Food & Culture Korea
This article was orignally written for United on the RoK, you can find it here!
Food & Culture Korea
Written and Photographed by Erin Henderson
Ellie Hyewon Lee at Food & Culture Korea
Have you ever walked into a new place, greeted an unfamiliar face and were met with pure warmth and kindheartedness? That warmth and emanating glow is Ellie. Ellie teaches cooking classes for both amateurs and professionals at the Food & Culture Korea in Seoul. My friend and I found her class by chance while searching online for one to take. Despite our tardiness (we felt awful), we were met by an extremely gracious Ellie who immediately made us feel at ease and donned us with our class aprons.
The Class
We opted to start out simple and chose to learn how to make Bulgogi, a pretty basic but delicious Korean dish. Ellie spoke to us about the choice of ingredients, how to ask for the sirloin to be cut at the market and then we got a quick lesson on how soy sauce is made. We learned about the two different soy sauces that are commonly used in Korea. One is the darker soy sauce most people are used to seeing for stir fry dishes. The other is used for soups, has a lighter color, and is a little bit sweeter since it is not fermented as long. Koreans use the lighter one for soups because they do not want their soups to get too dark.
Making bulgogi at Food & Culture Korea
We started by chopping our veggies at an angle, which was a first for me (I am not a gourmet cook by any means, for anyone reading this and laughing). After we chopped veggies, we slowly sautéed our leek and onion, massaged our sirloin with a few simple ingredients and began adding everything else into our frying pan to cook. The process was simple yet fun, and the result so incredibly delicious. Ellie plated our dishes and we sat and enjoyed our creations with a bit of rice and wonderful conversation.
Ellie Hyewon Lee
We lucked out that it was just the two of us for our class so we had a lot of time to learn about Korean cooking, and about Ellie as well. Her mother, Soo Jin Kim, founded Food & Culture Korea in 2003 and taught there alongside Ellie for many years. Sadly, Soo Jin had recently passed unexpectedly and Ellie was still very much grieving that profound loss. Despite these circumstances she still had an infectious smile, and during our class and conversations after, you could tell her passion for Korean cooking ran deep.
Ellie was born and raised in Seoul, and earned her Master’s degree from the Korea University School of International Business. She joined the Food & Culture Korea to help promote the school, and started teaching cooking classes in 2004. Ellie shared that she has traveled all over the world teaching Korean cooking to different restaurants and chefs. In recent years, as Korean cooking gained in popularity, Ellie and her mother traveled to places like Bhutan, Canada, the United States, Japan and many other countries (over 35 in total) to share their passion and knowledge.
Not only does Ellie teach cooking classes, she has also worked extensively with the film industry styling food for shows as well as photo shoots. She has worked with Apple TV, Netflix and many local Korean shows. She even taught a cooking class to a K-Pop star—book a class with her to find out who! Though her accolades are numerous, her spirit remains humble and she is someone you can find yourself chatting with for hours.
As we move toward summer and you find yourself looking for something fun to do with your friends, family, or a significant other, check out the myriad of menu options offered at Food & Culture Korea. The environment is great, the location in Seoul is very convenient to find and the experience is one you won’t soon forget. We are already planning our next class with Ellie to learn how to make dumplings and we cannot wait!
You can find out more about the Food & Culture Korea at http://koreanrecipe.co.kr
Check them on Instagram at:
@foodandculturekorea
@ellie_kitchen
