01x02 - Awkwafina's Korean Homecoming

[bunniefuu]

[Antoni Porowski]

I'm Antoni Porowski.

-Hello.

-[woman speaks indistinctly]

[Antoni] And as a son of immigrants,

-I know that food

-Ooh!

can tell you more about who you are

Nothing makes me feel

more Polish than this.

and where you've come from

-This is it.

-than you ever imagine.

So now, I'm leading

six curious Hollywood stars

-Are you excited for this?

-Yeah.

[Antoni] on their very own

journeys of a lifetime.

I've been waiting for

this moment my entire life.

[both laugh]

[Antoni] I'll be delving into

their family histories

[gasps]

-Florence?

-[Antoni] Yeah.

and tracking down culinary clues

Oh, my gosh, it's so good.

to unlock the past.

[Issa Rae] It almost feels

unreal to think that

I descend from a king.

[Antoni] And it all begins

-Ha!

-For you, Nona.

-[Antoni] with just one

-Mmm.

-[laughter]

-[Antoni] family recipe.

[kiss smacks] It's crispy.

Mmm!

[Antoni] This time, actress, rapper,

and comedian Awkwafina

Whoa! Oh, my, we're so high.

[Antoni] heads to South Korea

in search of her mother's memory.

[sobs]

[Antoni] She'll rediscover the taste

of childhood

That's really, uh, nostalgic.

[Antoni] unravel some mysteries

-[glasses clink]

-and find out that

she's more Korean

than she ever thought possible.

[Mark Peterson] Everyone you

see here is a relative of yours.

-That's so cool.

-[Mark] Yeah.

You've come home.

[pencil scratching]

[ship horns blaring]

[horns honking]

What's New York to you?

Since this is where we are right now,

this is where we start.

I mean, this is my home.

This is New York is

my home, everything.

-And Grandma's here and Dad's here.

-Yeah.

[Antoni] Awkwafina's real name

is Nora Lum,

and she was raised

by her Chinese-American dad

and her grandma, who owned

a restaurant in Queens.

Just looking at the old photos,

it's clear that food

runs in this family's blood.

We are gonna have a jajangmyeon,

and I used to eat it a lot

and my grandma used

to, um, cook it for me.

It was something that

she shared with my mom

because my mom was Korean

and, um, my grandma's from

a city in Northern China

that is very close to Korea

and they had this

they shared this dish.

[Antoni] With a Korean mom

and a Chinese-American dad,

jajangmyeon holds a special place

in both of her cultures.

But that's not the only reason

this meal is so important.

Having moved to the States

as a young woman,

Nora's mom passed away

when she was just 4 years old.

Her Chinese grandma moved in,

and she loved to cook

the dish that connected

the whole family to Nora's mom.

Whatever hole I think

my mom's passing left,

um, my grandma really filled it

with, like, unconditional love.

-So she stepped up?

-Yeah. Yeah.

-Okay. I love her already.

-[Awkwafina] In a big way, yeah.

[Antoni] Grandma's cooking up

the family favorite

once more today, and she's asked us

to pick up the ingredients.

[Awkwafina] Forewarning, though,

my grandma's gonna make us feel bad

about the things that we got.

I feel like they're not gonna be right.

Oh, like, we're not gonna pick

the right ingredients?

I feel like we're not gonna pick the

It's every time. It's like a radish.

She's like, "I need a radish."

And then we get her a radish,

and she's like, "No, this, no."

[Antoni laughs]

-Alright, so I got the list.

-Bust it out, bust it out

Okay, okay, okay, cucumber.

-Cucumber.

-Black Chinese noodle.

I feel like we should get a couple.

-Okay. Perfect.

-We got the meat.

This is it.

-Hi, Grandma.

-Hi, hi,

-you guys back?

-[Awkwafina] How you doing?

We got all the stuff. This is Antoni.

It's so nice to meet you.

It's so nice meet you too.

I think we're missing some ingredients.

Like what, you think?

We didn't get the right noodle.

I have noodle.

-You brought stuff?

-[Grandma] Yeah.

That was what is in your bag?

Yeah.

Oh. Oh, my God.

I love that you asked us

to go grocery shopping

but also you didn't have full trust in us,

so you brought your own as well.

She did not trust us.

That is a strong grandma.

-You pre-chopped them.

-You prepped everything.

[Awkwafina] You pre-chopped it?

Yeah.

That's very that is

very grandma of you.

You brought your personal soy sauce.

-Yeah.

-You brought the personal

[Antoni] You heard it here first.

