Hi! I’m Lis. The Subversive Table is a food blog that reflects my Korean American experience.

I hope you enjoy my recipes — treasured family recipes handed down multiple generations AND modern classics with an Asian twist. This is the kind of food I love to cook and eat. Enjoy!

What you’ll find at The Subversive Table:

I love Korean food.

Korean food is the way I connect to my culture. I cook Korean food when I need comfort. I also cook Korean food to remember who I am and where I come from.

My goal is to create simple Korean recipes that anyone can cook at home. Yes, you can cook Korean!

I also love Western food: tacos, pizza, lasagne, roast chicken.

And yet, I often get bored by classic interpretations. Too monotonous and tame, not enough flavor and spice.

Instead, I like to crank up the flavor the Asian way — with fermented foods + sauces, intense aromatics like garlic + lemongrass, and spice, spice, spice. Yes, I can’t live without spicy food.

I also enjoy not-too-sweet desserts. Instead of focusing on syrupy sweetness, my desserts highlight texture and bitter/sour/salty/umami.

Some people call this fusion food, others call it Asian riffs on a classic. Either way, I think you’ll find these recipes delicious and tasty.

Let’s stay connected!

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More About My Story:

I am a Third Culture Kid. Growing up, I didn’t fit into my parents’ culture (Korean) and I didn’t fit into the culture I lived in (white Suburbia). I floated somewhere in between.

At home, I ate traditional Korean food. At school, I ate classic American lunchroom fare.

Then I moved out and needed to learn how to cook.

I learned to cook Western food by watching Food Network and scouring recipe index sites. I subscribed to gourmet magazines and bought cookbooks. There were so many options to help me become a better Western cook.

But when I wanted to cook Korean, there was only one option: call Halmoni.

Halmoni is my Korean grandmother. She raised me while my parents worked long hours at the family business. As a child, I spent many hours in her kitchen. As an adult, she became my go-to source for Korean food advice.

That’s when I realized, there are other people like me — wanting to learn how to cook and enjoy Korean food. And also wanting to cook something other than the usual, standard Western fare.

That’s how this blog came to be. I’ve always loved food and I’ve always put my Korean American spin on the food I cook and eat. Enjoy!