Korean dishes some traditional and some reimagined from the home cook and storyteller behind
@thekoreanvegan on TikTok The single most frequent question Joanne Lee Molinaro gets asked is
How can you be vegan and Korean? Korean cooking is after all synonymous with fish sauce and
barbecue. And although grilled meat is indeed prevalent in some Korean food the ingredients
that filled out the bapsangs of Joanne's childhood-doenjang (fermented soybean paste)
gochujang (chili sauce) dashima (seaweed) and more-are fully plant-based unbelievably
flavorful and totally Korean. In her debut cookbook Joanne shares recipes and narrative
snapshots of the food that shaped her family history. Some of the recipes come straight from
her childhood: Jjajangmyun the rich Korean-Chinese black bean noodles she ate on birthdays or
the humble Gamja Guk a potato-and-leek soup her father makes. Some pay homage: Chocolate Sweet
Potato Cake is an ode to the two foods that saved her mother's life Kale & Ramen Salad with
noodle croutons and a dressing akin to ramen broth. With the intimate storytelling and stunning
photography she's become known for on social media The Korean Vegan Cookbook celebrates how
deeply food and family shape our identity.