[Antoni laughs]

Soy sauce wars aside,

I can't wait to try

this home-cooked classic.

Jajangmyeon, I think it helped

you connect to Mom, right?

-Korean food and stuff?

-Yeah.

We had a relationship

like a mother and daughter.

I always say when I die,

when I see her Ma,

I won't feel any guilty

because I did a good job.

You good girl.

I promise her, you know?

Yeah.

Did you ever make

jajangmyeon together?

-Yeah.

-[Awkwafina] You did?

Yeah, yeah.

She like my style after that.

What's your favorite thing

that Nora cooks for you?

-She don't know how to cook.

-[laughs]

[laughs] That's it.

-This is a roast.

-[laughter]

Okay, so we have ground pork.

You just raw dog it like that,

you don't wash it?

Wash ground meat?

-[Awkwafina] Yeah, dude.

-[Grandma] Yeah.

-[Antoni] Yeah.

-Mm, mm-hmm?

[Antoni] The key ingredient is

a sticky black bean paste

made with wheat called chunjang in Korea

or tianmian in China.

-Has like a sweetness.

-[Awkwafina] Yeah, it's good.

-And like a little smokey.

-[Awkwafina] Yeah.

So then all of it goes back in.

So you're really coating it

with all of this.

This smells so good.

-So we can eat now.

-[Awkwafina] Alright, let's do it.

[Antoni] No bowl of this stuff

would be complete

without toppings.

Carrot, cucumber, and daikon radish.

[pencil scratching]

[Antoni gasps]

Thank you. Alright.

-Holy crap.

-[Awkwafina] Mm-hmm.

[Antoni] It's not overly sweet.

The pork is like really nice and crispy,

and then I understand why

you have all the raw vegetables.

It's like a nice crunch, right?

Mm-hmm.

I feel like there's a lot of history

and there's a lot of love behind the dish.

Are there any other things

that you remember

about growing up with your mom,

like flavors or smells

that came from the kitchen?

She was very, very caring

about what I would eat.

She used to get me, like,

really cool lunchboxes

and pack me, like, the sickest lunches.

-Hmm.

-I remember that she would have

the spinach in her, in her hands,

raw spinach and she would like,

like really wring-wring it out.

When's the last time you were in Korea?

When I was four or five,

right after my mom passed.

[Antoni] Hmm.

Losing her mom so young has meant

Nora's missed out

on a lifetime of learning

about her Korean side.

But I wanna help change that.

[Awkwafina] I wanna go to Korea.

I wanna understand what it is today.

I wanna really immerse myself

in the culture

and I wanna, like,

see where my mom was from.

[Antoni] I feel like there's this, like,

whole wonderful side

of where you come from

that maybe you just haven't had

the opportunity to learn about.

Yeah.

[Antoni] The time is now.

[dramatic music playing]

Nora's Korean deep dive

kicks off right here,

South Korea's bustling capital, Seoul.

-This is wild.

-[Awkwafina] Whoa!

Oh, my, we're so high.

[Antoni] Nora's mom was born in Korea

in 1954.

At that time, the population of Seoul

was just one and a half million.

Now it's a mega city

with over 10 million inhabitants

and one of the most important economic

and cultural hubs in Asia.

-Are you excited for this?

-It's crazy.

It's like, it's a little overwhelming.

I don't think I, like,

actually know a lot about Korea.

[Antoni] Wow!

[Awkwafina] Whoa. This is crazy.

[Antoni] Despite this

country's recent boom,

South Korea's had a turbulent past,

mostly because of where it's at.

Beyond that mountain range over there

is actually North Korea.

-Uh-huh.

-And then we have Japan

is over that direction,

and then we have China as well.

Yeah.

[Antoni] A similar size

to the state of Indiana,

Korea has a history of being pushed around

by its powerful next door neighbors,

especially China to the west,

and Japan to the east.

These regional conflicts have impacted

the national identity of every Korean

growing up here, including Nora's mom

and we're heading to a place

that will help Nora understand

just how this legacy

affected her mom's generation.

Let's go start that little knowledge tour.

-Yeah, let's do it.

-Also, are you hungry?

Uh, actually, I'm good.

Um, I'm on a

I think I'm on a diet right now, yeah.

[Antoni laughs]

-[horns honking]

-[people chattering]

[Antoni] We've come

to a Seoul institution.

Tongin street food market.

It's the perfect place for Nora

to start soaking up her mom's world.

Whoa!

[Antoni] And sample the

street food she grew up with

before she moved to America.

Is that real? How does it stay so perk?

[Antoni] I totally knew that,

totally knew that.

