테이크-아웃!

    옛날 옛적 인간이 되고 싶은 곰과 호랑이가 살았다. 그들의 간곡한 기도 끝에 신은 이들에게 인간이 되는 방법을 알려주었는데, 바로 백일동안 동굴에서 쑥과 마늘을 먹으며 지내라는 것이었다. 고기가 그리웠던 호랑이는 참지 못하고 동굴을 뛰쳐나갔지만 곰은 백일의 시간을 버텨 인간 여자가 된 후 신의 아들과 결혼하였고, 그 사이에서 나온 아들은 한민족의 시조가 되었다. 어느 문화마다 건국 신화는 하나쯤 있기 마련이다. 신의 아들이 지상의 나라를 다스리기 위해 하늘로부터 내려오거나, 늑대에게 길러진 신의 아이들처럼 건국 신화는 위대한 존재에서 시작된 문명임을 거창하게 알리는 이야기들이 대부분이다. 하지만 우리의 신화는 먹는 것에 진심인 우리의 뿌리를 알려주듯 마늘과 쑥을 먹은 곰의 이야기부터 시작된다.


    이번 호에 음식에 대한 에디션을 준비하다 보니 유난히 음식에 대한 이야기들이 많이 떠오른다. 어릴 적 즐겨보던 전래동화 속에는 다양한 음식이 상황을 해결하는 돌파구로, 때로는 이야기에 대한 핵심을 담은 상징으로 나타났다. 호랑이에게 잡아먹힐 뻔한 토끼는 조약돌을 맛있는 떡이라 속인 후 나를 잡아먹는 대신 떡을 구워 먹자며 호랑이를 꼬드긴다. 돌을 모아 불에 굽던 토끼는 이내 떡을 찍어 먹을 간장을 구하러 마을에 다녀오겠다고 거짓말을 한 후 호랑이로부터 도망가고, 어리석은 호랑이는 돌떡이 구워지기만을 기다리다 결국에는 못 참고 뜨거워진 돌떡을 집어 드는 바람에 입천장도 다 데고, 다 잡았던 토끼마저 놓치고 말았다. 현대에 와서도 음식은 수많은 문학작품에 등장한다. 대표적인 근현대 단편 소설인 현진건의 운수 좋은 날(1924)에서 늘 아내에게 쌀쌀맞고 괴팍하던 김 첨지가 사 온 설렁탕은 그동안 그가 표현하지 못했던 아내에 대한 사랑을 나타내는 매개체로 나타난다.


    이렇듯 한국의 문화 속에는 음식에 관련된 이야기, 음식에 인생을 투영한 이야기가 많이 등장한다. 이는 한국인의 인생에서 음식이 차지하는 중요도가 어느 정도인지를 여실히 보여주는 듯하다. 햇-마:당의 다섯 번째 에디션은 현대 한국인의 인생 속에서 드러나는 다양한 음식에 대한 이야기를 담았다. 답답하고 지친 일상을 요리를 통해 변화시킨 이야기, 음식을 공유함으로써 서로의 문화를 이해하게 된 이야기, 음식을 통해 관계를 되돌아보고, 더 나아가 음식이 그들의 삶에 차지하는 중요도에 대한 이야기까지, 다양한 일곱 가지의 진솔한 이야기가 가득하다. 정성스럽게 준비한 일곱 가지 음식 이야기 중, 당신의 입맛을 사로잡을 이야기는 무엇일까. 맛깔스러운 이야기 하나, 햇-마:당에서 포장해 가시길 추천해 드린다.

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Color your daily life: Baking macarons in the pandemic

   It has been 9 years since I started living abroad with the intention of traveling all over Europe every month. However, due to the pandemic, both sea and sky roads were closed, and life at home without promises began. Working from home for the first time in my life was unfamiliar, but what made it even more awkward was "How should I spend my time at home after work?". I drew along the illustrations on Pinterest, bought a coloring book and colored it, and tried to grow sesame leaves and radish sprouts. Those hobbies gave me a lot of pleasure. However, since early May of this year, I fell in love with baking macarons and have been making macarons almost every day until today.

