Ah... this warmed my heart and my stomach at the same time:) It transported me right back to so many places that hold a special space in my memory. It also sparked a newfound realization about the irony of our culture. I mean, we Koreans are so obsessed with comparison and competition all the time, yet we instantly drop all guards and partitions when it comes to food. We share, we feed, even to the point of being invasive!
Ahhh, I love this so much. And yes, that irony feels so real. Koreans can be so intensely comparative and competitive, and yet food is one of the places where the walls suddenly come down. We share, we feed, we insist, sometimes to the point of being hilariously invasive 😆
That said, after living in the U.S. for a long time, I’ve also realized other countries are hardly free of comparison and competition either. I used to imagine Americans didn’t gossip or compare as much, and… that illusion did not survive very long 😂 Still, I do think Korea has a particularly strong instinct to make food the place where generosity overrides boundaries.
Yes! Jwipo is essentially Korean fish jerky — pressed, seasoned, chewy, and deeply satisfying in that same slow, stubborn way.
The main difference is that jwipo is made from filefish specifically, and it has a distinct savory-sweet flavor that regular jerky doesn't quite have. It is much more addictive than it looks!
Personally, I prefer the thicker-cut jwipo over the thin kind, and my husband and I like to toast ours in the oven or air fryer until it's a deep golden brown — not burnt, but darker than you might expect. That's when the flavor really opens up. We dip it in mayonnaise. Highly recommend. 😄
Thanks so much for this informative substack. I thoroughly enjoy reading in such detail about the social impacts of Korean food. Makes me hungry just thinking about it after reading your descriptions! 😎
That is the highest compliment a food writer can receive! I hope you get to try some of these soon 🤗 (And now I'm hungry too, so we're in this together 😄)
The honbap and mukbang pairing at the end is so interesting — the relational hunger doesn’t disappear, it just finds other forms. Watching a stranger eat alone on a screen filling the same gap that jwipo and a late night used to fill is both very sad and very human. Also had no idea the stationery store was the original after-school social institution 😄
I am so glad that resonated with you. It is a strange shift, isn't it? Moving from something as analog and communal as jwipo to a digital broadcast.
And yes! The stationery store really was its own tiny after-school social world 😄
Though I should say — that's very much an 80s and 90s picture. My understanding is that things look quite different now. In some ways, the convenience store might be playing a similar role today, though it's not quite the same thing...
Thank you for reading so closely and adding so much to the conversation.
The convenience store as the modern munbanggu is indeed such an interesting update — and somehow it tracks, the same logic of a neutral third space that isn't home and isn't school and doesn't require you to buy very much to stay. Though you're right that it's not quite the same thing, the stationery store had a specific texture of browsing and lingering that a 7-Eleven can't fully replicate. Something got lost in the translation even if the function partially survived.
Thank you as always for another thoughtful article!
수희, it makes me so happy that both you and Yanyu connected with that phrase. Something clicked for me too when I wrote “relational hunger,” so I’m really grateful it resonated with you both 🤩
맞아요. 음식에 관한 얘기만은 아니네요. 친구랑 식구랑 같이 먹는 거죠. 친밀감.^^
공감해주셔서 감사해요 😊음식도 정말 중요하지만, 또 누구랑 어떻게 먹는지도 정말 중요한거 같아요!
Ah... this warmed my heart and my stomach at the same time:) It transported me right back to so many places that hold a special space in my memory. It also sparked a newfound realization about the irony of our culture. I mean, we Koreans are so obsessed with comparison and competition all the time, yet we instantly drop all guards and partitions when it comes to food. We share, we feed, even to the point of being invasive!
Jwipo sounds like "fish jerky" to me. Am I right?
Ahhh, I love this so much. And yes, that irony feels so real. Koreans can be so intensely comparative and competitive, and yet food is one of the places where the walls suddenly come down. We share, we feed, we insist, sometimes to the point of being hilariously invasive 😆
That said, after living in the U.S. for a long time, I’ve also realized other countries are hardly free of comparison and competition either. I used to imagine Americans didn’t gossip or compare as much, and… that illusion did not survive very long 😂 Still, I do think Korea has a particularly strong instinct to make food the place where generosity overrides boundaries.
Yes! Jwipo is essentially Korean fish jerky — pressed, seasoned, chewy, and deeply satisfying in that same slow, stubborn way.
The main difference is that jwipo is made from filefish specifically, and it has a distinct savory-sweet flavor that regular jerky doesn't quite have. It is much more addictive than it looks!
I’m going to have to look for some. Asian markets have it?
Korean grocery stores will definitely have it! For other Asian markets, it really depends — worth a look, but not guaranteed.
Here's a video showing how jwipo is prepared and eaten in English:
https://youtu.be/AOeL4mncNRk?si=-ZpssXvo8Zswn3Gl
Personally, I prefer the thicker-cut jwipo over the thin kind, and my husband and I like to toast ours in the oven or air fryer until it's a deep golden brown — not burnt, but darker than you might expect. That's when the flavor really opens up. We dip it in mayonnaise. Highly recommend. 😄
Thanks so much for this informative substack. I thoroughly enjoy reading in such detail about the social impacts of Korean food. Makes me hungry just thinking about it after reading your descriptions! 😎
That is the highest compliment a food writer can receive! I hope you get to try some of these soon 🤗 (And now I'm hungry too, so we're in this together 😄)
The honbap and mukbang pairing at the end is so interesting — the relational hunger doesn’t disappear, it just finds other forms. Watching a stranger eat alone on a screen filling the same gap that jwipo and a late night used to fill is both very sad and very human. Also had no idea the stationery store was the original after-school social institution 😄
I am so glad that resonated with you. It is a strange shift, isn't it? Moving from something as analog and communal as jwipo to a digital broadcast.
And yes! The stationery store really was its own tiny after-school social world 😄
Though I should say — that's very much an 80s and 90s picture. My understanding is that things look quite different now. In some ways, the convenience store might be playing a similar role today, though it's not quite the same thing...
Thank you for reading so closely and adding so much to the conversation.
The convenience store as the modern munbanggu is indeed such an interesting update — and somehow it tracks, the same logic of a neutral third space that isn't home and isn't school and doesn't require you to buy very much to stay. Though you're right that it's not quite the same thing, the stationery store had a specific texture of browsing and lingering that a 7-Eleven can't fully replicate. Something got lost in the translation even if the function partially survived.
Thank you as always for another thoughtful article!
Relational hunger—that’s such an evocative way to put it, Yanyu!
수희, it makes me so happy that both you and Yanyu connected with that phrase. Something clicked for me too when I wrote “relational hunger,” so I’m really grateful it resonated with you both 🤩