Umma's Table by Yeon-Sik Hong

Umma's Table by Yeon-Sik Hong

The joy of food and tradition unites a family faltering in the face of illness and loss

Madang is an artist and new father who moves to a quiet home in the countryside with his wife and young baby, excited to build a new life full of hope and joy, complete with a garden and even snow. But soon reality sets in and his attention is divided between his growing happy family and his impoverished parents back in Seoul in a dingy basement apartment. With an ailing mother in and out of the hospital and an alcoholic father, Madang struggles to overcome the exhaustion and frustration of trying to be everything all at once: a good son, devoted father, and loving husband.

To cope, he finds himself reminiscing about their family meals together, particularly his mother's kimchi, a traditional dish that is prepared by the family and requires months of fermentation. Memories of his mother's glorious cooking--so good it would prompt a young Madang and his brother into song--soothe the family. With her impending death, Madang races to learn her recipes and bring together the three generations at the family table while it's still possible. This is a beautiful and thoughtful meditation on how the kitchen and communal cooking--in the past, present, and future--bind a family together amidst the inevitable.

In 1971, Yeon-Sik Hong was born. In 1990, he began working as an apprentice in a manga studio, and in 1992, he wrote his first short stories (in the style of comics), but commercial endeavors kept him away from his personal work for another decade. Hong and his partner attempted to relocate to the countryside in 2005. Hong began work on a graphic novel inspired by these encounters two years later. Uncomfortably, Happily was published in two volumes in 2012, and it instantly became a critical success, gaining the Manhwa Today Prize and going back for a second printing. While Yeon-Sik Hong and his girlfriend would like to return to the countryside eventually, they are now residing on the outskirts of Seoul.