Cook Korean: A Comic Book with Recipes by Robin Ha is a delightful introduction to Korean cooking, packed with information about Korean ingredients, culinary history, and dozens of illustrated recipes. ⁣
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Ha is a Korean American designer and cartoonist who discovered a passion for cooking Korean food as an adult. She always thought cooking was beyond her skillset, but nostalgia for her favorite dishes led her to discover that they were much easier to make than she’d though, and suddenly cooking was fun. Ha bases this book around her conviction that if she can master Korean cooking, anyone can, and I found myself believing her. ⁣
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This book is such fun to read, delightfully illustrated, and suffused with Ha’s passion for Korean food. I appreciate that she frequently includes notes about one could modify recipes with ingredients that might be easier to find in America, or just to use a different protein, building up the reader's confidence with experimentation. She gives background about each cuisine and recipe, discussing for example when certain foods are eaten in Korea, all of which gives the reader a much more comprehensive picture of Korean culinary culture than just a simple list of recipes. ⁣