Rice Table: Korean Recipes and Stories to Feed the Soul

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The whole house would smell of bones. It’s not a nasty smell, but it’s not overly pleasant either. It’s the dish I absolutely hated as a child, but it’s also the one I felt so loved with.” I didn’t know that… Olfactory memory (the personal recollection of aromas) is key; tomme de savoie tastes like strawberry laces to Emma. Su has written a beautiful account of how food can help rebuild culture from treasured memories, how it conveys love and connection, and how it can ground us when we feel untethered. The recipes are totally tantalising - and thanks to Su's guidance, entirely achievable even for novices." - Tim Anderson When I think about my childhood, there's this powerful moment of smell," says Scott. "There's this one specific memory of my father sourcing the good meat bones, and my mother preparing the broth for days on end. I didn’t know that… Damascus is one of the world’s oldest cities, with parts thought to have been inhabited for 10,000 years. Photographs by Andy Sewell.

I think Korean food has still got a long way to go in the UK, though. The range is very limited.” That’s why Scott wants to highlight everyday Korean dishes in her debut cookbook, Rice Table. Add the cabbage and courgette to the pan and continue cooking for a further 3 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened. She used food as a way to reconnect with her homeland, but suggests its importance isn’t uniquely Korean. Scott tells us in her Introduction that just shy of 20 years old she “ left a home that [she] never really felt [she] belonged to and was eager to dive deep into [her] newfound freedom and immerse [her]self fully in London life“. Desperate to be accepted by the the city she fell in love with, she didn’t want to be recognised as a foreigner; she wanted to belong. Now, over two decades on, Scott is married to an Englishman she met within her first few years here, and the couple have their dual-heritage daughter, Kiki.

Engaging and warm as the words are, the colourful illustrations by Harriet Lynas magnify and enhance the message of this unique celebration of how we eat.

Wife-and-husband team Laura Mucha (a poet and author) and Ed Smith (food writer) have joined forces to create, as the subtitle promises, A Celebration Of What Children Eat Everywhere. The target age-range is 4-7 years old; the mission, to inspire children to be inquisitive about culinary experiences and cultures beyond their own. The fatty layers of pork are rendered gently to keep the meat juicy and gorgeously tender. It is then wrapped in pliable seasonal leaves and eaten with a dollop of salty sweet and spicy ssam sauce to bolster everything together. It is a real explosion of flavours in one mouthful. What will surprise people in your book? Scott's food career began after moving to London in 2000 when she was 19, but it really took off after winning an Observer Food Monthly Award in 2019 for a recipe based on her mother's kimchi jjigae. The rustic, spicy stew, typically made with pork belly, tofu and kimchi, was voted Best Readers' Recipe by The Observer's food magazine. Recipe I can’t wait to make: Kankankan cauliflower fritters with yogurt and mayo sauce (photograph: Yuki Sugiura).

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BBC.com's World's Table "smashes the kitchen ceiling" by changing the way the world thinks about food, through the past, present and future. To prepare the rhubarb, cut the stalks into 5cm-long batons, then halve each one lengthways to cut it into thin strips. Transfer the stripped rhubarb into a sterilised, heatproof jar or container. Su has written a beautiful account of how food can help rebuild culture from treasured memories, how it conveys love and connection, and how it can ground us when we feel untethered. The recipes are totally tantalising - and thanks to Su's guidance, entirely achievable even for novices." - Tim Anderson"A book of belonging. Food as a love letter to family. I didn’t know that… Scraps left from cutting pasta are known as maltagliati, meaning ‘poorly cut’. Photography by Dave Brown