美国国家公共电台 NPR Robin Ha's New Cookbook Mixes Korean Cuisine With Comics

Robin¹ Ha's New Cookbook Mixes Korean Cuisine² With Comics 

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Robin Ha is not a chef. For most of her life she wasn't even a cook. She's an illustrator, comic books especially. So it makes sense that her first ever cookbook is also a comic book.

ROBIN HA: So we're making the sweet potato noodle, which we call japchae. It's a quintessential party food in Korea. So if you go to any wedding or big gathering⁴, there's always japchae.

SHAPIRO: Robin Ha came to my house to cook lunch out of recipes from her book called "Cook Korean!" She slices beef and a rainbow cornucopia⁵ of vegetables.

HA: This is some nice steak (laughter).

SHAPIRO: Robin, how did you learn these recipes?

HA: My mom taught me a lot. I mean...

SHAPIRO: When you were, like, a little kid?

HA: No, no, no, no, she never taught me when I was little. I never cooked until I was, like, out of college basically.

SHAPIRO: You moved to the United States with your family when you were 14 years old, right?

HA: Yeah. So she cooked homemade meals every day, like, since I was little. You know, every morning, I'll get up, and there will be, like, a table full of food. And it seemed like something I could never do. I just thought that it's something that my mom can do. And I will just stick with drawing, you know?

(LAUGHTER)

SHAPIRO: When Robin grew up and moved out of the house, she craved⁶ her mom's Korean home cooking. She realized she needed to learn how to make some dishes, and she discovered it wasn't that hard.

HA: Korean food is very rustic⁷. It's not fussy⁸. You know, you don't measure things. You don't have to be exact with anything. You just put anything you like, and it tastes great.

SHAPIRO: Learning how to cook taught Robin something about herself and ultimately brought her closer to her mother. While the water comes to a boil for the sweet potato noodles, she throws together a quick marinade for the beef - garlic, onions, soy sauce, sugar and soju, Korean rice alcohol.

HA: Yeah, I'm just kind of mixing everything together with my hands. In Korea we do everything by hands. Like, we don't - this - we call son-mat. You know, like, son-mat means a taste of hand. So in Korean kitchen, everybody just used bare hands (laughter).

SHAPIRO: She tips the bowl of meat into a pan of sizzling oil.

That already smells really good.

HA: (Laughter).

SHAPIRO: When you were drawing every step in every recipe, did you ever get sick of - oh, my God, I have to draw another bowl of rice?

HA: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

HA: All the time (laughter).

SHAPIRO: Really (laughter)?

HA: Yeah. After, like, six months, I was like, oh, my God. I can't draw another pan...

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

HA: ...To save my life (laughter).

SHAPIRO: The beef comes out of the pan, and she stir-fries each of the vegetables one at a time.

HA: All right.

SHAPIRO: Finally they all go into a bowl with the boiled sweet potato noodles.

HA: So you want to put a little bit more Sesame oil and sprinkle sesame seed right before serving. It's a Korean garnish⁹. That's it.

SHAPIRO: That's beautiful. That's lunch.

Robin says this cookbook has an uncredited co-author, the single mom who woke up by 5 every morning to cook her daughter breakfast, lunch and dinner before heading off to a full day's work.

HA: I think she couldn't believe me when I first told her that I'm going to be making a cookbook. She's like, what?

(LAUGHTER)

HA: You are going to make a cookbook? But then I mean she helped me in every step of the way. She helped me with the recipes. She helped me with tasting, cooking, eating all the leftovers¹⁰. So I mean it's more - it's not my book. It's more of her and my book, you know?

SHAPIRO: Typically in a book, at the end, there's acknowledgements, which is just a list of names of people that the author wants to thank. Your acknowledgement section is a little bit different.

HA: Yeah, it's just about my mom (laughter).

SHAPIRO: Tell me about it.

HA: So I've never cooked with her until I actually had to write this book. So, like, the whole year that I made this booklet, I cooked with her all the time. And we would just, like, head-butt every single step the way.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter) You have one illustration where your mother says, ginger¹¹ shouldn't go in this dish, and it needs more soy sauce. And you're saying, I like ginger, so back off.

HA: (Laughter) Yeah, this happened, like, in every single day. Like, it was just crazy. So, like, my mom - like, most Korean mothers are very stoic¹², and they're very hard on their children.

SHAPIRO: Yeah.

HA: Like, they'll - they're, like, tough love, you know - like, you know (laughter)?

SHAPIRO: After this - ginger shouldn't go in this dish; I like ginger, so back off - the last panel of the acknowledgments has your mother at the stove saying, I put in some ginger this time. And you are saying, OK.

HA: (Laughter).

SHAPIRO: And the thought bubble says, I love you mom.

HA: Yep. That's the typical Korean mother and daughter. It's, like, we never say I love you. Like, Korean people are full of emotion of course. They're very emotional people. But we never really say I love you. So...

SHAPIRO: You just say, I put in some ginger this time.

HA: Yeah, exactly. Like, they love you that way - by giving you food that you like or helping¹³ you cook all the time, you know?

SHAPIRO: Robin Ha is the author and illustrator of the new book "Cook Korean!"

Should we eat?

HA: Yes.

SHAPIRO: OK.

1 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

2 cuisine   

n.烹调，烹饪法

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• This restaurant is renowned for its cuisine.这家餐馆以其精美的饭菜而闻名。

3 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

4 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 cornucopia   

n.象征丰收的羊角

参考例句：

• The book is a cornucopia of information.书是知识的宝库。
• Our cornucopia is the human mind and heart.我们富足是由于人类的智慧和热情。

6 craved   

渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求

参考例句：

• She has always craved excitement. 她总渴望刺激。
• A spicy, sharp-tasting radish was exactly what her stomach craved. 她正馋着想吃一个香甜可口的红萝卜呢。

7 rustic   

adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬

参考例句：

• It was nearly seven months of leisurely rustic living before Michael felt real boredom.这种悠闲的乡村生活过了差不多七个月之后,迈克尔开始感到烦闷。
• We hoped the fresh air and rustic atmosphere would help him adjust.我们希望新鲜的空气和乡村的氛围能帮他调整自己。

8 fussy   

adj.为琐事担忧的，过分装饰的，爱挑剔的

参考例句：

• He is fussy about the way his food's cooked.他过分计较食物的烹调。
• The little girl dislikes her fussy parents.小女孩讨厌她那过分操心的父母。

9 garnish   

n.装饰，添饰，配菜

参考例句：

• The turkey was served with a garnish of parsley.做好的火鸡上面配上芫荽菜做点缀。
• The sandwiches came with a rather limp salad garnish.三明治配着蔫软的色拉饰菜。

10 leftovers   

n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜

参考例句：

• He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
• She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。

11 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

12 stoic   

n.坚忍克己之人，禁欲主义者

参考例句：

• A stoic person responds to hardship with imperturbation.坚忍克己之人经受苦难仍能泰然自若。
• On Rajiv's death a stoic journey began for Mrs Gandhi,supported by her husband's friends.拉吉夫死后，索尼亚在丈夫友人的支持下开始了一段坚忍的历程。

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。