I've arranged for local chef

Jane Song to show us around.

Ooh!

[Jane] And here we have the dumplings.

Dumpling was called mandu in Korean.

It was actually brought

by the Mongolian influence.

[Antoni] Can we try the dumplings?

[Jane] Sure.

Mmm!

So good. Can I take you home with me?

[Jane laughs]

I knew it was gonna be good by, like,

the translucence of the perimeter,

you can see through it like glass.

[Awkwafina] Mm, mm-hmm.

-So good.

-Yeah.

[Antoni]

Similar to Mongolia's national dish

of steamed dumplings, called buuz,

these silky little pockets

are stuffed with seasoned meat

and have a grilled, smoky flavor.

That's fantastic.

[Jane] Here is, like, another type

of the dumplings.

It's a fishcake, which was

actually brought to Korea

during the Japanese occupation.

Yeah, I know.

-and you've gone through it.

-Exactly, exactly.

-[Awkwafina] So many.

-[Jane speaking Korean]

[Antoni] Korea's been

a battleground for centuries.

Invaded by Mongolia, China

and most recently Japan

who occupied the country until the end

of the Second World w*r.

The country was split

into north and south,

and the Korean w*r soon followed.

Nora's mom was born the year

after the fighting stopped.

But the legacy of conflict

had a dramatic impact

on her generation

and Korea's unique cuisine.

-It's a real market.

-Yeah.

[Jane] Something that

I'm really proud as Korean

is, like, even though, like,

we adapted those cultures,

we made it as our own.

For a country that has been

occupied by different countries

at different points historically,

it's all the more important to preserve

whatever it is that they can.

-Yes, exactly.

-And it continues to evolve.

-Yes.

-It continues

I think in the story

it sounds like a resilience.

-You know?

-Mm-hmm.

[Antoni] Next up is a food stall

famous for a dish that demonstrates

that independent Korean spirit.

Uh-oh. Oh, a what?

And it just happens to be a food

that Nora already knows and loves.

This is actually my favorite, gimbap.

[Antoni] Gimbap is a food that showcases

that Korean knack

for absorbing new influences

while staying true to its roots,

and this family-run stall

has been serving it up here

for the last 70 years.

I feel like you could do this

with your eyes closed.

-[Antoni laughs]

-[Jane] She can.

And who's that behind you?

Oh, wow. Are you fast?

-No.

-No. [laughs]

She's just out here to help.

[Antoni] It's a dish

that might look Japanese

but definitely isn't.

[Jane] So tuna gimbap has

this egg omelet, crab meat,

this yellow thing here is the tamuze,

is the pickled radish.

Cucumber. Some of the burdock.

Wow. Oh, wow.

-[Antoni] Oh, that's beautiful.

-[Awkwafina] Oh, wow.

-Oh, wow!

-Yay!

[Jane] It's almost like

watching a show, right?

-[Antoni] I know.

-[Awkwafina] Yeah.

[Antoni] Unlike sushi,

the rice in gimbap is seasoned

with toasted sesame oil,

not sushi vinegar.

There's a wider range of fillings

and here's the Korean giveaway,

the pickled radish.

If it doesn't have the tamuze,

it's not considered as a gimbap.

-[Antoni] Okay.

-Right, right, right, yeah.

I'm gonna take a off camera bite, though.

-Okay.

-[Antoni laughs]

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

So you see the difference.

-That is not sushi.

-It is not

-No.

-definitely not sushi.

[Antoni] Wow.

So good. So good.

I think the radish is my favorite part.

-Yeah.

-[Jane] Yes.

And what we are, like, really proud of is

we are still retaining our tastes.

Food is not just nutrition

to Korean people.

Do you know how we call family in Korean?

No.

-Wow.

-Oh, it's who you are eating.

Oh, my gosh.

-That's really cool.

-That's so sweet.

Yeah, so it's not just nutrition.

It stands for family.

It stands for sharing and love.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

[Antoni] Incredible.

[speaking Korean]

Thank you, nice to meet you guys, yeah.

-Ooh.

-[Awkwafina] Wow.

[Antoni] Food and family

are so closely linked here

and for Nora, it's hitting a nerve.

I think it was seeing

the moms and daughters together.

Makes me think about my family

and the things that,

you know, I

I maybe, like, missed out on.

I want to associate Korea

with good things.

-Hmm.

-I wanna

-Oh.

-Yeah.

[Antoni] Visiting her mother's homeland

for the first time in 30 years

is such a huge step for Nora.