Why macarons?

    When I was looking for jobs in Korea in 2013, one of my habits after an interview was going to a famous macaron shop nearby and buying delicious macarons. That was how I treated myself well during the hard job hunting period. Sweet and pretty macarons healed me. I recalled these precious memories of the time, and I started recklessly baking macarons.

    When I first started, there were so many things to buy, and I was told a couple of times that baking macarons requires quite delicate processes. My challenge began with purchasing the oven. I started to follow the recipes on YouTube but failed miserably. I had no idea what was causing the failure. The only way was to learn my own know-how by baking macarons every day. One day, I did 4 minutes of meringue, another day, 5 minutes, the next day, 3 minutes of macaronage, 4 minutes, etc. By changing it one by one each day, I could make a plausible macaron from the eighth trial.

    After I started making it in earnest, I gradually fell in love with it that there is an unlimited number of combinations depending on the ingredients. Mixing yellow pigment and cheese powder makes yellow macaron, and mixing black sesame powder and butter makes black sesame macaron. It was interesting to see the combination that I imagined in my head turned out to be pretty in reality. In my repeated daily routine at home, the macarons I made brought different colors every day. Also, although I am psychologically exhausted from the endless corona, the 3 hours of concentration each day and the macarons gave me a sense of pride and accomplishment.

    Since I was young, I have always thought that baking, the realm of art and creation, has nothing to do with me because I am not a person who has any talents related to art. But once I got started, it turned out that macarons are close to statistics which I like. There are around 10 steps from the first meringue to the final filling and refrigeration to complete. Baking macarons is all about finding the cause of a mistake while controlling each step's independent variables and creating better results every time while controlling each variable. I found it similar to what I do at my work, and baking, which I thought were so different, was actually similar. I always thought that art and creation were far from me, but in fact, that was my preconceived notion. Preconceived notions are created without even trying. The important thing was to fully enjoy the process and results while trying new things.

    Staying at home like this might not always be a bad thing. The pandemic will continue, but there is also joy in everyday life. Thanks to a macaron, I saw a different side of my daily life that I have not known before.

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Other Editions :
Vol.01_YEAR : AC 1
Vol.02_Life_ver.01.jpeg
Vol.03_Scrambled
Vol.04_Trampoine

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My Kimchi Is Your Hummus

    A week in 2020 July, the heatwave was continuing to scorch the Netherlands day after day. My partner and I decided to stay together in his Amsterdam apartment to endure an unfamiliar and lonely pandemic lockdown. Eating a good meal is a small daily event that makes me happy, and it has become even more important during the lockdown. On a day in that week, I must have been thinking about what to eat for dinner. I must have been thinking about how unjoyful it would be to spend hours in front of the cooking heat and how desperately I need cold, ice floating Naengmyeon. While scheming how I can eat Naengmyeon in Amsterdam on weekdays, and thinking why European cuisine does not appreciate an ice-cold meal, my partner asked, “Do you want hummus and bread for dinner?”. Disappointed for an inexplicable reason, I consented reluctantly. That evening, we sat by a canal and devoured a Lebanese bread sandwich with hummus, spiced chicken, and mint.

    My partner was born in Germany but spent half of his teenage years in Egypt. Thanks to his active personality and family influence, eating is one of the essential fun activities in his life. During weekdays, he makes sure to have nutritionally balanced meals. On weekends, he loves to invite people over for a delicious homemade meal. Luckily, eating is equally important to me. Cooking has become one of my hobbies while trying to replicate home food made by my mom or dad back in Korea. Eating Korean food for dinner is a ritual to comfort myself, telling me, “I am home, and I can take a rest now,” after a day of rush and hustle, surviving on ‘snacks’ like yogurt, salad, or bread. I get emotionally hungry, lack energy, and anxious when I cannot get Korean food for days. It is fortunate that my partner enjoys most Korean foods.

