There have never been such a strong and persistent commitment I make with anything but K-dramas – a genre of film produced by South Korea that is well-known to the public as cheesy, cliché, and somehow disguisedly toxic. I admit that those are the reasons I were initially drawn into watching K-dramas, as a naïve girl with so many fantasies about her grown-up life.

Yet, as I watch more K-dramas and start adopting the mindset of a designer and a student of Professor Atay 😉 , I became very analytical with what the film crew presents in my eyes. Contrary to the negative implication of K-dramas to the public, they have grown exponentially in the quality of content, demographics of characters, and delivery of life philosophy. Recent hits of K-dramas on Netflix are prime examples of these growths, to me, this is a #proud-fan-moment.

What stands out to me the most is the clever and almost seamless presentation of traditional food in these dramas. From years of watching the growing visual of Korean food on-screen, I became stunned by the power of Korean screenplay in making food a national mascot of South Korea. Through creatively manipulate the camera works, scripts, and character design, each contemporary Korean drama teaches audience a new lesson of the Korean culinary culture. Allow me to break down this assertion of mine through the 3 most prominent food-incorporated Korean dramas that are my personal favorites (in terms of food marketing).

1. Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (https://asianwiki.com/Weightlifting_Fairy_Kim_Bok-Joo)

GOLGI – BBQ CULTURE:

In short, it is a story of three weightlifting female students at a sport college in which the protagonist is a part of. The crew cleverly use the characters – who are athletes with high protein demand – to introduce a so-called proper way of optimizing a BBQ experience. By culturalizing the etiquette of eating at a Korean BBQ restaurant, the film directors successfully promote both the meat (golgi) and an authentic experience of a Korean dine-out meal that serves as an utterly effective virtual tourist experience. As I hang out with my friends at a Korean grill restaurant, they occasionally mention this drama’s influence on their knowledge of this middleclass cuisine.

2. It’s Okay Not To Be Okay (https://asianwiki.com/It%27s_Okay_to_Not_Be_Okay)

BRAISED QUAIL EGGS – AFFECTIVE BANCHAN CULTURE

Quite different from the previous golgi story, food in IONTBO became an agent of empathy and remedy that magnifies the theme of Post Traumatic Stress/Disorder central to the plot. With a dark history in the relationship with her mom, the female protagonist Ko Mun Yeong is not well-perceived among her people due to bizarre and overtly dramatic responses to issues around her. Yet, as the male protagonist and his brother come into her life with soy-sauce-braised quail eggs, she begins to open up her heart to her surroundings and seems to always find her way back to enjoying this dish when she misses the taste of familial intimacy. As the figure shows, the appearance of food through very daily language as such and the role it plays in the character development of Ko gives the food subject a very humanistic identity.

.

3. Because This Is My First Life (https://asianwiki.com/Because_This_Is_My_First_Life)

KIMCHI – BONDING CULTURE

Currently binging on this drama as I am typing out this blog since it is such a realistic and refreshing depiction of relationship and marriage hardship. Anyway, this time, food tells a prominent Korean custom – making Kimchi. The film depicts kimchi-making as a village-wide bonding event and make clear how cooperation, resilience, and labor are equally important for the preparation of harsh winter months in Korean. In the image, the male protagonist comes to the female protagonist’s hometown to help prepare kimchi with her family, where he ends up meeting the other village ladies who behave just like any “ahjumas” (aunties) you may find in popular K-dramas. This food workshop behaves effectively as a cultural introduction to winter prepping in rural South Korea and a catalyst for the relationship between the main couple.

On a final note, these on-the-spot cultural analysis I wrote serve nothing more than a ranting blog entry. Yet, I believe this topic is well-deserving of proper research and evaluation for a scholarly understanding of marketing and culturalism. Korean food representation in national films is the reason why I love the Korean cuisine, cherish the experience of eating in general, and most importantly, ponder ways that I could promote my own culture using the same framework.

Other than that, please find sometimes to watch these dramas for yourself if you are looking for some real and delicious life lessons.

A formalized account of how eating Danisa cookies – a classic Danish butter cookie brand has fueled my study abroad goal and self-improvement journey in general.

They shouldn’t be chewy like American drop cookies nor playful like Chinese fortune cookies, rather, should be gulped down in one bite and the pulverating shall be left to an unemployed mouth muscle. Butterly perfumed, geometrically assorted, and golden attired bits of goodness that made their way into my mouth due to a fat-dominant construction. I am talking about Danisa cookies, which my software engineer aunt, my professor uncle, my eager nephew, and I dearly enjoy.