I wanna help her feel connected

to her Korean family

through the food that's been passed down

and shared here for generations.

So we're heading to a place

where Nora's roots run deep.

Around 140 miles south of Seoul,

in the thousand-year-old

village of Daeyul-Ri.

[Awkwafina] Oh, wow.

This is so cool.

[Antoni] Yeah, I feel like

we're back in time.

Nora knows very little

about her late mother's Korean family,

but she does know

that her mom's maiden name

was Hyun Joo Hong,

and I've made an incredible discovery

about the Hong family lineage.

My research has brought us here

to a place that, before now,

Nora had never even heard of.

You know, there's something, uh, like,

familiar about it, like, a place that,

like, you know and don't know,

you know what I mean?

Yeah, it makes sense that it's familiar.

Um, this is actually

where your maternal grandfather was born.

Wow. Tha-tha-that just, uh,

gave me the chills, wow.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Um

Wow.

Uh, my mom, um

when she was passing away was

[sniffles]

[voice breaks] a-asking for him.

So

Um, I know she loved him.

There was a lot of love there.

Yeah.

Thanks for bringing me here. This is cool.

-Can I give you a hug? [laughs]

-Yeah.

[Antoni] Nora's grandfather

was born here in 1918

and died when he was 84 years old in 2002.

He came from a long line of landowners

who farmed cabbages, apples,

and the most valuable

of Korean foods, rice.

Before coming here,

I reached out to Korean

genealogy specialist

Mark Peterson

who's helped uncover

some very special insights

about this village, and Nora's family.

-[Antoni] Hi, Mark.

-[Awkwafina] Hey.

I love this place.

Not only was your grandpa born here,

the whole village

is related to your grandpa.

This is the Hong village.

-Oh, wow.

-Everybody here is a Hong.

-That's so cool.

-Huh.

Everyone you see here

is a relative of yours.

-That's so cool.

-[Mark] Yeah.

It really is.

[Antoni] For an only child like Nora,

raised just by her dad and grandma,

finding out you're related

to an entire village

must be pretty mind blowing.

For 800 years,

Nora's relatives have lived here.

The men marrying women

from outside the village

to keep the Hong family line healthy.

And in Korea's rigid

social structure at the time,

it turns out her family

were pretty powerful.

This village is a real yangban village.

Yangban means aristocrat

with a tradition of people

that have passed the exam.

In the old days, you had to pass an exam

to get a government position,

and government positions were everything.

Private enterprise hardly existed at all.

You had ancestors that passed the exam.

One of them was a minister

of personnel in the cabinet.

-Oh, wow.

-That's-that's just Yeah.

That's a wow. That's just below the king.

Oh, wow.

[Antoni] Nora had no idea just

how powerful her family were here.

And there are some even

bigger surprises in store.

[bird tweeting]

[birds tweeting]

[Antoni] Nora's grandfather

was born in this village

in 1918.

Alright.

[Antoni] He moved

to the city as a young man

to start a business and raise a family.

So although Nora's mom wasn't born here,

the family used to return

for special occasions.

I've arranged for Nora

to meet the village elder

to see what else she can find out.

But first, I wanna show her

a dish that's been enjoyed

by her ancestors here for centuries,

and it's the perfect gift

for where we're going.

[Mark] What do the red letters

right there say?

Uh, I don't know.

Oh, Tuh-Oh. That's like

[Antoni] Tteok is a steamed sweet cake

made from rice flour,

and it's part of Nora's ancestral lineage.

[Antoni] Because Nora's family

not only farmed rice,

they've made this treat here

for generations.

Are you a Hong also?

So then, in a way, like, we're related.

-[Antoni] Related by marriage.

-[Awkwafina] Yeah, yeah.

[Antoni] Yun Hee Lee has been

mastering the art of tteok

for over two decades now.

-She wants you to do it.

-Oh.

[Antoni] There are hundreds of varieties

of sweet rice cake made here,

and this one includes pumpkin.

[Awkwafina] Oh, cool, it's like Halloween.

[laughter]

[Awkwafina] Oh, wow.

[Antoni] While the pumpkins are steaming,

the rice is ground down.

-Whoa!

-[Awkwafina] Oh.

[Antoni] Then it's mixed

with the softened pumpkin

I love how she's putting you

to work. [laughs]

before being put back

through the grinder.

-[Awkwafina] Oh, wow.

-[Mark] You're making a finer

and finer powder.

So the rice is sweet,

and there's a bit of sweetness coming in

through the pumpkin as well.

The pumpkin-flavored rice flour

now needs to be steamed.

