Eating Korea: Reports on a Culinary Renaissance

After two decades of teaching English in South Korea, journalist Holliday returned on a mission to reeducate himself about the country’s rapidly evolving cuisine. This lovingly written food pilgrimage starts by asking, “What is Korean food?” Holliday leads his reader on an obsessive quest to find “the honest guts of Korean food, of the country,” in dishes such as kimchi, bibimbap, blackened goat, and hagfish (somewhat like eel). Holliday effectively conjures the family-run restaurants of remote South Korean towns, and the vendors and markets that support them. He celebrates “a way of eating that is very Korean” even as it disappears due to less home cooking and the rapid disintegration of the traditional family unit. When discussing mok-bang (Koreans who broadcast themselves while eating, for others to watch), one of Holliday’s dining companions has this insight into her society: “We developed so fast, in such a short period, we don’t actually enjoy ourselves apart from drinking and eating.” Holliday captures these uniquely Korean sights, smells and flavors with appetizing detail, and along the way finds his true prize: a hard-won understanding of the nation’s changing culture. (Mar.)