About Maangchi

Hi! I’m Maangchi! Welcome to my website!

I was born and raised in Korea and have been interested in food and cooking all my life. I learned how to cook from my family, relatives, friends, vendors on the street or the market, wherever I could learn a new recipe or technique. I made this website in 2007 because I wanted to make a Korean food encyclopedia of everything I knew. I’ve been adding to it and updating to it constantly since then but there’s still more to do!

My recipes are mostly traditional, authentic Korean recipes because that’s what I know best. But I’m always interested in learning new techniques and I’m constantly experimenting, developing, and reworking my own recipes. Whenever I make something good, I’ll post it here!

My website has grown and grown and is the #1 site for Korean cooking on the internet. I also have two best-selling cookbooks and have been featured in many media outlets (see below).

I live in New York City now, and love to learn about food and culture. I’m blessed to have met so many wonderful people through cooking. My viewers and readers are all passionate cooks and have a lot of knowledge and funny stories to share. We have endless things to talk about when we meet and we’re instant friends! I love hearing from them.

Thanks for your interest in my recipes, and take care!

In the media

Here are some interviews, stories, and reports in the media on me, my website & videos, and my readers:

October 8, 2022

I was at the New York Times Food Festival making kimchi on stage with Eric Kim.

October 1, 2020

The LA Times interviewed me and featured my traditional kimchi and chayote kimchi recipes in their all-kimchi weekend special section.

December 13, 2019

I talked to Milk Street radio about cleaning octopus, playing video games, Korean food, and sea squirts!

December 6, 2019

I was on the Splendid Table talking about cold weather cooking in Korea.

December 2019

My new cookbook was chosen by Amazon as one of the best cookbooks of the year, and by Bon Appetit as their Book of the Month, and by the New York Times Book Review as one of their Recommended Holiday Books.

November 5, 2019

I was a guest on Heritage Radio talking about Korean cooking, YouTube, and my book.

November 1, 2019

I kept a record of what I ate for 4 days and wrote about it in the Grub Street Diet.

October 28, 2019

The Verge interviewed me about my second cookbook.

Fall 2019

My new cookbook Maangchi’s Big Book of Korean Cooking is chosen as The New York Times Best Cookbooks of Fall, Eater Best Fall Cookbooks, Bon Appetit’s Fall Cookbooks We’ve Been Waiting All Summer For, Amazon’s Pick for Best Fall Cookbooks 2019, and also by Epicurious, Chowhound, Literary Hub, and Condé Nast Traveler.

July 22, 2015

The Chicago Tribune interviewed me about bibimbap and posted the recipe from my cookbook.

July 10, 2015

I was interviewed live on the The Leonard Lopate Show as part of his Food Fridays on WNYC National Public Radio.

June 15, 2015

Maangchi’s Real Korean Cooking was chosen as Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week and they posted a recipe from it every day all week.

June 9, 2015

KBS Korean news: 뉴욕 한복판서 파·마늘 ‘팍팍’…유튜브 한식 전도사
(YouTube Korean Food Ambassador Tosses a lot of Garlic and Green Onion in the Middle of NYC)

June 2, 2015

The New York Times: Maangchi: YouTube’s Korean Julia Child

The New York Times wrote about me and they shot a video of Julia Moskin and I making bulgogi. I also wrote a behind-the-scenes blog post about the shoot.