Why is this tteok an appropriate gift

for where we're heading right now?

[Antoni] Occupation, w*r, famine,

Korea's had it all in recent times.

And during those years

of hardship, rice was scarce.

So for Nora's mom, rice cake like this

would have been a real treat.

[Awkwafina] Thank you,

really nice to meet you.

[speaking Korean]

[Yun Hee Lee speaking Korean]

Bye-bye. Bye

[Antoni] The village elder is

the person responsible

for keeping up the family records,

so I've brought Nora to meet

the elder of Daeyul-Ri,

Chungheon Hong,

to find out what we can

about her relatives.

And I'm really glad we brought a gift.

[laughs] Yeah, nice to meet you.

[Mark] He has figured

his relationship to you.

Oh, cool. Wow.

[Antoni] Chungheon Hong has discovered

that he and Nora share the same

great, great, great, great,

great grandfather,

and they have many ancestors in common,

including high-ranking

government officials

who ran the region

and farmed their own land.

And not only that,

we have what's called a Chokbo.

The Chokbo is the family tree document.

-Oh, wow.

-And we've got it right here.

[Antoni] The Jokbo is

a Korean book of genealogy

passed down through the generations.

Only the highest status

families have these books,

and they were often used as proof

that you belonged to the Yangban,

or higher social classes.

Two massive volumes.

A lot of generations here.

[Antoni] For the last 800 years,

almost every Hong has

been documented in the Jokbo.

[Mark] Here is your grandfather,

and then here are his three sons

and his three daughters.

There were four daughters.

Your mother's not here.

Your mother was left out,

probably because she was in America.

But we're gonna get her

in the next edition.

And they're gonna put you in.

Thank you, yeah, that'd be great.

Thank you so much, uh, for doing this.

We Um, it's very,

very meaningful for me.

Did you know my mom?

-He knew your grandfather.

-You knew my grandpa.

[Awkwafina] Oh, you little.

Do I look like a Hong?

Yeah. [laughs]

That's cool.

[Mark] Let's try this tteok.

[Antoni] This has like

a very dense cake vibe.

-[Awkwafina] Yeah.

-[Antoni] And a lot of,

like, very subtle notes.

Like, there's nothing overwhelming.

That's right.

And the, and the pumpkin flavor

is so delicate.

It totally comes through.

Today, Nora joined the long line

of Hong women who've made

this traditional delicacy

here for centuries

and with its nutty flavor

and hint of sweetness,

it's a hit.

The first thing I cooked

in, like, six years.

♪♪

[tractor rumbling]

-I've never been to a farm like this.

-Really?

[Awkwafina] I went to

the Queens County farm

when I was little.

It's like women from Queens

in, like, full colonial garb,

and they're like,

"so this is how we make patta cakes."

[laughs]

[Antoni] Nora's discovered she's descended

from a long line of aristocrats

who owned their own land,

which they farmed for valuable crops

such a cabbage, peppers, and rice.

But before motorized tractors,

the only way they could do this

was to rely on a very special creature.

-[Antoni grunts]

-Thank you.

-Here you go.

-Alright.

-Hello, everyone.

-[Antoni] Chef Lee!

-[Awkwafina] Hi.

-Hi.

How's it going?

Jun Lee is a Michelin starred chef

who's going to show us

how this humble farm animal

became a global culinary sensation.

Do you know anything

about the Korean beef, hanwoo?

I do know that, like,

when you get Korean beef,

it always does taste different,

and it, like, barbecues differently

than, like, American beef.

I think feeding is

very important thing about,

like, why it develops special flavor.

So shall we get some feed going?

-[Jun Lee] Oh, yes, please.

-Great, amazing.

[Awkwafina] Okay.

As a city girl, cows are really bizarre.

So is this, like, traditional hay

that we use in the United States for cows?

This is, uh, rice hay.

It makes the cow much fattier

than a wheat hay.

[Awkwafina] Yeah, come and get it.

[Jun Lee] You know,

back in the days, you know,

cow was not for the meat for us.

So we utilized their power.

These animals are the only one

has that much of strength,

so it was kind of a even family member

for the old Korean people.

After we use them for their farming,

we slaughter a cow.

That's why we try to utilize

the whole thing to show some respect.

-Sure.

-Yeah.

What's up with these speakers here?

[Jun Lee] Some cow farm

actually play some music

to let them enjoy their life.

-Oh, wow.

-Because, you know,

when you're laid back, they can develop,

like, much more tender muscles

and much more flavor.

[Antoni] These hanwoo have

never pulled a plow.