    Choosing what to eat is the most time and energy-consuming part of the process of eating together. We crave different food depending on the mood or situation. One of us has to yield but yielding to food isn’t easy for either of us. When the day has been long, I do not want to spend so much energy on making food. I think about Bibimguksoo with somyeon, cucumber, and sour gochujang; he thinks about Lebanese bread, hummus, and cucumber mint salad (the balance between carb, protein, and veggie must always be right). When I need to fuel up with food, I think about Korean beef radish soup, and he thinks about grilled chicken and veggie marinated in spices and lemon juice. It is not that I do not want the foods he suggests, but it is just that I always prefer anything that is dipped in gochujang, garlic, or doenjang.

    One thing that I am thankful about is that my spectrum of food experience has expanded during the past 3 years that I was with him. I would not have gone to a Persian restaurant myself (or with my friends) if it were not for him. I would not have been able to overcome the unfamiliar smell of lamb meat, or I would not have known that there are good dishes amongst Arabic mezze – like muhammara (red pepper paste) or warak enab (grape leaves wrap). Now when I need a snack, I dip Lebanese bread in tahini sauce and dates syrup. Pepper was the only spice that I knew, but now I keep ten or so of spices myself and add them to dishes when I feel like it (regardless of if it is the correct usage or not). Amongst all the spices, sumac – purple powder with sour taste – is my favourite. He, too, keeps gochujang, soy sauce, and corn syrup himself in the fridge and enjoys serving Korean fried chicken for his friends. He learned the convenience and the taste of beef gochujang tube and gochujang tuna can, so I bring him a couple of packs whenever I visit Korea.

    I would be wishing for too much if, by making foods that I grew up with, I expect that I can fully share emotions and childhood memories that I carry with the taste of foods. But making food for my partner and trying to replicate the taste that I grew up with is certainly an attempt to share part of me. Whenever we cook for each other, we – who grew up on different corners of the earth for more than 20 years – make sure to share the stories related to the food from childhood in an attempt to understand each other better.

 

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    Great expectations can lead to great disappointments. People around me told me often. They must have felt sorry for me, watching me struggling every time my expectations turned to failure. For me, I didn't realize that my expectations were high before I was disappointed. But after that disappointment came a new kind of expectation, which always gave me a new direction.

    After deciding to study design in the Netherlands, it didn't take long for me to drop out of Korea's art college, which I was in my last years. I decided to study in the Netherlands to expect that a more open environment and a consultative-style education style have more potential to develop myself as a designer and as an artist. The reality turned out to be more like a bubble filled with ideals than I expected, and it didn't take long for my expectations to turn into another disappointment. Although, what was different this time, I had a chance to think about my expectations and practical ways to satisfy those expectations. That's how I started Minyoung Foodlab with the ideas that resulted from that time.

    While studying abroad, I intensively learned to think about and express my design essence and identity. However, I couldn't learn how to communicate with the public, present it, or establish how design practice should support me financially. I had no choice but to acknowledge the reality that the school would not provide these and that I had to go through it on my own.

    After realizing such limitations and deciding to do something on my own as a designer, I thought a lot about which media to approach the public. After much thought, I found a straightforward direction, 'food,' and specifically, to introduce 'Korean food' in the Netherlands. As a first attempt, I opened a pop-up restaurant for 'Fusion Korean Food' for three days during the Design week. I rented a small sandwich shop where I had a good relationship; contrary to my concerns, all three days were fully booked.

    Having that success, I came up with the following idea, 'Foodlab.' Foodlab's main purpose was to deliver richer storytelling of design to the public by providing an experimental dining event based on collaboration with designers. Furthermore, it was to establish a connection between designers and the public, which leads to the sale of their works. I opened up a restaurant in parallel with Foodlab to promote Korean food and raise capital for a dining event. The Korean restaurant that started received more love than I expected, and people of all nationalities came to visit.

