I’ve got an identity crisis. But it’s not so much that I don’t know who I am, but others don’t. Because apparently, everybody here in USC thinks I’m anything but Korean.
Now, I wouldn’t really be so bothered if the above said people were non-Asians. Not to offend anybody, but non-Asians have the tendency to lump every “almond-shaped eyes, yellow-skinned and exotic-looking Orientals” into one undistinguished group. Korean? Chinese? Vietnamese? Japanese? Why, don’t they all derive from China anyway? (I know you guys are sophisticated enough not to think that, but trust me, I’ve had ignorant fools say that to me one too many times)
No, it’s the Asians themselves who actually double over in shock—yes, shock— when I reveal that yes, indeed, I am 100% pure-blood Korean.
“No EFFING way!” One girl even screamed out, clasping her chest and causing a whole bunch of kids to turn around. I thought she was going to hyperventilate. Um, wow. I did not know my being Korean is that incredibly outrageous.
After the gasps and cries of astonishment, they continue: “So. But you’re like, half Chinese, right?”
I struggle to keep my cool. “Well, my dad is Korean. My mom is Korean. My grandparents and great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents were all Korean. I was born in Korea. You could say I am a purely-bred Korean.”
They still look suspicious. They don’t relent: “But you don’t look Korean. And you’re kind of skinny.”
Oh. Em. Gi!!!! What the freaking hell?
I can’t go on anymore. I might burst a blood vessel.
Anyway, perhaps it’s the abdominal questioning of my mother country that has spurred me to go crazy with the Korean influence on my food. But I’ve been having mad cravings for the quintessential Korean ingredient, gochujang, for the past few days.
I hope by now you already know what gochujang is… 
It’s this red fellow here. The Korean red pepper paste that is ubiquitous in pretty much any Korean dish. It’s really versatile, and all you need is a pinch of creativity. Let me prove my point…
I actually have pretty much been using this same marinade/sauce to spice up my dishes:
Gochujang-PB sauce
- 1 tablespoon gochujang
- 1-2 tablespoon soy sauce (to taste)
- 1-2 tablespoon peanut butter
- enough chicken broth to thin it out to your desired consistency
Mix. Pretty straight-forward and easy.
Here are the dishes I created with this incredible sauce:
Dish #1: Spiced-Up Frittata
- garlic, minced
- onions, diced
- shitake mushrooms, diced
- chicken, diced
- gochujang-PB sauce
- 2 eggs, beaten together with a bit of milk
- goat cheese
- green onion, chopped
Stir-fry the first three ingredients until slightly soft, then add in the chicken and the gochujang-PB sauce and stir-fry until cooked through.
Pour in the egg mixture, cook for a bit over low heat until the bottom is slightly set. Sprinlle on the goat cheese and green onion.
Cook in a 350 degree oven until the top is set. DIG IN! 
Pretty simple, basic frittata. But over the top with the gochujang-PB sauce! 
I pretty much just cut into it and dug in like pizza. I forgot the carbohydrate part, though, and got kinda gassy later…Thank god I was done with classes for the day! (Ok, TMI…but case in point: Do NOT forget the starch! Very very important if you wanna have a social life!)
Dish #2: Grilled Vegetable Salad
I had to resort to my trusty George Foreman for this. It took a long time to grill every vegetable though…Mr. GF was small! So basically, just grill every vegetable, even the pickle (trust me, it’s freaking good). Then toss them into a bowl, drizzle as much of the gochujang-PB sauce over, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and green onions. Add a dollop of avocado cream. And you’re done! Dish #3: Summer Stir-Fry with Runny Egg You didn’t think I’d end this without a runny egg, did you? That might just be my trademark! This was basically the same recipe as the fabulous concoction I told you about here…The one that got me totally addicted. What are they then? I don’t know…but they tasted mighty good! A total mumble jumble of different cuisines and styles, but I suppose that’s what I really am. I don’t have a single ethnicity. I may be born in Korea and be a Korean citizen, but I’ve been exposed to so many different cultures as a missionary kid. I blend in perfectly with the Chinese people, but also feel incredibly comfortable with Koreans. I don’t feel the least bit out of place with Caucasians or African-Americans or Latin-Americans, either. So you know what? I embrace my multi-cultural self. So there. I don’t look Korean? Fine. As long as I can blend in with any group of people and be myself and be comfortable, who cares? Question of the day: Ever had the same issue in which people tell you that you don’t look like who you are? (Be it race, age, or god forbid, sex)
Let’s see. The cool, creamy avocado cream… 
Lovely grilled summer squash (I like it al dente)… 
Juicy, plump and meaty shitake mushroom… 
Crunchy, sweet bell pepper that took forever to grill… 
Kabocha that just about brightens any dish… 
Pickle that may seem random but adds a burst of sweet-sour flavor in your mouth… 
One perfect lovely bite! 
