My Family Recipe
Korean BBQ Was the One Dish That Made Me Feel American
The salty-sweet story behind a very Korean-American recipe.
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23 Comments
7ommyc45531
June 1, 2022
All the time growing up. My mother being from suwon. At lesson and less as the years have passed. Dude to the cost of the beef ribs. Ow it's a special occasion thing....when I was a kid it was weekly
marilu
May 22, 2020
Haha! Spot on! I feel like I rode a time machine while reading this. The smell of galbi still takes me back to church bbq events and summer time with the family fanning ourselves with those cheap korean fans you get at the korean markets. Do you know the one I’m talking about? It has the wooden handle and the Pepsi-like swirl in the middle?
Irene Y.
May 24, 2020
Absolutely, the taeguk fans! It's crazy how quickly those traditional handicrafts take you back to being a kid.
Connie
August 6, 2018
I too thought I was reading my own life story around SoCal, Saturday K-school, stinky lunches, and the whole identity crisis thing in the 80-90's. Another confirmation that I wasn't making things up, that I'm definitely not alone, but also that bicultural confusion as a kid and teenager is real! Thanks for sharing.
Cookie
July 23, 2018
What a lovely, well written article Irene, thank you. And now I finally have a recipe for the style of short ribs I love.
Erin
July 22, 2018
Loved reading this piece and it took me back to my own childhood being an immigrant from Korea at the age of 12. It was the late 90’s in the suburb of Atlanta, GA (enough said). Instantly at the sensitive age that I was, all I wanted was to not be weirdly stared at or made fun of for being different and not speaking English very well for the first few years. As an adult, I’m so grateful that I now am proud of my culture and embrace being a Korean-American. We all seem to share the similar journey of finding ourselves within both cultures and enjoying the best of what both cultures have to offer and that warms my heart. Thanks for the wonderful piece! ❤️❤️❤️
Jenny
July 18, 2018
I'm half Korean, and had a very different experience growing up--my mom was trying to learn to be an American and didn't want her children to be stigmatized for being different, so I never really experienced being Korean--except for the food. Her kalbi is not LA kalbi (Asian pear? White onion??) but it always transports me to childhood, when my mom was afraid of not fitting in but made delicious food no one else had ever heard of.
Hana A.
July 18, 2018
Hi Jenny - my husband (who is also half Korean) had a similar experience with a mom who just wanted the kids to assimilate. It sounds like your mom's galbi marinade is very traditional and delicious though (even if she didn't use the LA galbi long flanken cut)!
Rebecca
July 17, 2018
Great piece! Cool to see life for Korean Americans growing up in la was so similar to my experience growing up in the suburbs of ga, down to Saturday’s spent in korean school. But the moms brought us Dunkin’ Donuts or fast food for lunch. Kalbi picnics were reserved for our church picnics where we tried our best to eat while dodging the millions of yellow jackets swarming our site, lol. Good memories ❤️
Irene Y.
July 19, 2018
Omg we totally had Costco muffins and pink box donuts for Korean school breaks too! So many french twists.
Matt
July 17, 2018
I love stories of immigrants creating their own meat dishes. This sounds so much like the story of italian american meatballs.
Matt
July 21, 2018
The Smithsonian and The Atlantic give a good narrative of how traditional polpette in Italy grew into a new dish that's uniquely American due to the immigrants adaptability to new cuts of meat in their adopted county:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/is-spaghetti-and-meatballs-italian-94819690/
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/03/history-of-the-meatball/475083/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/is-spaghetti-and-meatballs-italian-94819690/
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/03/history-of-the-meatball/475083/
Whats4Dinner
July 17, 2018
So being a Korean growing up in OHIO, yes, OHIO, oy. What I remember is Korean food bringing us together, us meaning family and community. We had a lot of family immigrate then so really, it became if you're Asian you were related to that other Asian person you knew, LOL! But yes, I remember having big family BBQs at a public park....such fond memories, and there was no judgment. Fellow BBqers were like, "Whatchacookin'?" Not like the Oakland neighborhood watch folks calling the police because families are having a friggin' BBQ! Didn't mean to get political but I wish we had the "Saturday Korean school." Maybe my mom wouldn't criticize me so much for not speaking Korean (of course I understand it, but not telling her).
Eric K.
July 18, 2018
thanks for sharing; i love this—also, the most meaningful food is political, let's be honest
Eric K.
July 18, 2018
Saturday Korean school was a blessing and a curse, but it did help me become fluent in a language I probably couldn't have learned otherwise.
Eric K.
July 17, 2018
Irene, it's crazy how similar your story is to mine, even though I grew up on the other side of the country. Maybe the Korean-American experience is like those strip malls, repeated but with variance, the good and the bad. I, too, attended a 3-hour Saturday school for Korean language and culture, and we also had Outdoor Days which I *despised*. Thanks for sharing this with us.
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