Dancing Korean cats have been following me around on Instagram for months now.
Not following me in the usual sense – they’re not adding to my follow count or seeing my posts and stories – but every time I open the app, there they are.
The jiggly cats, which I originally mistook for bunnies, come in many forms. Based on my research, most of them are made from pudding, panna cotta or jelly and they originated in Korea. It’s unclear which shop made the first “punyangi”, or pudding cat. But an Instagram Reel from Cafe Florida in Gwangju, posted on September 30, seems to have kicked off the craze – and is up to nearly 4.2 million likes.
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SIGN UPJiggly things are always fun to look at. The truth is there are so many videos of these cats and I have lost so many hours of my life watching them. So you can imagine my delight when (thanks to a friend and fellow Broadsheet editor) I finally found a dessert shop in Melbourne that sells them.
The jiggly cats are available daily at Sulhwa, an Asian dessert shop on Little Collins Street. Here the cats are named Yoo Yoo and Yao Yao and, as one of the store’s team members told me, go by “the Y sisters” for short.
Yoo Yoo is made from a glossy oolong milk tea panna cotta and served with brown sugar tapioca or boba pearls which are often served with bubble tea drinks. Unlike her sister, Yao Yao is made from jasmine tea-infused jelly and is served with fresh peach and a peach sauce.
With Brooklyn-based jelly makers Solid Wiggles,
Eat Nunchi jelly cakes, and the New York Times declaring there’s been a jello shot “renaissance”, it seems we’re in the middle of a deliciously jiggly and bouncy jelly movement.
Recently, I’ve seen new takes on the jiggly cat pop up on my Explore Page, with everything from ghost puddings to wobbly mushrooms and even a Psyduck (my personal favourite). I’m here for the jiggly food movement. I just hope aspic doesn’t make a comeback any time soon.