Hi! Welcome to The Subversive Table!
My name is Lis Lam and I’m a former school teacher turned recipe developer. The Subversive Table reflects my experience as a Korean American living in Canada. I love to cook Korean food. And everything else!
I hope you’ll enjoy my recipes — treasured family recipes handed down multiple generations AND modern classics influenced by my cultural heritage. These are the kind of dishes I love to cook and eat. Enjoy!
**I live in Toronto, the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and current home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.**
What you’ll find at The Subversive Table:
I love Korean food.
Korean food is how 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 food!
I also love to cook (and eat) everything else! My point of view as an Asian American living in Canada shows up in my food: intense flavor and spice, Asian twists on classics, not-too-sweet desserts, snacky meals, and lots of spice. Yes, I can’t live without spicy food!
As a member of the Asian Diaspora — an Asian who does not live in their country of origin — my food is influenced by multiple sources. Not 100% traditional Korean and not 100% traditional American or Canadian, it’s a mashup that reflects a little of everything.
Some people call this fusion food; others call it Asian riffs. I like to call it Food from the Asian Diaspora. Or Third Culture Food. At any rate, I think you’ll find these recipes delicious and tasty. They represent the global reality of our world today.
Let’s stay connected!
Follow me on social media. I love to hang out on Instagram. That’s the place where I post informal how-tos, my latest food obsession, grocery store finds, weekly dinner menus, and behind-the-scenes from the blog.
You can also follow me on Pinterest and Facebook and TikTok.
Culinary Experience
I am a home cook and I’ve been cooking and creating recipes for over 20 years. I’ve also spent many years cooking, tasting, and eating with my Korean grandma — an apprenticeship in Korean cooking! I’ve also had the opportunity to share my cooking knowledge and expertise with others in both formal and informal settings.
Online Publications:
- Buzzfeed
- Insider
- CJ Newsroom
- PureWow
- She Knows
- Mashed
- The Subversive Table: Food as Mission
- The Tasting Table
- The Storied Recipe
- Tiny Beans
More About My Story:
I am a Third-Culture Kid. Sociologist Ruth Unseem coined the term to refer to individuals who spent their formative years outside of their parents’ homeland. Growing up, I didn’t fit into my parents’ culture (Korean) or 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.
When I moved out, I learned to cook Western food by watching Food Network and scouring recipe index sites. I subscribed to gourmet magazines and bought cookbooks. Even back then, there were so many options to help me become a better Western cook.
But for Korean food, there was only ONE option: Halmoni.
Halmoni is my Korean grandmother. She raised me while my parents worked long hours at the family business. She was an excellent home cook who grew up in China during the Japanese occupation of Korea. 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 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!
