Latest news with #Umma
Tatler Asia
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
From viral videos to page turners: 8 food influencers whipping up bestselling cookbooks
2. Sarah Ahn (@ahnestkitchen): 'Umma: A Korean Mom's Kitchen Wisdom and 100 Family Recipes' Sarah Ahn didn't set out to write a cookbook. She just filmed what her mum (or umma in Korean) was cooking. What does her mum pack for her dad, an exterior painter who works up to 12 hours a day outdoors? Why is her umma's multigrain rice not just a more protein-packed alternative, but a testament to her family's resilience? And what homemade food does she pack for their dog when they go out of town? The warmth and intimacy of their kitchen struck a chord with followers, and that connection turned into Umma , her New York Times bestselling cookbook. It's part story, part instruction manual, with banchan, kimchi and stews passed down over generations. Think Crying in H Mart , but blended with the everyday practicality of home cooking. Read more: What makes Korean food a social media sensation 3. Zaynab Issa (@zaynab_issa): 'Third Culture Cooking: Classic Recipes for a New Generation' Zaynab Issa's Third Culture Cooking is exactly what it sounds like: a recipe book shaped by the in-between. Raised with East African and South Asian roots in suburban America, Issa creates recipes that make space for all of it—tandoori tacos, samosas two ways and chocolate cake with chai buttercream. She started with a college recipe zine, moved through food media brands BuzzFeed and Bon Appétit and built a following with TikTok recipes like her cheddar and white bean dip (55 million views on TikTok alone). Her cookbook reflects that journey: part nostalgia, part experimentation and entirely personal. Book sections include tips on cooking by mood, setting yourself up for success in the kitchen and entertaining without crashing out. Read more: 5 tips from food influencers on how to film better Foodstagram reels 4. George Lee (@ 'A-Gong's Table: Vegan Recipes from a Taiwanese Home' George Lee's cooking journey began not in culinary school, but in the quiet rituals of grief. When his grandfather (or a-gong in Taiwanese) passed away, Lee and his family followed Buddhist funeral customs and abstained from meat for 100 days. During that time, he received a masterclass in cooking from monastery nuns. What started as a spiritual observance grew into a popular blog, a social media following and a cookbook. A-Gong's Table is filled with plant-based Taiwanese recipes that taste like home: sweet potato breakfast congee, meatless braised 'pork' rice and umami-rich sauces from scratch. Photographed across Taiwan, the recipe book reads like a love letter to heritage and a more compassionate way to cook. Read more: 5 vegan-friendly resorts in Southeast Asia that deliver on luxury 5. Tue Nguyen (@twaydabae): 'Di An: The Salty, Sour, Sweet and Spicy Flavors of Vietnamese Cooking' From culinary school to mukbang videos to sold-out pop-ups, Tue Nguyen has had an unconventional rise—one that now includes her restaurant DiDi and a cookbook named one of the best of 2024 by The New York Times. Nguyen first captured audiences with joyful, flavour-packed dishes like fish sauce eggs, seared scallops and weeknight pho that prove you don't need hours to cook with soul. That same energy animates her cookbook Di An, a celebration of her heritage at full volume, grounded in accessible techniques. If you want a recipe book that balances tradition with practicality, this one earns its shelf space. Expect recipes like shaking beef, braised catfish and bo kho 'birria' tacos that feel both nostalgic and entirely new. Read more: What is it about Vietnamese cuisine that drives the whole world crazy? 6. Carolina Gelen (@carolinagelen): 'Pass the Plate: 100 Delicious, Highly Shareable, Everyday Recipes' Carolina Gelen's cooking is as inventive as her thrift-store hauls during her early days online. Born in Transylvania and now based in the US, she rose to viral fame with cosy recipes like butter beans alla vodka and orange cardamom olive oil cake—dishes that feel special without requiring anything fancy. That approach powers Pass the Plate , her debut cookbook and a 2025 James Beard Award nominee. What sets Gelen apart is her ability to make humble ingredients feel exciting. Think chicken schnitzel with caramelised lemon gremolata, upside-down pineapple coconut cake and pantry-friendly riffs on her Romanian and Hungarian culinary roots. For home cooks looking to maximise flavour and cook with joy, Pass the Plate will have you asking for seconds. 