Deuki Hong & Matt Rodbard chart a culinary revolution in Koreaworld

Hi there, happy Thursday!

What I’m Reading…

* Food photographer extraordinaire Eva Kolenko (who’s shot more than 50 cookbooks) has a new Substack and she’s pulling back the curtain on her work. (Eva joined us in our Behind the Spine series back in 2022.)

* Cookbook author Marian Burros died at 92 this week. NYT obit. While she authored a dozen-plus cookbooks in her career, the strongest remembrances are around her iconic plum torte, which she published in the Times in 1983 and has remained one of the paper’s most-popular recipes. You can read Pete Wells paying tribute here—or, better yet, bake one yourself.

* We’re right in the heart of fall cookbook season, and this year’s lineup is especially rich—stunning, memorable works that I’ve been lucky to dive into (nearly 100 new books have already crossed my desk!). For a taste of the top titles, check out new roundups from Eater, Epicurious, and Saveur. I’ll be chatting with some of the authors on Salt + Spine and can’t wait to share those conversations with you.

Episode 173: Deuki Hong & Matt Rodbard

This week, chef Deuki Hong and journalist Matt Rodbard join us to #TalkCookbooks! Deuki’s latest restaurant SŌHN is an “all-day cafe and multi-use gathering space” in San Francisco. Matt is a writer who also hosts the prolific TASTE podcast (required listening for food lovers).

When their first collaborative book, Koreatown, came out in 2016, it captivated food publishing. For many readers, it was the first time Korean American food culture was presented with such energy, personality, and depth. Eight years later, Deuki and Matt returned with a new, wider-lens look.

The authors are quick to note that the new book, Koreaworld, isn’t a sequel. It’s a dispatch from a moment when Korean food and culture are everywhere: K-pop topping the charts, Parasite winning the Oscars, Seoul cafes setting global coffee trends, and a Korean tasting menu taking the top U.S. spot on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list this year. As Deuki and Matt write in the opening to Korea World: “You are about to read the story of a culinary revolution.”

In our conversation, Deuki and Matt take us behind the scenes of the ambitious project—from their travels through locations like Jeju and Seoul during the pandemic, to profiling the chefs and artisans who make up what they call “Korea World.”

🎙️ | We’ve got a great chat with Deuki and Matt—and of course, we put them both to the test in our signature culinary game! Find this episode here on Substack and anywhere you get your podcasts.

Koreaworld: A Cookbook by Deuki Hong & Matt Rodbard

A vibrant exploration of Korean cuisine, both in Korea and in Koreatowns aroun