When Susan’s parents immigrated to Los Angeles from Seoul on January 24, 1975; they said it would take them three to five years to rebuild their traditional Korean pantry,

Susan’s grandparents on both sides of her family were born into the last generation of Yangban families in Korea. She grew up eating Koreans foods for aristocrats. Yangban had much greater access to a wide variety of ingredients than commoners. Yangban foods were also cooked with more refinement and elegantly presented. She didn’t realize this until about four years ago, when she started watching Korean food documentaries. Her parents told her. But she didn’t realize how incredibly well fed she was growing up compared to the vast majority of Koreans.

Susan doesn’t particular enjoy talking about her family’s Yangban background. But Korean people ask her how she knows so much about Korean food. They also ask her where her parents are from. Susan’s mother is from Gimje, Jeollado, a major agricultural area, right next to Jeonju, the first Korean city designated as the South Korean UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2012. Susan’s father is from Nonsan. Nonsan had one of the three largest commercial markets on the Korean Peninsula and it’s also a major agricultural region. Nonsan is a sleepy town now, but even when Susan’s father was a child, it was a very rich area. Gimje and Nonsan were so rich in resources, that they became key cities for Japanese plundering during occupation.

Susan’s father was an acupuncturist and Doctor of Oriental Medicine, who taught her the philosophy of “food as medicine” in Korean culture.

Our philosophy of Korean food and cooking is rooted in Korean culture. The taste of jang (doenjang, gocujang, and ganjang) is the taste of a household or kitchen’s cooking. It defines a cook or chef. There is no Korean cooking without jang.

Many Korean ingredients are living foods. Napa caba kimchi has a life cycle. If eaten on the day it’s made, it’s called geotjeori (exterior salting or pickling). Kimchi becomes the food kimchi after it’s fermented. Whole cabbage kimchi is good to eat for up to three to five years, when stored correctly.

Traditionally made gochujang (fermented chili paste) is considered medicine when it’s aged for five years.

Traditionally made doenjang (fermented soybeans) and ganjang (Korea soy sauce) are immortal. They never go bad. The oldest existing batch of doenjang is over 300 years old. The oldest existing batch of ganjang is 360 years old.

Korean food is seasonal. It’s based on the lunarsolar or lunisolar calendar. Even our preserved and fermented foods are seasonal.

There are Koreans who only make their jang with Korean solar salt that has had the bitterns removed for two to five years. Meju for jang is made a few months before making doenjang, gochujang, or makjang. Korean ganjang is actually the salty brine from making doenjang.