    Of course, it sounds like a very forward-looking and ideal goal if you read these sentences only. But, in reality, I had to go through many financial difficulties and problems I didn't expect. Due to the inability to pay the cost on time, the supplier cut off the supply of ingredients. Moreover, as I was doing my studies in parallel, I received a recommendation from the school to drop out. Even the Art Center, which owned the venue, rented it out on the condition that all sales from drinks belong to them. So considering the resulting profits, it was an awful condition.

    Nevertheless, I could continue it since I believed in the possibility of storytelling by combining design with food, which is a simple medium but with a lot of potentials. In addition, there was a belief that the restaurant could be expanded into a space that provides various contents, not just a place to eat. I think I found many answers to my expectations while keeping the Foodlab for a short time. I hope that there will be an opportunity to introduce different platforms through 'food' as a medium, which has infinite possibilities in the future.

    기대가 크면 실망도 큰 법이다. 내 주변 사람들은 내게 이 말을 많이 했었다. 기대가 실망으로 바뀔 때마다 힘들어하는 나를 보고 안쓰러워서 하는 말이었겠지만, 나는 오히려 실망하고 난 후에야 내 기대가 컸음을 알았다. 하지만 그러한 실망 뒤에는 또 다른 새로운 기대가 찾아왔고, 이는 늘 내가 나아가야 할 새로운 방향이 되어 주었다.


    네덜란드 디자인 유학을 결정한 뒤, 고학년까지 다니던 한국의 미대를 자퇴하기까지는 시간이 별로 걸리지 않았다. 네덜란드로 유학을 결정했던 이유는 좀 더 오픈된 환경과 자문자답 형식의 교육이 디자이너로서, 또 예술가로서 발전 가능성이 더 클 거라는 기대에서였다. 그렇게 시작한 유학 생활은 내 생각보다 이상으로 가득 찬 버블처럼 보였고, 이렇게 내 기대가 또 다른 실망으로 바뀌는 데에는 긴 시간이 필요치 않았다. 다른 점이 있다면, 이번에는 내가 가진 기대가 정확히 무엇이었는지, 그 기대를 만족시킬 실질적인 방법은 무엇일지에 대해 깊이 고찰하게 되었고, 그때 나온 아이디어들로 Minyoung foodlab을 시작하게 되었다는 것이다.


    유학 과정 내내 나의 본질과 나아가 내 디자인의 아이덴티티가 무엇인지 대해 사고하고, 표현하는 법을 집중적으로 배울 수 있었다. 하지만 정작 현실의 대중들과는 어떻게 소통해야 하는지, 어떠한 방식으로 내 이상을 선보여야 하는지와 동시에 나를 서포트 할 정도로 재정적인 부분이 구축될 수 있는지에 대한 방법은 학교에서 배울 수가 없었다. 그러한 것은 학교에서 제공해 줄 수 없고 오롯이 혼자 헤쳐나가야 하는 현실임을 인정할 수밖에 없었다.


    그러한 한계를 느끼고 스스로 무언가를 해보아야겠다고 마음먹은 뒤로는, 디자이너로서 대중들에게 가깝게 다가갈 수 있는 현실적인 매개체에 대해 생각을 많이 했었다. 고민 끝에 찾은 방법은 아주 단순하게도 ‘음식’이었고, 구체적으로는 네덜란드 안에서 ‘한식’을 선보이는 것이었다. 첫 시도로, 친분이 있던 아인트호벤의 한 샌드위치 가게의 장소를 빌려서 디자인 위크 기간 ‘퓨전 한식’으로 3일간 짧게 디너를 선보였고, 우려와 달리 3일 전부 만석이었다.