Have I convinced you to try my gochujang-PB sauce yet? No? Okay, here’s another one…
Instead of the balsamic vinegar I used the gochujang-PB sauce and a squeeze of fresh lime juice to cook the vegetables. I didn’t have andouille sausage, so I just used plain regular hotdogs…don’t judge, I’m a poor college student and the big pack was 50% off! >.< 
I forgot to buy vinegar so I couldn’t make poached eggs, but a runny fried egg worked just as well! As long as the yolk flows, anything goes! (Eep. That was corny…) 
Hmm…You know what? Those kids who couldn’t believe I’m Korean might just have a point…Notice that though I used the authentic Korean ingredient, none of my dishes were really truly Korean….
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Oh my yuuuuuuuuum.
And I feel for you with people acting rude like that. I get it with age. I’m only 5 feet tall, so EVERYBODY, when they first meet me, is rude enough to first ask me how old I am, then remark how short I am and how young I look, and then to go on about it for the next ten minutes. I don’t know why anyone feels that they have the right to do that to another person. It’s so irksome.
Try coming to Hawaii if you are a hint of brown you are automatically a Pina girl or Latina ok! My whole life i have to explain what I am oh god especially when they see my Chinese mother they are like THAT IS YOUR MOM how come you don’t look like herrrrrrrrr!
So I totally feel your pain.
HAHAHA!!! This post is so funny!
Guess what, people keep coming up to ask me if I am from China too. In our mission trip, there was supposed to be one girl from China; the people just assumed that I am HER!:P Even the Chinese Malaysians. Nobody ever guesses that I am from KL…The most ‘Malaysian’ they can make me out to be so far – Sabahan…
Darling, you are eating better than I ever did in school! Maybe I’ll change that this year.
I am so sorry about the ID thing! I’ve only been asked if I was Swedish or German, nothing too insulting. Actually, I think it’s worse when people tell you you look like someone they know, which then robs you of individuality. Or when they assume I’m a volleyball player because I’m 5’10″. Annoying, but nothing we can’t deal with.
I hope this week is going swimmingly for you!
i’ve been hearing it my entire life. WHAT ARE YOU? well, i know who i am. that makes life a lot easier….
hey – my movie “white on rice” is having a special screening on september 9th at your school! not sure when or where yet, but i’ll keep you posted….please drag your friends!
Oh my gosh, yes! I’m half-Jewish and I have freckles, blue eyes and brown hair with red highlights – I’ve always gotten, “But you don’t look…” The irony? The Jewish part of me has ancestors in a small area of Belorus where most Jews have red hair and blue eyes.
I think as we’re in the States, more and more of us live very mixed identities, whether our ethnicity is mixed or not.
That must be frustrating, but you know who you are! Love all your great veggie dishes today, I wish I could cook like you everyday!
I get those all the time! It’s cool though because I don’t take it offensively anymore. I just laugh it off because I mean it’s becaues they’re ignorant.
I think it’s great that you are putting your thoughts into your food and I love your dishes with gochujang-PB sauce! Sounds like a must try!
So wait….Koreans can’t be skinny?!!! I’m not sure what people think I am, but usually it is Chinese or something like that. People think Asian = Chinese.
I’m pretty sure you’re the best collegiate cook ever. I wish you were my roommate!
You have the best stories!!! Keep us posted.Figtreeapps
So, ummm, are you Korean, really? kidding … kidding… please don’t get mad. Anyway, I am so glad that you give me an info about his chili sauce. I can not believe that this is actually the exact sauce I had in my fridge. It didn’t have any expiration date, I think I got it long time ago. Unfortunately, I just cleaned up my fridge this weekend and throw this sauce away. I’ll buy the new one though. Thanks to you again.
How rude! If it makes you feel any better, someone mistook me for a 14 year old this past summer. That’s roughly 33% younger than I actually am. Ugh.
Sophia! I missed you my darling darling girl!
So glad to hear you’re enjoying college. =)
How bloody ignorant can they get though?! Uh, not every Korean person looks the same. Just like not every Italian person or French person looks the same.
I feel ya, I really do. People basically have HEART ATTACKS when I tell them I’m 18. “But you’re so tiny!” “You’re a liar!”
>.<
You have the best stories!!! Keep us posted.Figtreeapps;. All the best!!
That fritatta sounds awesome!
Nothing jumps out at me for being mistaken age-wise or race-wise. But I can understand it would be so frustrating to go through!
