For illustrator Robin Ha, cooking is a creative outlet that serves as a natural extension of art. Ha discovered her love of this art form while living in Italy during her senior year, where she learned from her host family how easy Italian cooking could be. Upon her return, she took up residence in the New York suburbs, and with no Korean restaurant within walking distance, Ha took up the gauntlet and learned how to cook the dishes of her birthplace, sharing the results with friends and coworkers, and thereby piquing their interest in Korean food. This brought about Banchan in 2 Pages, a practical and practicable cooking blog that employed playful drawings, straightforward ingredient lists and simple instructions to demystify the art of Korean cuisine, many of which have been gathered in Cook Korean!: A Comic Book with Recipes.
Using a cartoony heroine named Dengki who dresses in the traditional high-waisted Korean dress--hanbok--Ha demonstrates techniques through two-page spreads and charming illustrations. The genius behind Ha's method is the use of individual panels that bind related steps into self-contained and digestible points, making Korean cooking approachable. Interested in learning how to cook dolsot bibimbap? Ha distills the recipe into six neat sections. She also presents interesting facts and the historical context behind many of the more popular dishes. Cook Korean! is fun, accessible and a pleasure to read. Ha proves that one doesn't need to be a pro or born Korean in order to enjoy the country's cultural riches. --Nancy Powell, freelance writer and technical consultant