Tastes Like War: A Memoir

by Grace M. Cho

Food everywhere is not just about eating, and eating (at least among humans) is never simply a biological process.

Unscientific studies conclude that if you were to ask ten Koreans, “What is the one thing you cannot live without?” at least seven of them would say kimchi. —THE ECONOMIST, October 4, 2010

She always kept the refrigerators full. Perhaps her cooking made my father feel like a wealthy man.

Feeding others allowed her to transcend her origins. It was a testament to her survival and her hope for the future.

Her first greeting, before saying hello or giving me a hug, before asking me how my flight was or how I was doing in school, was to reach her hand out and present me with a peeled orange. “Ja. Eat. I made chaltteok,” she said, raising the bag of sweet rice cakes in her other hand. “You can eat that in the car.”