OMG, people can be so wacky!
Okay, you’re going to love this….white people ask me if I’m Asian. All. The. Time.
I love telling Asian people that Caucasians think that, because they’re reaction is always so funny….not one Asian person has EVER thought I looked Asian, and they’ve always found the thought of it to be ridiculous.
When I went back to school last year, people would make comments about how mature I was for a freshman. Since my credits from SIU didn’t transfer very well at all, I was technically considered a freshman. When I told them that I was a 23 year old mom of one returning to college, they would say, “Wow , but you look like you could be 18!!”
That is hilarious! I get that quite often, too. Usually people think I’m happa or mixed. Even my husband thought I was half-Caucasian when he first met me. But nope, 100 percent Chinese.
Well, you can just go ahead and ship one of those Frittatas on over!
People are so lame!
yums grilled veggies are my favorite
you definatly know how to put them together!! pickles!? hmm.. i should try it!!
some poeple are so strange. YOU know who you are, girl
dont let other peoples assumptions get the best of you. You are a beautiful, creative girl!
I’ve never had anyone tell me I don’t look like who I am but I can see how annoying that’d be!
All your Korean-like food looks delicious, especially that grilled veggie salad. I love kabocha!
Well, my red hair convinces pretty much anyone I’m Irish. Gotta usually add I’m part German though.
Your post reminds me of a blog I’m fond of–Gaijin Smash, this American living in Japan. He was taking a proficiency exam and encountered several Koreans. He was surprised at how the Japanese regarded them as just as much outsiders as the schoolteacher (a tall black man), then realized, “why not?”
That frittata looks delish!
Hmm. Lots of people say I look like a mixed-blood kid, with one Caucasian parent, because my hair is brown, not the trademark Asian black. But how could they say you’re NOT Korean? By what standard?!
All the same, kinda glad (they did) because it inspired you to whip up all these yum food:)
wahhh..PB with that red ppr sauce?? lets see.. sweet, saltish, spicy??
I wont nvr have tot of it!
And hehe.. “As long as the yolk flows, anything goes” …. RIGHT ON babe!
Me got loads of such remarks..u chinese??? sure?? (i’m like ‘hello..u mean yr doubting my own answers as to my origins??”)
LOL my best friend in High School of 6 years turned around and said to me at the end of High School “But you’re from Japan right?”. Ummmm no-different country entirely! lol
haha, i can’t believe that girl was so shocked that you’re korean!
nationality doesn’t define us like you said – you have experienced so many different cultures and lifestyles. being korean has not stopped you enjoying and being part of those cultures, even though your heritage may be completely different. ethnicity and social culture are not who we are, but a part of who we are, part of the global mix of people and it influences what we bring to other people too.
i have to say people are shocked to hear i’m 22. most guess about 16. in the uk to get a child’s ticket on public transport (which is half price) you have to be under 16. i often have bus drivers offering me this child’s ticket, even at this age! (i would take it, because hey, its cheap but then someone might question my age hence a fine. no bueno.)
you’ve got me craving pickles now!
L. x
Not quite the same but I’m constantly being told I’m not from Warrington (where I was born, raised and have lived my whole life) because I don’t have the ‘accent’…. I wasn’t even aware we had an accent? lol
People are strange things.
The frittata makes me want one. Perhaps I’ll make one to eat cold at lunch tomorrow. Do they taste okay cold, anyone know? Runny eggs = love
Katie x
hahaha my friends tell me that I don’t look singaporean! but is there such a thing as a ‘singaporean look’?? hmmm
People think I’m lying all the time. lol Ok that’s an exaggeration but I hate when you tell somebody something about yourself and they don’t believe you. Like, why would I lie about it? Really people, come on.
Don’t worry, I believe that you’re Korean!
Identity crisis xD… I can relate… How often do you think someone correctly guesses I’m Bulgarian/Nigerian?
I’ve gotten everything from Mexican to Chinese (yes CHINESE…)..
xx
People are so ignorant. My friend who is Spanish and Guatemalan was asked if she was mexican and if she spoke mexican. Um, since when is that even a language!? But she gets it all the time since people lump together latin based nationalities too.
You’re totally right – as long as you are YOURSELF, it shouldn’t and doesn’t matter!
this all looks so good, your dishes are always so gorgeous!
when i was a teen i had very short hair, that, when it wasn’t done, would fall flat on my head like a guy’s. so one day we went snowmobiling adn i had not an ounce of makeup on my face adn the guy giving out helmets thought i was a dude, burn! i quickly grew my hair out after that!
