Issue 35: Banchan Party with Caroline Choe
Food is love, sharing is love! Love is all around.
Hi KP!
Today, please join us celebrating a book birthday of our friend Caroline Choe’s debut cookbook BANCHAN: 60 Korean American Recipes for Delicious, Shareable Sides which went on second printing even before the pub date. Caroline and I first met online a few years ago supporting each other’s bookmaking. Then Caroline introduced me to Pavé where we continuously met, ate, and talked for hours. I got to witness how much love, care, energy, time, and really all her heart went in creating this exceptionally beautiful book, and I can’t wait for everyone to get a chance to see it, own it, and love it. More on that below!
Also, good things come in pairs. Today is a double book birthday - our very own Susan Yoon’s second picture book Gwendolyn and Light, a whimsical, humorous, and thoughtful story on friendship, beautifully illustrated by Audrey Helen Weber, is also coming out today. Please join us celebrate this joyful double book birthday!
Flavor of the Week: KP Q&A with Caroline Choe
Caroline Choe is a chef, artist, teacher and writer based in New York City, and is a proud daughter of Komerican immigrants. She is the creator of The Exploratorians illustration series, and the founder of Create & Plate, a business devoted to helping create community through arts and food education. After a long career of classroom teaching, she truly believes that practicing the act of creating whether through art, music, dance, writing, food, and much more, is what will connect people across all differences and timelines. Both she and her work have been featured in Food & Wine, NPR, Food52, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, Eater, Cherry Bombe Magazine, Glamour, and NBC's Today Show. Both she and her husband, Eric, host the podcast, An AHEM Moment. Follow Caroline on IG here for updates and news on her book tour.
Introduce yourself more personally in 2-3 sentences.
I am many things, but to narrow it down – a chef, artist, writer, and educator. I began my career as a teacher and worked in schools for over a decade. Despite being a full-time multifaceted creative now, a love for teaching has been the foundation for a lot of the drive in my work.
Where are you from?
Born in the Bronx, and grew up in suburban Ardsley, New York in Westchester County. Moved all over the tristate area in my adult life, but have called the Bronx home for the past decade.
No, where are you REALLY from? (Haha!)
Mars, you didn’t know? ::eyeroll::
What’s your sign?
Cancer, and I am very much one!
How would you describe yourself in five words?
Brave, colorful, tenacious, always growing.
What do you love about being Komerican?
That there isn’t just one kind of Komerican, and now we’re finally kicking down the doors to that notion.
And of course, what are your favorite Korean foods?
Kimchi bokkeumbap, gomtang, a quick-roasted gim, shigeumchi and kongnamul, and of course, my Dad’s kalbi. I don’t have it as often these days, but if there’s kogijeon being made, I absolutely have to have a few! A little bonus: there is nothing like boricha – cold on a hot summer day, and hot on a day your soul needs some warmth.
What was your childhood like and what has it taught you?
I grew up in Westchester County, New York, in a small suburban town called Ardsley. It was mainly populated by a large Irish and Italian-Catholic and Jewish community, but progressively over the years became home to many more Asian American families. I had a strict and protected upbringing like a lot of immigrant families, so needless to say, there wasn’t much partying in my teen years and I was envious of my friends who were trusted to do so on the weekends. However, I love that I still have close friends to this day from such an early time in my life!
Can you share something exciting that you’re working on now?
I wrote my first cookbook and I arranged my first book tour. It’s been a big two-year project, really, but both have been new challenges and ones I’m looking forward to seeing how great they can turn out!
What do people underestimate about you?
Everything. I wish that was an understatement but has been a theme throughout my life. It kind of goes hand in hand with it being really more about people and their assumptions than it ever was about me. In the end, you really can’t judge a book by its cover, and I’m glad that some set assumptions are finally being broken and many are finally doing the work to break the cycles. I think people just decide to “other” based on some of the most ingrained notions – that a person should look a certain way, be well-connected for their benefit, or that kindness equals weakness. The only way I was going to go forward was to be myself, despite anyone’s choices or judgments. I always say that their underestimation of a person is their mistake, alone.
