The most thrilling part of sharing my recipes online is when I see how they bring people together. I love to see when families, friends, and loved ones gather to cook and eat Korean food, but even more amazing to me is when people make friends in the comment section of my website, or at meetups I organize. It’s happened many times! It makes sense because you guys all have something in common: a love for Korean home cooking. My longtime readers Reinier and Susanne have become best friends since I met them in my Gapshida tour in 2012. They meet and cook very often and they have even traveled to Korea together!
For years I’ve had an idea for an online gift exchange around Chuseok time, where my readers could be matched to each other and exchange gifts. For various reasons the plan was always delayed, but this year I did it among the readers of my monthly letter.
Chuseok is Korea’s traditional harvest festival and one of its major holidays. It’s on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, on the full moon (also called the Harvest Moon). In modern Korea, it’s a big day for families. No matter where we currently live, we typically travel back to our home towns to spend time with our families. There are some traditional foods we eat such as songpyeon, galbijjim, and sujeonggwa, and many more vegetables, seafoods, and desserts. It’s also a big time for gift-giving, not only to family members and parents but to good friends and business acquaintances. It’s a way of showing thanks and appreciation and having fun.
198 people from around the world signed up for the event and were matched together. We had a few small technical problems but everyone seemed to have a great time meeting each other. I think they had so much fun making new friends! Do you think we should keep doing this once a year? All of my events are going to take place through my newsletter, so join it if you haven’t already.
Below are some of the photos and messages some people sent me about the gift exchange. They gave me permission to use their photos but I’m not using their names to keep their privacy. : )
This story originally appeared on Maangchi
