No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski (2025) s01e02 Episode Script

1
[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 War.
The country was split
into north and south,
and the Korean war 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, war, 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.