Korean fried chicken: The other KFC

At New York City's Madison Square Garden, people are showing up for more than just the home team. I love the Knicks and I love fried chicken.

It turns out Korean fried chicken has a fan base of its own here at chef Judy Joo's Seoul Bird. It's good. Perfect for the game. I'm serving to the masses. This is no longer niche. Now that I'm able to serve Korean food in some of the largest arenas in the world, is absolutely a pinch me moment.

In the United States, chain restaurants serving this chicken have multiplied by 22% this year alone. It's delicious. The sweet and the spice.

Bonchon is one of those chains. Suzie Tsai is the CEO overseeing nearly 500 locations around the globe. We're in Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia.

And near Salt Lake City, Utah, where, for the curious, the Korean-American population is less than 1%. What is it that makes Korean fried chicken so popular, so special? The way we fry it, the way we season it. Our fried chicken is hand-battered, double fried. We fry it very crispy.

Right.

And on top of it, we're able to add sauces, whether it's spicy, whether it's soy. [CRUNCH]

Giving it a signature taste and sound. [CRUNCH] There's actually contests going on. Who can make the loudest crunch sound? People love eating and sharing how they eat now.

Suzie Tsai says it's part of a growing appetite for Korean culture. I can destroy the hunters for good.

From movies and TV-- [SPEAKING KOREAN]

--and beauty. It's everywhere. And there's just been this huge demand and following for Korean food.

But get this. The recipe for Korean fried chicken comes from an American cookbook dating back to African-American soldiers during the Korean War.

Many of them were from the Jim Crow South, and served in segregated units. And there are actually records that they actually shared their food with the locals. I'm proud of my people. I love that. I think it's amazing. You know? This kind of became a cultural exchange. Because, you know, when you're away from home and you're fighting a war, what do you want? You want comfort. It's so poetic, isn't it? To see that this comes back to the United States after all of these different iterations. Yeah. I mean--

Wouldn't you say? I love that. It's kind of a full circle moment, like, literally. Because it's come back around the world in this amazing way, and in a type of popularity unseen.

Today, Korean fried chicken is served spicy or sweet, in casual or upscale settings at restaurants like ATOBOY and COQODOQ in New York, where it's served with caviar and champagne. It's a popularity that amazes Chef Judy Joo. I grew up in Jersey. And I was embarrassed by my lunchbox. It's incredible that these flavors that I grew up with, that I was once embarrassed about, are now going mainstream. It still is an education, but people's first foot into learning about a culture is usually through the food. It's their stomach that drives them. They end up in a Korean restaurant. And they usually go for a food that seems familiar, like fried chicken. Isn't that amazing? And again, food can bring so many things together. Definitely.

Yeah. Korean fried chicken, bringing cultures around the globe around the table. Got to use your fingers for fried chicken. That's another thing about fried chicken. [CRUNCH]

So tasty.