I love gochujang. And I love all your “Sophia dishes.” I can relate to cooking with different influences as very few of my dishes are “authentic.” The other day I was making Duk Gook and was adding some “new” ingredients (I don’t remember what it was). Hubby said: “Can you really add this to Duk Gook?” And I said: “Sure. Why not?” And he loved the way it turned out… (But I do admit that I get a bit carried away at times and things sometimes turn out simply weird…).
I find my cooking representative of the different cultural influences in my life. And I really like that… And I always enjoy seeing your dishes with different influences…
Maybe you should invest in a T-Shirt that says: “I am 100% Korean.” Just kidding…
Oh yeah. I’m half-Vietnamese myself (half-Caucasian) and I get that “WHAT ARE YOU” question constantly. I’ve heard them all: “Korean? Chinese? Japanese? Hawaiian? Mexican?!” It used to irritate me because why does it matter so much to them? But eh, whatever.
You are so dang cute! My parents were like that everyone was called “Asian” whether they were Korean, Chinese or Vietnamese! In retrospect I am embarrassed for them!
Hey girl! I’m sorry some people have been so rude! It sounds like you’re trying to handle is a well as you can, and you’re doing a good job.
That red pepper sauce looks so good, especially in all your dishes you made with it!
And I’m a missionary kid, too! I lived in a couple different countries growing up! That’s so cool!
Ugh. It’s annoying and frustrating, but I’ve gotten that as well. I get it mostly because of the way I talk or dress or who I hang out with. I’ve never been what most would consider ‘super asian’ and I gave the Filipino group in college a shot my freshman year, but I totally didn’t fit in and most asians clump me in the ‘white’ group.
I’ve gotten used to it though…shrug it off. I know that I’m not that I’m dressing or talking a certain way to fit in with a group of people…this is just how I’ve grown up. I grew up in a town where there were very few asians…what else can be expected? I surround myself with people and things I enjoy and if someone’s going to freak out and think of me as ‘less of an asian’, then they can have their moment of shock and keep on moving.
Next time someone asks what nationality you are tell them you are from Norway. That ought to shut them up. I get that all the time with regards to my NY accent. I live in northern Virginia and all I hear is “gee, where are you from” (as if they don’t know). My answer now is that I am from Alabama. They usually quiets things down. By the way, your food always looks so good!
One of my daughter’s closest friends is black and she calls her “her whitest black friend” while that same friend calls my daughter “her whitest Asian friend” It’s a little private joke between the two of them because of all the stereotypes they’ve run up against that, aparently, they don’t fit. It used to make me squimish to hear them call each other that but it helps them cope with the ignorance of others. And it makes them laugh – and humor in this dysfuncitonal world is a good thing!
Thanks for the recipes! Can’t wait to try them!
Ugh, how annoying! I don’t understand why you don’t look Korean.., but whatever. Maybe they were looking for the FOB look
Um, yeah when I was 14 I dressed in baggy clothes (helllooooo bulimia, haha) and had a boyish hair cut and girls made fun of me all the time, that I was a boy. It was humiliating.
You are creative with your meals girl! Hmm starch makes me gassy, so i always leave it out, haha.
wtf? why wouldnt they believe you? there isn’t even anything wrong with being korean! wtf! this outrages me too!
but i do love the korean inspired dishes you posted! yum!
-muffy
People think I’m still in high school or I’m an intern at work.
people can be soooooo unaware sometimes- Lovely back in your face, 100% Korean dishes!! They all look scrumptious and I had been wondering about that red pepper paste! thanks!
Ever see Seinfeld where Elaine tells people to shut up and then pushes them? I want to do that to those people giving you a hard time! All of your creations are so yummy – just a wonderful fusion of flavors and textures and extreme deliciousness!
People think I’m about 20 – which I am definitely not and when I was a kid I used to get asked ‘where I came from?’ all the time because I didn’t look like anyone else in my family and they all looked alike. I was sensitive and it would make me wonder if my parents really were my parents.
I’ve been told I look more European than American… whatever that means!
wow..people can be so ignorant and not even realize it sometimes when it comes to race and ethnicity and basically anything of that sort! sorry about that dear…
you have suuuuch lovely food pictures though
Hey sweetie, your use of the red pepper paste has me totally in awe! And I’m glad you’re having great fun in Uni!
Anyway, I do have facebook and you have my email address so add away!
Btw, I think most people usually guess that I’m Chinese simply because Chinese people are EVERYWHERE! Although, whenever we’re in Bangkok, we get spoken to in Japanese. I think it’s because Mum’s got pretty Japanese features which I think is cute. x) xx
lets face it, most people are stupid.
BUT tell me m’lady how do you get your eggs perfectly cooked like that? sheesh that is some genius work right thur!
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