Haitai's Matdongsan, along with
Orion chocopies and Binggrae's
banana milk, form the main tripod upon which Korea's snacking culture rests. Matdongsan is, well, it's best described as a thick short
pretzel stick covered in syrup and roasted peanuts. Oh yeah, it's fucking good.
The name itself roughly translates as "hill (dongsan) taste (mat)". (
Adjectives follow the noun in Korean.)
That recalls a hilarious Letterman quip about a TV ad for a
douche.
Woman in ad: Massengale disposable douche leaves me feeling as fresh as a country lane after a spring shower.
Letterman: (pause) Gosh, that's mud.
However, the name is meant to imply to Koreans there is a small mountain of taste packed into each Matdongsan.
Haitai introduced the snack in 1975. Before matdongsan, Haitai produced Korea's first domestic
novelty ice cream product, the Bravo Con (In Korea, "con" would be actually pronounced like "cone" versus "con" as in "
Gencon". All O's in Korean are long.) Haitai's first foray into the domestic snack industry was in 1945 with a bean paste bar called Yeonyanggang. Haitai is also known for a rather oddly named and oddly flavored gum called
Xylitol.