Eunjo Park

April 28, 2020

Eunjo “Jo” Park is the executive chef at Kāwi, the fine-dining Korean restaurant opened by David Chang’s Momofuku restaurant group in New York City. Jo is at the forefront of a growing group of chefs putting modern Korean food on the map. After culinary school at CIA she climbed the ranks in some of the best kitchens in the country, including Daniel, Per Se and Momofuku Ko. She tells Catherine and Juliana about her childhood in rural Korea, learning to cook for herself while her parents ran a dry cleaners, a devastating injury early on in her career, and the challenges lying ahead.

Follow Eunjo Park @eunjoful
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Questions or Comments? k-pod@koreanamericanstory.org

Credits

Co-host, Producer, Photographer
Juliana Sohn @juliana_sohn

Co-host, Producer, Editor
Catherine Hong @catherinehong100

Production Manager
Jessica Park

Audio Engineer
AJ Valente

Executive Producer
HJ Lee

K-Pod Episodes

Rituals and Traditions

Continuing their special series on cultural topics, Catherine and Juliana discuss the ways Korean Americans are observing age-old traditions like Paebek (wedding tea ceremony), Dol (first birthday) and Jesa (ancestor veneration). Their first guest is event planner Christine Chang of Live Love Create in Los Angeles, who explains how her wedding and Dol clients are honoring their heritage in a “fusion” style that feels relevant to them. (Think: a shorter, more inclusive Paebek or a golf ball included in the doljabi.) Next, they chat with mother-daughter duo Laura Park and Estella Riahi of Leehwa Wedding & Hanbok, a sought-after hanbok studio where LA’s Korean community have been ordering custom garments since the early 1990s. Catherine and Juliana learn how hanbok styles have evolved and how Leewha has become the go-to source for celebs looking for hanboks for awards season. Finally, the hosts speak with Jennifer Kim, aka Mudang Jenn, a shaman based in New York who explains the tradition of Jesa and how Korean Americans are adapting the ritual for today.

Christine Chang of Live Love Create Events @livelovecreate

Leehwa Wedding & Hanbok @leehwawedding

Mudang Jenn @shaman.mudang

The Korean Medicine Episode

While Korean immigrants are notorious for pushing their kids to become doctors, it’s worth remembering that Koreans have cultivated their own age-old approach to wellness for over 5,000 years. Hanbang – aka traditional Korean medicine – encompasses acupuncture, herbs and cupping and has lately attracted a surge of interest among both Korean Americans and Westerners. Continuing our special series on cultural topics, our hosts sit down with two respected practitioners, Dr. Erin Lee and Dr. Robert Lee, to gain an understanding of this often misunderstood field. Juliana (a Korean medicine adherent) and Catherine (a semi-skeptic) get a chance to ask their burning questions, including: How does Korean medicine differ from Chinese medicine? Is there clinical proof of the effectiveness of herbal remedies? How exactly does acupuncture work — and is it the same thing as “dry needling?” Why do Koreans fear sleeping with fans? What is cupping? How can patients find a good acupuncturist? And what’s the deal with the deer antlers anyway?

Dr Erin Lee on Instagram @workinprogressacu

The Language Episode

Whether you’re a fluent Korean speaker or barely capable of uttering 안녕하세요, this episode is for you! Kicking off our new series on cultural topics, K-Pod pays a visit to Young-mee Yu Cho, Rutgers University Professor of Korean Language and Culture. As co-author of the widely-used textbook series Integrated Korean, Cho has shaped how Korean language is taught in the States today. She dives into all of Catherine and Juliana’s questions, including: What are some Korean words that don’t exist in English? Why is Korean so hard for English speakers to learn? Is Han really the defining characteristic of Korean culture? Should we be spelling 떡볶이 “Dukbokki,” “tteokbokki,” or “teokbokki?” What’s up with the one-syllable names? How has the language changed from the time our parents immigrated? And finally… why are Korean mothers always telling us that we might as well kill ourselves?