Suddenly, the South Korean macadamia-nut market is on fire. Most residents of the Republic of Korea had not so much as heard of the macadamia nut until a few weeks ago — their northern cousins would be grateful for any sort of nut not going by the title “supreme leader” and inclined to herd them into prison camps — but today the delicious seed of M. tetraphylla accounts for half of the nut consumption in South Korea, with sales having jumped twentyfold in a matter of days. For that, the world’s macadamia growers may thank Cho Hyun-ah, a Korean Air executive — and daughter of the airline’s chairman — who inflicted superfluous chaos on New York’s already chaotic John F. Kennedy Airport when she ordered a Seoul-bound flight to exit the runway, return to the gate, and expel a flight attendant — who was at the time being forced to ritually kneel in shame — for the crime of serving the first-class princess’s macadamia nuts in a plastic bag rather than a warm bowl.
Cho was arrested in New York and charged with violating air-safety laws, forced to resign from her various positions with the airline, and publicly humiliated, though travelers who fly frequently into JFK might wish for a more Singaporean model of punishment, e.g., a good, thorough flogging. The lesson that South Koreans have taken from this: Macadamia nuts must be truly fantastic.
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