I am still processing the events of the past week (i.e., James Beard Award). Shock, joy, pride, laced with heavy doses of imposter syndrome. After all, I have been a lawyer for most of my career. I only started cooking a lot in 2016, mostly because it was either that or stop eating Korean food (when I went vegan), which I simply refused to entertain. And I guess that’s where I land—my love of Korean food. My love for Korean people. . Whether it’s the sound of Korean being spoken in an airport or at the shopping mall, the whiff of doenjang that hits me when I go to another Korean person’s house, the sight of moon-white Jeju radishes waiting to be picked up at the Korean market… Whether it’s another article about BTS leveraging its army for justice, a photo of a Korean American senator picking up the shards of sedition, or a novel unapologetically featuring a Korean family in Queens, NY because WTF not? . Whether it’s the “sahk-sahk-sahk” of my mother’s knife as she insists on cutting up all the veggies for boochimgae in lieu of using the fancy food processor I bought her, the sight of lime green hobbahk from my Wehsoongmoh’s garden nestling inside some shin-moon because she wanted me to taste just how sweet the squash is this summer, or waking up at 3 in the morning with my entire family and screaming “BE THE REDS!!!” until my voice is hoarse while watching a sport in which I previously held zero interest… . I love Korean food. I love Korean people. . And I am so proud that a cookbook featuring 뒨장, 나물, 김치, 팥 is a James Beard Award winner. . I am so proud to be a Korean author. . I am so proud to be Korean. . I am so proud to be one of you. . #FIGHTING