Share your proudest moment in the past year.
Putting together my first cookbook and book tour. I really do thank fellow authors who had been down this road before me, because luckily I wasn’t too terribly shocked when I found out a lot of things I needed to know throughout the process, and the depths of what was expected of an author to put together a book, let alone the entire tour! It has been A LOT of work – research, emails, budgets, trying to fundraise, meeting folks and trying to garner PR … It all definitely tested me many times, and you really have to fight through a lot. But, I did it!
What was your hardest moment in the past year?
Getting to the point of knowing everything I was doing was good enough – acknowledging victories no matter how big or small. Sometimes things just take time to resonate, even though you already know them to be true. Your brain and your heart just have to catch up with each other!
We’ve all been hurt in some form or fashion. What are you healing from?
The hurt from much rejection, really, on a personal and professional basis. I hate to say it, but a lot of it comes from the Korean American community. However, I’m going to give us grace, and I’m hoping that if we’re all acknowledging that gatekeeping each other and fear has been a problem for all of us, that we can finally work on fixing it for a better future together.
We all aren’t required to be best friends, but we can still support each other in the meantime.
How do you love yourself?
Full disclosure: I had to learn how to. It took adulthood to realize that everything we knew growing up was… well, in need of a major update in order to break cycles! I’ve learned how to give myself and others grace, but more so it comes in respecting myself, and acknowledging what I do and don’t need.
How do you love others?
Lots of ways, but mainly: showing up for them, checking in with them, supporting them however possible, and yes, feeding them! I also have a very good long term memory and take and keep lots of photos, so remembering and sharing detailed moments about our memories together – I find that to be the one that stands above the rest.
What five things can you not live without?
Good food, the arts, compassion, joy, and hope.
What’s your favorite dance song?
WAY too many to name! I’m a dancer, now and forever! But off the top of my head, these get me moving no matter where I am (even in a supermarket!): “Magalenha” by Sergio Mendes, “Celebration” by Madonna, “We Found Love” by Rihanna, “Dynamite” by BTS, and “Robi Rob’s Boriqua Anthem” by C + C Music Factory
What’s your favorite kind of pie?
Too many, but I’ll say chocolate pecan, apple, ice cream, or.. Pizza!
This Q&A was filled out online and edited for length and clarity.
H Mart Happiness: What’s your favorite product and why?
“It probably runs somewhere between bottled green tea and chocolate yan-yan. The rest are necessities, but those are the pleasures to any trip I have to take!” - Caroline C.
What’s your favorite H Mart product? Share the love and leave a comment!
Crispy Crust: A Touch of Jeong - Uplifting illustrations that delight
My favorite memory from middle school is sharing all the banchan with friends during lunch. It was like a potluck party every day! Do you have a favorite lunch time memory?
Love, Aram
Korean School: 밥정 Bapjeong
Fun facts, idioms, translations and history
This issue is all about food and what it means for Komericans. While 밥 bap literally means cooked rice, it is often used to mean a meal. If someone asks you if you had bap (“밥 먹었어?”), that means “Have you eaten?” When the word is combined with 정 jeong, a conceptual word for care and love (please see the Korean School in issue 7 for more about jeong), 밥정 bapjeong translates to “food bond,” and describes the special connection you build with others when you share meals. Even with people you don’t know or feel comfortable with, the idea of bapjeong is that if you share enough meals, you will build a bond through sharing food. The importance of sharing food is deeply ingrained in Korean culture and this word manifests it.
Sweet & Salty: A Tasty Treat Satisfying all the Senses
Today is the pub date for Caroline Choe’s cookbook, BANCHAN: 60 Korean American Recipes for Delicious, Shareable Sides. I love Caroline’s creative spin on very Korean and very American dishes, which embodies countless ways to be Komerican! I can’t wait to make strawberry kimchi and kimchi mac and cheese for my next potluck party. Pick up a copy from your local bookstore, order online, or stop by one of many book events during Caroline’s book tour to get a signed copy. If you are in the Queens neighborhood like I am, maybe come by World Borough Bookstore next Friday (Oct 18th) for her book event/costume party, and say hi!