Why Cookbooks Are Good For the (Cultural) Soul

I was always someone who said they liked to read. When I was little, I said it because it was truly a great past time that transported me into the dystopian worlds I read about, allowing me to fantasize about heroic journeys or tragic loves. As I got older, the time I spent on reading dwindled to nothing unless it was for school or assignments, leaving me with little imagination or fantasies. But whenever someone asked me what my hobbies were, without fail I would tell them that I liked to read. Whether it was because I wanted to sound smarter or imply that my opinion was something worth listening to, I had always expressed this past time as one of the key components of my personality. But then as I continued this facade, something unpredictable happened - I started to actually want to read again (crazy, I know).

I didn’t want to read the dystopian novels I had read when I was younger, however. Although they were the perfect escape back then, now I wanted something that would inspire me, educate me, and comfort me in my current stage of life - books that would draw on my enjoyed past times like spending time with family and friends, eating, and learning about different cultures and identities. At first, I just wanted to learn more about how to make the traditional Korean foods that my mom would make me before I left for college. Bibimbap and doenjang jiggae were constantly on my mind, so I went to the nearest Barnes and Noble to see if they would have any Korean cookbooks. To my surprise, there were a few traditional Korean cookbooks in the bottom corner of one bookshelf (my favorite: Maangchi’s Big Book of Korean Cooking by Maangchi). Great! I could go to the nearest Asian grocery store and get to cooking. But there was another cookbook that had caught my eye: Cooking at Home by David Chang and Priya Kishna. I’m not sure exactly what I thought at that moment, but it was along the lines of I wonder what two Asian people are making cookbooks about that doesn’t have their race/ethnicity plastered over the cover to make sure people know it’s a different ethnic cuisine. And then immediately after, I thought Wow, how un-progressive of me. But it was true; the cookbooks I had grown up with were the ones with traditional white grandma personas and midwest/southern recipes. Any Korean recipe I had learned from my mother or relatives back home. But here it was, a cookbook that centered on teaching you the basics of how to cook, but using recipes and ingredients inspired by both Asian and American cuisine. The cultural blending that the cookbook represented left me in awe; I saw a recipe for kimchi jiggae in the same chapter as making pork tacos. The traditional Korean cookbook I was holding seemed to only hold half of the secrets I had wished to uncover.

I took both cookbooks home and ended up reading through both of them in one night. Yes, I read through the cookbooks. I didn’t want to just use them as a resource to make dinner one night - I wanted to know how another Korean American managed to combine two seemingly different cultures into one cohesive book while also going back to my traditional Korean roots. It was actually quite magical. Not only did I learn how to properly cook chicken (listen, I’m not proud of this either), but I also got to immerse myself into a culinary world that broke down the barriers between different cuisines. In many ways, it represented how I felt as I was coming to love both Korean and American sides to me. It warmed my soul and got me excited to be in the kitchen. I could make new and old Korean-inspired recipes, broadening my palette to even more wonderful, delicious foods that I wouldn’t have tried before.

My love for those cookbooks kept growing as I found others with a similar purpose: representing the cultural melting pot while also talking about how much soy sauce is enough (usually never - maybe). The Korean Vegan by Joanne Lee Molinaro (who found their following on Tik Tok @thekoreanvegan), Indian-ish by Priya Krishna, and even vegan dessert cookbooks for my growing interest in plant-based diets. I discovered this bountiful network of others who, like me, was working towards blurring the cultural divides that have dominated this country. Food is such an essential and impactful part of our lives, and each day I’m reminded how integrated it is to our understanding of the world. If you are ever wondering what book to read next, I highly suggest a cookbook. It’s truly good for the soul.