They're accustomed to the finer things.

Can we play some music for them?

-[Jun Lee] Let's do that.

-Yeah? [laughs]

[Awkwafina] Hell yeah.

-[classical music playing]

-[cows mooing]

[Jun Lee] I think they are singing.

[both laugh]

[mooing continues]

♪♪

[Antoni] For Nora's country ancestors

living before refrigeration,

if they slaughtered the whole animal,

it would need to be cooked

and eaten pretty quickly.

So what do you do

when you have a ton of meat

that needs using up?

Invite everyone around

for a barbecue, of course.

-[Awkwafina] Okay, wow.

-Wow.

[Antoni] What makes

Korean barbecue special

is not just the meat

but the way it's grilled

right at the table

and eaten with panchan.

The tasty lineup of side dishes

that turn every meal into a feast.

This is probably the most

delicately curated barbecue

I've ever been to.

This is sort of like a ritual.

It means like literally kind of

a feast of the entire town.

-Yeah.

-That's beautiful.

It's like kind of encouraging

this sort of, like,

sense of community and, like,

bringing people together,

I just think it's, like, outstanding.

And I guess every cow has a silver lining.

[Jun lee] Let's start with this beef.

[Awkwafina] Look at that meat, dude.

How long approximately on each side?

-[Jun lee] Ten or 15 seconds.

-[Antoni] Seconds.

-[Jun Lee] Yeah.

-[Antoni] That's it? Wow.

[meat sizzling]

-Oh, smart.

-[Jun Lee laughs]

Wait, did you invent that

or is that a thing?

[Jun Lee] No, this is a Korean thing.

[Antoni] That is so smart.

You get like a touch of the

onion without too aggressive,

but also it gets to rest.

Touch of salt, let's go.

Mmm.

[Awkwafina] How's that?

I could leave right now,

and I would leave happy.

-[laughs]

-Holy crap.

Chewy but not rubbery,

if that makes sense.

-[Jun Lee] That's true.

-Which is a huge difference.

[Awkwafina] Oh.

[Antoni] I already know all I can taste

[Awkwafina] See, this is where

eating for me gets, like, in the realm

of like you know what I mean?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I wanna marry the beef is what I'm saying.

[Antoni] These juicy, marbled morsels

are pure beefy bliss.

Oh, my gosh.

It's no surprise that Korean barbecue

has taken the world by storm.

It was frickin' delicious. Like, that's

I will remember that taste forever.

But it is amazing to think

this communal tradition,

bringing everyone together

around the grill,

all started with customs

passed down by villagers

like Nora's ancestors.

Tonight was nice because it was

a night where I can kind of relate,

or feel a little bit familiar,

in a familiar atmosphere,

which is the point

of Korean barbecue, you know?

All these ceremonies, all the traditions,

I'm starting to understand

why it's actually so important to, like,

uphold it, or at least to know about it.

Even, like, a-a simple baseline

and then figuring out

how to make it our own,

I think is, is, is incredible.

And to have you by my side, you're like

I don't wanna say fairy

because that's not

-It's not

-[laughs]

In the context, in the context,

in the context you mean,

it's completely acceptable.

Thanks, dude. Alright, let's go

pass out in the alleyway.

[Antoni laughs]

♪♪

-So we're in Daegu.

-Yeah.

Taegu, not Daegu,

even though it's spelled that way.

It's kinda like a, it's like a

-in between a T and a D.

-Yes.

Almost 150 miles south of Seoul,

Daegu maybe smaller and more old fashioned

than the country's capital,

but this industrial city was a big player

in Korea's economic boom

in the late 20th century.

And it's here where Nora's mom

was born and raised.

Wh-what do you know

about what her life was like

when she was really young?

Uh, she was an artist, so she, you know,

she painted and drew so much up close.

So she always wore these,

like, huge glasses.

[Antoni] Nora's mom emigrated

to the United States

to study art

when she was just 20 years old,

and it was during her time

at college in New York

that she met and married Nora's dad.

She missed Korea so much.

That's why she would make me

the seaweed soup,

and I remember this almost

ancestral feeling of fullness.

When I see it or I'm near it,

I really think about my mom,

because she loved it so much.

[Antoni] Nora's mom's

favorite dish, seaweed soup,

has a special meaning here.

So I've found someone who can teach Nora

how to make it,

something she's never done before.

Oh. Puppy.

[Antoni] Traditional

food expert Quan Hyan Suk

is going to show us the ropes.

You have a very lovely home.

[speaking Korean]

Wow.

I recognize this after my mom died,

'cause this was her favorite food.

