Yeosu is once again under fire over food. Before the controversy over its treatment of solo diners had fully subsided, a new debate over the value for money of a soy sauce-marinated crab meal at the World Island Expo is heating up online.
According to the Yeosu city government on the 17th, the 2026 Yeosu World Island Expo opened on Sept. 5 under the theme "Islands, Connecting the Sea and the Future" and runs through Nov. 4, centered on the Jinmo district of Dolsan in Yeosu, Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City. The event aims to draw participants from 30 countries and 3 million visitors, with a total project cost of 70.3 billion won ($50 million).
The expo features exhibitions, hands-on activities and performance programs highlighting island ecosystems, culture and future value, along with weekly romantic concerts and nighttime film screenings using media facade displays. It had drawn attention even before opening as the world's first expo built around the theme of islands.
But the food controversy erupted just after the opening. A video posted by food review YouTuber "Matsangmu," who has 640,000 subscribers, showing a visit to the expo grounds on the 9th where he ordered a 14,900-won soy sauce-marinated crab set meal, spread quickly across social media.
The tray held only the marinated crab, a bowl of rice, kimchi, corn salad, dried seaweed and soup. Dolsan mustard leaf kimchi, one of the foods Yeosu is known for, was nowhere to be found, and reviewers said the rice tasted as though it had sat in an electric rice cooker for about a day. Internet users piled on with comments such as "even an all-you-can-eat marinated crab place would serve better than this," "is this really what you get for 14,900 won" and "they poured tens of billions of won into this project and this is the best they can do?"
This is not the first food controversy in Yeosu. In July last year, a travel YouTuber posted a video about being treated dismissively while dining alone at a well-known restaurant in the city, and the video spread online, touching off a debate over the mistreatment of solo diners.
In response, the Yeosu city government designated 88 "solo dining restaurants" where travelers eating alone would not feel awkward, and launched a program offering up to 10,000 won per person to those who posted reviews of their visits on social media. Designated establishments received solo dining restaurant plaques and posters welcoming single customers, along with single-serving tableware and tables.
