Updated on 13 October 2026. The original 2007 post is kept below.
It’s not actually fish
Good news for anyone worried: there is no fish in this fish. The ice cream is Samanco, made by the Korean company Binggrae since 1991. It’s a fish-shaped wafer filled with vanilla ice cream and sweet red bean, modelled on bungeoppang, the carp-shaped pastry filled with red bean paste that’s sold hot from street stalls in Korean winters.
Samanco simply turned a winter street snack into a summer freezer treat.
Sweet red bean in desserts is completely normal across East Asia, so the only weird thing here is the confused Western shopper. Over thirty years later Samanco is still sold, now with extra flavours. It’s one of Korea’s best-known ice creams.
More snacks that look like something else: alien sushi gummies and mouse brains or chestnuts?.
From the 2007 original
It’s fish, it’s ice cream, it’s sandwich and it’s made from red beans. What else could you ask for, really? Available in Korea.
More pictures after the jump
Source: www.boingboing.net