My grandma kept making it for me.

Mm.

[Antoni] The soup's main ingredient

is dried seaweed,

a staple in many Korean pantries.

Can you tell us a little bit

about the significance of this dish

in Korean culture?

Why is it so important for a birthday?

It's to honor your mother of the hardship

that she went through of giving birth.

That's so beautiful.

[speaking Korean]

-[seaweed cracks]

-[Awkwafina] Oh, okay.

[Antoni] The soup isn't just a meal.

It's a time-honored ritual,

not just to recover from childbirth

but for anyone wanting to cherish

the memory of their own mom.

And as that's what

Nora's journey is all about,

it's the perfect dish for her to learn.

[Awkwafina] I'm sorry, I

-[Antoni] That is so

-[Awkwafina] That's so cool.

[Antoni] The color is changing.

It's just like

It's, like, coming to life.

[Antoni] Another key ingredient is beef,

fried in a generous glug of sesame oil.

-Oh, wow, it's already browning.

-Oh, yeah.

It's cut so nice and thin

so it cooks rather quickly.

Oh, it smells, it smells so good.

[sizzling]

-Whoa! Oh, wow.

-[translator] Then you put in the seaweed.

[Antoni] Get your hands in there,

there you go, there you go.

[Awkwafina] Oh, wow.

-[Awkwafina] Oh, wow.

-[Quan Hyan Suk speaking Korean]

Okay.

[Quan Hyan Suk speaking Korean]

[translator] Yeah, she said,

"How does it taste?"

Mm. Yeah, tastes good.

Like, from when I was a kid.

[translator speaking Korean]

Mm.

[voice breaks] It's good, sorry.

She-she understands.

It's weird how that happens.

Oh, man, it's just been like

such a roller coaster.

It's just, that was really, uh, nostalgic.

[soup bubbling]

[Awkwafina] Oh, wow.

-Oh, wow!

-It's so good, right?

[gentle music playing]

[Awkwafina] The seaweed soup mythology,

I really didn't know

that it has a birth thing.

I mean, it would make

perfect sense, you know?

And yeah, I think it's like,

it just very magical.

Yeah. That's a good word for it.

I feel better every day about it.

Good. Ah.

Oh, yeah.

♪♪

-[upbeat music playing]

-[train rattling]

[Antoni] It's Nora's last day in Korea

and to help her gain a real picture

of her mom's childhood here,

I've tracked down two people

who knew her best.

[speaking Korean]

Yeah? Thank you.

[Antoni]

Yeah, she's shaking, she's shaking.

Oh, wow.

[Antoni] Kim Mi Jung and Kim Im Suk

were Nora's mom's

best friends from school.

[Awkwafina] It's really great

to meet you guys

because I don't know anybody

from that part of her life.

She could really see,

uh, your mom from you.

You look very alike.

That's nice, yeah.

No. I-I remember

I-I just remember,

uh, like, littler things,

like, when she, um

she, you know, the food

she made me, some Korean food.

[Antoni] Nora's never seen

these photos before.

-Oh, wow.

-[translator] Yeah.

That was after graduation.

[Awkwafina] Wow.

She-she does look like me, huh?

[speaking Korean]

[translator] That was,

like, on a school trip.

I think that's your mother

on the right, smiling.

[Awkwafina] She looks

so happy in this picture.

[translator speaking Korean]

Thank you.

[Awkwafina] Yeah.

It's crazy 'cause I, I looked

like that when I was young.

[Kim Mi Jung and Kim Im Suk] Mm.

Do you think, um

she-she would have been happy

of the way I turned out?

Yeah, it was so difficult for-for, um

my family when-when she passed.

So, you know,

this part of her life for me was erased.

And so, it's nice to know that she,

she was, like, happy,

she had friends.

Thank you, guys, for-for coming.

I-I-I feel like I can move on

to the next phase of my life,

um, in peace, knowing that I came here,

'cause she really wanted me to come back.

I'll-I'll-I'll always remember you guys.

And I'll come back to visit.

Uh, and I'll stay at their house

for a couple of months, if that's okay.

[laughter]

Wow.

[Antoni] It's been such

a profound journey for Nora,

and I've arranged the perfect ending.

A mother and daughter custom

that's about as Korean as it gets.

She's taking part in a Kimja

where mother's pass down the family recipe

for this country's

best-known dish, kimchi.

-[Awkwafina] Oh, wow.

-[Antoni] It's a tradition

that Nora's mom would have

taught her if she could.

So, keen for Nora not to miss out,

her mom's old school friend

Kim Im Suk is stepping in.