Indeed, our family believes they are the solution to our hustle work culture. Beyond that, they have been an integral part of my narrative and conceptualization of the world: the beginning of conversations, the cornerstone of relationships, and the last bites before I am off for new adventures. They embody a piece of the foreign Danish culture, but somehow seep into my life so intimately. I was curious whether this connection was a deliberate product of its people or a delectable invitation for my curious heart into their innovative culture. 

Before declaring a pathway in Digital and Visual Storytelling, I found in Danish products many fascinating stories. When Netflix’s Abstract: The Art of Design premiered in 2017, I encountered Bijarke Ingels – a Copenhagen-based architect who aims to transform the city with beautiful and affordable metro-apartments. His vision then translates into a cooperative effort with like-minded Danish designers to build an open exhibition space using magnified LEGO blocks – a classic made-in-Denmark toy acclaimed with great educational value to people of all ages. My fascination for these stories soon exceeds being just a listener: I aspire to tell them from my unique experience, via learning about the histo-cultural context that shape the philosophy of Danish designers and applying such principles into my own craft: as a great storyteller and a user-centered product designer. 

The opportunity to study abroad in this interesting country is the thing that excites me the most for the coming year. Living in the heart of Denmark – Copenhagen, I am excited to discover this fascinating country, beyond my career interest, by a variety of means: language, cuisine, transports, lifestyle, … With that, I am confident to pack many exciting stories of Denmark on my way back to share their fascinating culture that transcends a box of cookies. 

Thanks y’all ^^

During the pandemic, I created this folder on my laptop, titled “I miss home.” It is a collection of images, sketches, and ponder of the reasons the experience of home is incomparable.

I stumbled upon this video when the 8-year-old me and 5-year-old brother were eating dinner while our renovated home was still in construction. While I was enjoying watching TV, my brother was intensely focusing on devouring the pan.

I remember on that day, my aunt, who is the chef of the extended family in the neighborhood (my small family move away 6 years later), cooked a delicious pork belly dish called “thịt rim” as shown. After the meat is gone, we were left with the sauce which marinated the meat. As Vietnamese, what we usually do is to add more white rice into that pan, coated every grain of rice in that sauce, and enjoy the rice until the pan is virtually cleansed. This way of eating is often time a means of frugality, since the rice will be seasoned to taste without extra ingredients and cooking.

Yet, the footage speaks to me rather differently: my brother has no incentives to save as such, he was enjoying the rice! With that, the dish appeals to me as a powerful tool to understand the culinary culture of my home country (Vietnam). Hence, introducing to you, a genre of Vietnamese food – braised side dishes – those that is cooked in the same template of technique, has the same flavor, yet is addictive until the very last smidge of sauce.

First of all, “braised” is an overly simplified term. As an English word, it does not refer to the same cooking methods in Vietnam. The Vietnamese “braised” consists of various techniques of stove-simmering a protein in its marinated condiment that you can find below – kho, rim, rang – which respectively reduce in water content. the kho sauce is like a well flavored soup you can dip your bread in, the rim sauce is the most perfect one for rice mixing, and the rang sauce is for those who enjoy the texture of fried rice when mixing in.

The ingredient for the marinated condiment involves fish sauce, sugar, garlic, and Asian chilis with ratio depending on regions. The Northern region, the historical avatar of Vietnam, emphasizes on the balance of taste, thus affixed with their umami ratio. The South enjoys sweetness as a fruity region, thus more sugar. And the middle region where I am from, due to harsh geographic hence climatic condition, prefers more fish sauce and chilis as a way to compact more saltiness and seasoning into fewer protein ingredients. Regardless of these differences, all these dishes always result in a saucy aftermath that the Vietnamese frugal way of life make a dish on its own. And trust me, you would always have to measure how yummy they are by the unit of rice bowl.

I realize that this academia-deserving topic could not be fully articulated in this short blog entry, so I’ll save it for another episode. To conclude, what I realize is that you can never truly replicate this dish in a Western settings. The hustling, individualistic, and sufficient way of life over here contrast the philosophy required in this culinary practice: tenderness, communal, and enjoyability. But soon, in a month, I’ll be able to enjoy this dish again, at home – its birthplace and its meaning-making vessel. Let me know if you enjoy a film about it ^^