KOREAN AMERICAN, by Eric Kim.

Memoirs with your Munchies! A delicious guided tour down one Korean Foodie’s memory lane!

This cookbook was a delight to my imagination’s taste buds – as well as an entertaining read. Eric Kim’s description of his and his parents’ experiences integrating into American culture brought back memories of my own parents’ experiences.

All the substitutions that his mother would have to come up with reminded me of my mother’s hilarious confession that, at first, she and many of her fellow Portuguese immigrants would not dare to buy things like “Cornie Flacks” – aka Corn Flakes – because they were afraid they might be buying rat poison by mistake!

Many of the recipes in this beautifully illustrated cookbook/memoir just call out to be sampled! Eric Kim’s avocado on toast/sourdough bread recipe has you crumpling sheets of seaweed and adding in a dash of sesame oil to the mix: my taste buds were humming!

Many traditional Korean dishes are presented here – with a slight Americanized twist or substitution. The author showcases traditional American fare (rib eye steak – glazed with a spicy chile paste; scrambled eggs – with a dash of black pepper, chives and sugar!, and Curried Chicken Cutlets – with a dash of Worcestershire sauce and Dijon mustard, served on a bed of rice vinegar in fused cabbage.)

If you like to add something new and exciting to your weekly menu, then this is definitely the cookbook for you. Just make sure you set the oven timer because you might get so engrossed in the anecdotes that are interwoven with the recipes that you might forget that you were actually preparing your supper!

Highly recommended – 5 out of 5 tasty and engrossing stars! Please note that the images used in this review are from the internet, since the beautiful colour graphics in this cookbook are copyrighted. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.