Bong Joon-ho at the table

In Korea, a meal is not conceived as starter-main-dessert but around a bowl of rice (bap) that is the heart of everything. Around it unfold a bubbling soup or stew (guk or jjigae) and a constellation of small side dishes (banchan), including the indispensable kimchi. Everything arrives at once, you pick, you share, you mix. On a film set as in a family, it is these communal trays, often ordered and placed directly on the table, that punctuate the day and bond the crew.

The soul of this cuisine lies in two gestures: fermenting (kimchi, doenjang, rice wine) and spicing with gochugaru, those Korean chili flakes with a round, fruity heat. The lively acidity of ferments and the gentle burn of chili: it is this tension of flavors that runs through the entire Korean table.