7. Nisha Vora (@rainbowplantlife): 'Big Vegan Flavor: Techniques and 150 Recipes to Master Vegan Cooking' A former lawyer turned food content creator, Nisha Vora is a go-to source for plant-based meals that don't feel like a sacrifice. Her detailed how-to videos and bold flavour profiles—rooted in her Indian heritage and global inspirations—bring vibrancy to vegan cooking. A New York Times bestseller and James Beard Award nominee, her cookbook Big Vegan Flavor lives up to the name. It's a masterclass in seasoning and technique, featuring internationally inspired recipes, flavour bombs to make everyday meals pop and smart swaps that cater to your cravings and pantry. Designed for both new and seasoned plant-based eaters, Vora's cookbook doesn't just replace meat with tofu—it reimagines vegan food as something deeply craveable. Read more: 12 Instagram accounts to follow for the best vegan recipes 8. Owen Han (@ 'Stacked: The Art of the Perfect Sandwich' Dubbed as TikTok's Sandwich King, Owen Han built his following one ASMR cooking video at a time. Drawing from childhood summers spent cooking with his Italian grandmother and Chinese father, Han brings a cross-cultural lens to handheld meals. His viral 2021 shrimp toast with gochujang mayo—a mashup of Cantonese and Korean flavours—cemented his reputation for bold, unexpected pairings. His cookbook Stacked makes good on that reputation. It's not just about bread—anything you can hold in your hands can be a canvas for flavour. Think Peking duck wrap, hoisin pork burnt ends bao and butter chicken burrito. Easy to follow, full of flavour and anything but basic. Read more: Beyond McDonald's McGriddle: 9 breakfast sandwiches in Hong Kong for which you don't have to queue up from 4am
Buzz Feed
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Viral Korean Cookbook UMMA Resonates With Millions
In case you needed some good news today, people are crying over a cookbook making #2 on the New York Times Best Sellers list, and yes, it deserves all the praise. Well, I should preface that UMMA isn't an ordinary cookbook: it's a mother-daughter passion project of over 100 Korean recipes, but it's also so much more than that. In October 2024, Sarah Soojin Ahn explained the story behind her work on UMMA in a viral TikTok with over a million views: "For a little over a year, my mom has been working on one of the best gifts I think she could ever give me," she said. "I felt so lucky to work alongside her and write the stories for everything she had given me for our new cookbook, UMMA." "I couldn't be more proud of my mom and the work we produced together to bring you guys the best of the best Korean recipes that taste like Umma's home," she continued. "And the stories of a very ordinary life that understands the difference between living and surviving, the quiet sacrifices made for family, and the beauty of the bond between mother and daughter are all heavily present through its storytelling." Sarah's story was incredibly moving, and based on the comments, thousands of people shed tears. After it was officially published in April 2025, it didn't take long for UMMA to take off. On April 10, Sarah posted a TikTok in which she and her mother found out their book made #2 on the New York Times Best Sellers list, and the video garnered almost 500k views. In the video, Sarah and her mother are greeted with flowers and champagne by their editor, who congratulates them on their success with UMMA. "This moment belongs to all of us, not just my family," the caption of the video reads. "It's a celebration of our community. Of people who see the beauty in everyday life, who honor the richness of the ordinary, and who carry so much warmth and heart. The fact that this book resonated the way it has is because of you, and we'll never stop being grateful for that." Everyone in the comments cheered and expressed how much of an impact UMMA made on them. "I have this book sitting in my kitchen," one person wrote. "My mother is Korean and 77 years old