But what does it mean when a diaspora culture goes American mainstream?

Buldak everything. The biggest Netflix movie of all time. Laneige supremacy. A motherf**king Nobel Prize. Koreans have hit the big time, baby, and we are…as surprised as everyone else. But why should we be? Isn’t it due?

In the newest season of our podcast, “Big Korean Energy,” we explore how all of *this* [gestures wildly] has changed the experience of being Korean American for Millennials and Gen Xers in a way that Alpha will never know. The chest-swelling pride we all feel as a result of Korean culture taking up more space in the American consciousness (it was palpable at the KPop Demon Hunters singalongs, yes?)! How nice it is to finally have enough representation to relieve us of the “rep sweats”!

Koreanness has gone from IYKYK status to the mainstream. In the words of our wise first guest Phil Yu, aka Angry Asian Man, “It belongs to everybody now.”

Join us this season for some great appearances from author RO Kwon, journalist Tommy Craggs, The Korean Vegan Joanne Lee Molinaro, food editor Matthew Kang, and, of course, Phil Yu.

What better time than now to start listening?! We’re in the middle of Chuseok, Korea’s harvest festival, which goes from October 5–8. It’s a holiday when Koreans everywhere come together to show gratitude and appreciation (and to EAT!) with family and friends, so it seemed the perfect moment to let our BKE flags fly.

Also, tteok.

I am a sucker for tteok. Put out a platter of multi-colored tteok — the kind with the honey/sesame seed filling — and I’m there hovering at the table, one by one, chew chew chewing forever. I cannot help myself. Carb overload, but I do not care. Culture does not care about carbs. – Phil Yu

Happy Chuseok, everyone!

So, What Is Big Korean Energy?

It’s cultural, sure — but it’s also a feeling, a vibe, an intuition. Not everything that has BKE is Korean in origin, but that’s what we love so much about it. Mac salad? 100% BKE. Sunbathing? Hard no.

To further illustrate our point, we ranked things using a very scientific process on a scale of “Not Big Korean Energy” to “Big Korean Energy,” and “Made For Us By Us aka FUBU” to “Not Korean Made.”

A (Fun) Timeline of Korean Influence in American Pop Culture

Why are we talking about Korea, and why now? This timeline says it all.

1988: Seoul Olympics gives Korea a global stage. Hwaiting! ✊
1994: Park Chan Ho joins the Dodgers, becoming the first Korean in MLB history; Margaret Cho’s All-American Girl premieres on network TV
1997: K-dramas first syndicated abroad, starting with What Is Love 📺
2002: Korea hosts the World Cup along with Japan ⚽️
2004: Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle comes out. Koreans can be stoners too!
2010: Kim Yuna wins gold at the Vancouver Winter Olympics 🥇
2011: K-beauty hits Sephora shelves — OGs know Dr. Jart+ BB cream started it all 💄
2012: Psy’s “Gangnam Style” breaks YouTube 🌍
2018: Chloe Kim becomes the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal at 17 years old. We’re not all golfers!
2018: BTS sells out their first U.S. stadium in 20 minutes 🎤
2020: Parasite wins the Oscar for Best Picture 🎬
2021: Squid Game hit Netflix and Halloween costumes have never been the same 🔴🔺🟥
2020s: Thanks to Parasite (ramyun) and Squid Game (dalgona), Korean snacks go viral on TikTok and haven’t stopped 🍜✨
2025: KPop Demon Hunters takes over Netflix, theaters and music charts 👿