    그 성공에 힘입어 다음으로 구상한 것이 foodlab이다. Foodlab은 디자이너와의 협업을 바탕으로 experimental dining event를 기획하고 대중들에게 선보임으로써 디자인에 대한 더욱 풍부한 스토리텔링을 전달하는 것이 주된 목적이었다. 더 나아가 실질적으로 디자이너와 대중 사이를 연결해주어 이를 통해 실질적인 작품의 판매로 이어지는 것이 목표였다. Foodlab과 병행했던 레귤러 레스토랑은 한식에 대해 알리고자 하는 목표와 동시에 다이닝 이벤트를 위한 자본금을 모을 목적으로 진행되었다. 이렇게 시작된 한식 레스토랑은 내 기대 이상으로 넘치는 사랑을 받았고, 정말 다양한 국적의 사람들이 찾아주었다.


    물론 이 압축된 이야기를 듣는다면, 굉장히 진취적이고 참 이상적인 소리처럼 들릴 테지만 현실 속의 나는 예상치 못한 많은 재정난과 그 밖의 여러 문제를 겪어야만 했다. 재룟값을 제때 대질 못 해, 공급처가 재료 공급을 끊기도 했었고, 더군다나 학업과 병행을 하다 보니 학교 측으로부터 자퇴 권고를 받기도 했었다. 심지어 장소를 대여했던 아트센터 측에 주류와 음료 판매를 통한 수익을 모두 주는 조건으로 레스토랑을 열었기 때문에 결과적으로 수익을 생각하면 엄청난 악조건이었다.


    그런데도 힘든 과정을 끌어갈 수 있었던 건 단순하고도 가능성이 많은 ‘음식’이라는 매개체를 디자인과 결합하여 만들어 낼 수 있는 무궁무진한 스토리텔링의 과정이 내게 있어 ‘특별한 것’이 될 것이란 확신이 있었고, 또한 레스토랑을 단순히 식사하는 장소만이 아닌 다양한 컨텐츠를 제공하는 공간으로 확장할 수 있다는 믿음이 있었기 때문이다. 길지 않은 시간 동안 foodlab 을 끌어오면서 내가 가진 기대가 무엇이었는지에 대한 해답을 많이 찾았다고 본다. 앞으로도 가능성이 무한한 ‘음식’을 매개체로 색다른 플랫폼을 선보일 기회가 있길 바란다.



 

최민영
    최민영은 디자인 아카데미 아인트호벤을 졸업한 후 아인트호벤을 베이스로 활동하고 있다. 영상, 제품 디자인 및 커뮤니케이션 디자인을 전공하였으며, 현재는 음식을 매개체로하는 ‘Minyoung Koreanfoodlab’을 통해 디자인 플랫폼을 빌드업 중이다. 한 분야로 규정짓기 어려운 디자이너이며 앞으로도 규정되지 않는 다양한 시도를 하는 디자이너로 성장하고 싶다.

Other Editions :
Vol.01_YEAR : AC 1
Vol.02_Life_ver.01.jpeg
Vol.03_Scrambled
Vol.04_Trampoine

Haemin Lee
    Haemin is fond of finding meanings in coincidental situations in daily life with much belief in basic human physiological needs i.e. eat well, sleep well, and shit well. The most fundamental and trivial points in the mundane always stimulate her interest, occupying one of her daily routines. Here at Het Ma:dang, she’d be happy to share those with you.

See other articles by this writer...
Vol.01  I Article No.4  I Hi there, it’s me, curfew

이해민
   일상생활에서 우연히 마주하게 되는 상황 속에서 의미를 찾는 사색가인 그는 잘 먹고, 잘 자고, 잘 싸는 것이 중요하다고 생각한다. 사사로운 일과 속에서 일어나는 아주 기본적이고 사소한 포인트들은 그의 흥미를 자극하는 일상생활 루틴 중 하나이다. 햇-마:당에 이런 그의 일상루틴을 공유한다. 


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