and cannot remember her recipes anymore so I'm so excited to start cooking for her." To learn more about the project, I asked Sarah about her experience working on the cookbook. (All I have to say is brace yourself for more tears.) "I know the book is called UMMA, which means mom in Korean, but through working so closely and intimately with her, I feel like I got to know Nam Soon (my mom's name), the person she was before she ever became UMMA," Sarah told Tasty. "In some ways, it felt like I was befriending the child version of my mom. It was both heartwarming and heartbreaking to hear her stories, imagining them like I was right there beside her, relating to her innocence, her youth, and the kind of blissful hope she once carried." "Learning the majority of her recipes was incredibly rewarding," she continued. "I still remember the moment we finished developing the last both just smiled at each other in silence. It felt like a quiet, shared victory." She went on to say, "The most challenging part? Teaching her how to use measuring spoons. Cooks from her generation cook by feel, by taste, and with love (known as sonmat), usually by the handful, so that was quite an adjustment for her. " Sarah also shared how positive the response to UMMA has been. "What's meant the most is hearing how seen and loved people feel," she said. "This book isn't just for passionate cooks (though the recipes definitely scratch that itch if that's you) — it's also a celebration of the working class, of the struggles and sacrifices so many families face trying to make it in America, especially as immigrants. I always say: it's the richness in the ordinary." "It's a tribute to how food carries us through hard times and rejoices in those moments, and to the kind of motherly love that's both universal and deeply rooted in Korean and Asian culture, especially because that's how love is so often shown," she added."I've received overwhelming messages of gratitude from people who grew up like me, from the working class, from Korean and Asian adoptees, and from those who've lost their mothers. That connection has been the most humbling and meaningful part. My mom wants to one day host a Mother's Day lunch for all these people." When she found out UMMA made #2 on the New York Times Best Sellers list, Sarah was shocked. "I couldn't believe it," she said. "Everything is so digital now. You don't physically see books flying off shelves the way you might've in the past, especially since most people ordered [the book] online, and my entire community lives on social media. So hearing we made the list felt surreal at wait, is this really happening?" "But then I saw the outpouring of love and celebration from everyone, and that's when it hit me," she continued. "I felt the support — it felt physically present. I'm just so incredibly grateful for everyone who believed in us and this book, forever. When I shared the news with my dad after I came home from the book tour, his eyes lit up with glee. It was special." To conclude our interview, Sarah reflected on how writing UMMA deepened her relationship to Korean culture. "I've always been proud to be Korean, but writing UMMA helped me connect to my roots on a much deeper level, especially when it comes to understanding my halmeoni (grandma) and beyond," she said. "I began to grasp how much they endured so that people like me could live freely today. For example," she added, "white rice, a food we might take for granted sometimes, used to be a rare luxury. Just one generation ago, it wasn't something easily accessed, and people had to go through a lot just to put it on the table. They had to stretch out this supply of white rice by integrating multigrains into it, a now popular, healthy dish that was once eaten for survival." "Stories like that made me realize how humble and resilient Korean cuisine really is," she continued. "Our food carries the weight of survival and hardship. There's so much soul to this cuisine." Want to try your hand at making delicious Korean dishes while you wait for your copy of UMMA to arrive? Download the Tasty app to browse all of our favorite recipes — no subscription required.
The Herald Scotland
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Kim's Convenience jumps from Netflix to the stage. What's the verdict?