[Antoni] And local food

historian and teacher

Shin Aga is going to put us to work.

-Thank you so much.

-Welcome to my

Oh, alright.

Now is the process

of putting the shoes back on.

[Antoni] Kimchi is the punchy,

tangy cabbage side dish

that accompanies every meal here.

The weight of my ancestors right here.

-[Antoni laughs]

-Oh, man, that's a lot of cabbage, wow.

[Antoni] She got a system,

I'm not messing with it.

I just didn't know that you'd need

all these things, you know?

-Ready to go?

-[Awkwafina and Antoni] Yeah!

Okay!

[Antoni] Every region has its own take

on this Korean staple

and learning it here,

where her mom grew up

is about as close as Nora can get

to a family recipe.

[Antoni] Kimchi from Daegu is known

for being both spicier and saltier

than elsewhere, with a fishy twist.

[Antoni] So we have our anchovy

and our pollock broth.

There's something

There's like a crystalline

Too busy talking, less busy cooking.

It's not just the kimchi

packing a punch around here.

-[Antoni] Wait, what?

-[translator] Yeah, yeah.

-Traditionally?

-[translator] Yeah, traditionally,

-[Shin Aga] Okay, okay.

-[translator] all the time.

[Antoni] Oh, that is very sticky rice.

-Antoni.

-Yes, oh, yeah.

Oh, I'm so sorry, yes, of course.

I had no idea persimmons went into kimchi.

[Antoni] Persimmon, pear juice,

garlic, and ginger

are all added to the marinade,

followed by seaweed.

[Awkwafina] Oh, she's like,

let me take over.

-[Antoni] There you go.

-"Get the hell outta here."

[Antoni] The sauce

really loosens it up nicely.

She says you're impatient.

-Oh. Oh!

-[Antoni] Oh!

-Okay.

-Okay!

-Oh, what is this

-So I'm short and I'm impatient.

what am I, back

in couple's therapy, am I right?

[translator] Yeah, don't be shy, she says.

Okay.

[Antoni] I'll try this, this feels good.

Oh. Oh.

Oh, that's nice. This is so, like, fun.

[Antoni] Mm-hmm.

Wow! Wow, that's how each leaf gets it.

[gasps] Oh, you wrap it up,

-she wraps it.

-Oh!

[Awkwafina laughs]

This is probably the most

Korean thing I've ever done.

-[Antoni] Yeah, tie it up.

-[Awkwafina laughs]

-It's like a shoe. Okay.

-[Shin Aga] Tie, tie.

[Antoni] In the days before fridges,

the kimchi was put in a pot

and buried underground to ferment.

This wasn't just a culinary practice,

but a survival strategy

that mothers would teach their daughters

so they could feed their families

through Korea's long, harsh winters.

[Antoni] You almost got it.

Mmm.

Wow, that's so delicious. Spicy.

[Antoni] This Daegu kimchi is so fiery

[laughs]

[Antoni] our translator is speechless.

[laughter]

[Antoni] I taste

the persimmons and the anchovy.

It's like you have the spice

and you have the sweet

and you have the salt

and then you got the funk, it's so good.

And the cabbage is still,

like, nice and crunchy

but it's softened.

I had no idea how it was made,

so this was, this was like really

It feels like a Korean

Thanksgiving kinda thing.

It never ceases to amaze me

how rituals like this

can just kind of, like,

bring people together and also shockingly,

how quickly we were able to fill up

this massive ceramic pot

with so much kimchi.

Food is so much more

than just nutrition here.

And as well as flavor,

there are layers of meaning in every bite.

It stands for family and love,

it's used to strengthen community bonds

and to heal, to share,

and to build resilience

to withstand times of hardship.

For Nora, it's been a window

into the lives of her Korean ancestors

and a way to connect to her mom.

[speaking Korean]

Wow, beautiful. Okay.

[speaking Korean]

[Awkwafina] To be here, physically,

is, like, very, very profound for me.

But as every day went by,

I came to feel more Korean.

I came to feel more

a part of this place, more used to it.

I began to see the mountains

from possibly what my grandpa

and mom were looking at

when they were young,

and I-I think I'm gonna go back to America

more appreciative of my life.

Um

her-her honor, you know?

And my Chinese family.

I'm gonna be really happy to go home

and run into my grandma's arms, you know,

and-and tell her all about Korea.

Mm-hmm.

Nora's right.

It's been quite the journey,

from the food we've tasted

to the people we've met.

I doubt either of us

will forget our visit to Korea

anytime soon.