The Pavilion, Glasgow All life walks through Kim's Convenience, the Toronto corner shop that gives Ins Choi's play its title. Best known to many from its Canadian Broadcasting Company TV adaptation that ran for five series between 2016 and 2021, and which can still be found on Netflix, Choi's 201l template set the tone by putting a Korean immigrant and his increasingly westernised family at its centre. Where Appa (Korean for 'dad') works all hours holding court from behind the counter, Umma ('mum') quietly keeps the family together. Their daughter Janet has ambitions to be a photographer, while estranged son Jung can only communicate with his mother at church. The TV cast of Canadian comedy Kim's Convenience (Image: free) The shop may be at the heart of the local community, but with Janet looking set to embark on a fine romance with local cop Alex and everything else going on besides, it doesn't look like Appa will have anyone to leave his empire to any time soon. Jung, however, might just beg to differ. What emerges over the play's seventy-five minutes is an everyday meditation on inter generational relationships, cultural traditions, and navigating through a brave new world in which Appa and Umma's offspring have never known anything different. James Yi throws in a few martial arts moves to go with it as Appa in this touring revival of Esther Jun's production, which sets out its store - literally - on Mona Camille's forensically observed shop interior. Read more While fans of the TV show will recognise some of the scenarios and dramatic tics that began life on stage, Choi's longer form original has more space to breathe, and the duologues that emerge similarly combine seriousness and underlying warmth. As Appa, Yi is the pivot on which the play hangs. Candace Leung's Umma is a loyal pragmatist, while Caroline Donica and Andrew Gichigi make a sweet couple as Janet and Alex. Daniel Phung is a redemptive prodigal as Jung in a show that is very much a family affair.
Epoch Times
25-04-2025
- General
- Epoch Times
Korean Multigrain Rice (Japgokbap)
It's somewhat ironic that this style of multigrain rice, born out of necessity during the Korean government's campaign to limit rice consumption, is once again popular, for both its flavor and its nutrition. Umma's [Mom's] japgokbap (jahp-ggok-bbahp) is a hearty rice blend featuring a variety of textures and tastes to keep you coming back for another bite, and it's the most frequently eaten rice in our home. It combines the fluffy texture and mild flavor of white rice with the crunchy texture and nuttiness of quinoa, studded with tender beans throughout. This rice offers diverse yet harmonious flavors—just as Halmeoni [Grandma] preferred. And, inspired by Halmeoni, Umma includes no trace of barley. Whenever Halmeoni managed to obtain a sack of white rice during the 'no-rice days' campaign, she would forgo barley and stretch her limited supply by mixing in beans and various other grains. To make this rice convenient to prepare anytime, Umma cooks large quantities of beans in her pressure cooker and freezes them to keep on hand. The cooked beans can be frozen for up to 1 month (or refrigerated for up to 3 days). To store leftovers of the rice, seal the warm rice with a lid and let the rice cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. Reheat leftovers in the microwave, adding 1 tablespoon water per serving of rice. Umma's Kitchen Wisdom: Since I make this rice so often, I always keep cooked soybeans and chickpeas on hand in the freezer (an electric pressure cooker is a super convenient way to cook them), but you can also use canned soybeans and chickpeas. I sometimes rotate dried pinto beans into the mix, applying the same cooking method and duration. Feel free to substitute any other type of beans that you prefer. —Nam Soon Ahn Total Time: 1 hour Serves 4 to 6 1 cup (208 grams) short- or medium-grain white rice 1/3 cup (66 grams) prewashed quinoa 2 1/4 cups water 1/3 cup (54 grams) cooked black soybeans (recipe follows) 1/3 cup (52 grams) cooked chickpeas (recipe follows) 1/3 cup (50 grams) frozen green peas Add the rice and quinoa to a medium bowl and cover with 2 inches of water. Using your hands, gently swish the rice and quinoa to release excess starch. Carefully pour off the water, leaving the rice and quinoa in the bowl. Repeat 2 or 3 more times, until the water runs almost clear. Using a fine-mesh strainer, drain the rice and quinoa. Related Stories 4/18/2025 4/18/2025 For an electric rice cooker: Transfer the rice and quinoa to the cooking chamber of a 5- to 6‑cup electric rice cooker. Stir in the water, soybeans, chickpeas, and peas. Cover and cook on the standard rice setting according to the manufacturer's directions. The machine will automatically shut off when cooking is completed (typically indicated by the 'Keep Warm' light turning on). Once the cooking is complete, immediately fluff the rice with a moistened rice paddle or silicone spatula (this ensures even texture and moisture distribution). Serve. For the stovetop: Transfer the rice and quinoa to a large saucepan. Stir in the water, soybeans, chickpeas, and peas, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low (medium if using an electric stove), cover, and cook until the rice is tender and the water is fully absorbed, about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 15 minutes to finish cooking. Immediately fluff the rice with a moistened rice paddle or silicone spatula. Serve. Pressure-Cooker Beans You'll need a 6- or 8‑quart electric pressure cooker. This recipe can be easily doubled (the cooking time is the same). Feel free to combine chickpeas and soybeans together, but be aware that the black soybeans will bleed color onto the chickpeas. Total Time: 15 minutes, plus 8 hours soaking Makes 4 cups 1 1/2 cups (292 grams) dried chickpeas or black soybeans, picked over and rinsed Soak the beans in 1 quart cold water in a large container for at least 8 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse well. Add about 1 inch water and a collapsible steamer basket to an electric pressure cooker (the water should not hit the steamer basket). Add the beans to the basket in an even layer. Lock the lid in place and close the pressure-release valve. Select the high-pressure cook function and cook for 7 minutes. Turn off the pressure cooker and quick-release the pressure. Carefully remove the lid, allowing the steam to escape away from you. Remove the steamer basket from the pot and let the beans cool to room temperature. Excerpted from '
Epoch Times
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Epoch Times
Seasoned Cilantro and Radish Shreds (Gosu Musaengchae)
This recipe holds a meaningful significance, as it originates from North Korea. Given that North Korea's culinary history is not widely known, this recipe offers a rare glimpse into the food culture of this secluded country. For Umma [Mom], this recipe is a cherished part of our family's heritage, passed down by Halmeoni [Grandma], who was born and raised there. Halmeoni grew up with this dish and continued to make it whenever possible, instilling in us a deep appreciation for our culinary roots. Although the correct name is technically gosu musaengchae (goh-soo moo-saeng-chae), Halmeoni always referred to this dish as gosu kimchi. Eat it like a salad—there's no fermentation involved, and it's best enjoyed during the fall and winter months, when Korean radish is in season. This dish is refreshing, punchy, and bursting with cilantro flavor that beautifully complements the Korean radish. Styled Food Shot, gochugaru, maesil cheong Styled Food Shot A Kitchen Conversation Between Sarah Ahn and Her Mother Nam Soon Ahn (Umma): Smell this. Do you smell the cilantro? Sarah Ahn: Yes, it's very strong and lively. Umma: That smell brings me back to the days when Halmeoni and neighborhood women made gimjang kimchi [the traditional seasonal gathering of people to make large batches of kimchi]. She would serve this banchan to the other women. Related Stories 4/18/2025 3/8/2024 Sarah: Is cilantro a part of Korean cuisine? Umma: North Koreans are familiar with using cilantro in their food. It's a part of the cuisine. This is a North Korean dish that I learned from Halmeoni. When she visited us here in the United States years back, I remember her gasping when she saw cilantro at the grocery store. She said in amazement, 'Unbelievable, America has cilantro too?' Sarah: Why was she so shocked? Umma: Cilantro wasn't readily available in South Korea during Halmeoni's time, although it was abundant in North Korea while she was growing up. When she discovered how easily accessible cilantro was in America, it came as both a shock and a delight to her. Total Time: 30 minutes Makes 8 cups; Serves 8 1 1/2 pounds (680 grams) Korean radish, trimmed and cut into 3-inch matchsticks 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar 2 1/2 tablespoons gochugaru 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar 11/2 tablespoons maesil cheong (plum extract syrup) 1 tablespoon fish sauce 1 tablespoon minced garlic 2 teaspoons fine salt 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted 6 ounces (170 grams) cilantro sprigs, ends trimmed, cut into 3‑inch lengths Toss the radish gently in a large bowl with the sugar, gochugaru, vinegar, maesil cheong, fish sauce, garlic, salt, and sesame seeds until evenly coated. Add half of the cilantro and toss to combine, separating strands of cilantro that stick together; repeat with the remaining cilantro. Serve, or refrigerate for up to 2 days. Excerpted from '
