I bought the book after seeing the author give a talk on regional food at Starfield Library’s Byeolmadang Library. I had thought domestic travel was dull and always wondered where to go abroad. Then it struck me how many precious foods I had overlooked at home. With fall approaching, I plan to visit Cheongsong. I knew it only as a remote town with a prison, but the talk introduced Juwangsan’s autumn foliage, chicken bulbaeksuk cooked with carbonated spring water, and a region where apples

People read less these days. Even video platforms favor short clips over long videos full of quality information. I sometimes buy books out of duty but do not read them; this one matched my interests, and I read it with focus for a couple of hours. I think of myself as a traveler and food lover, but I had not seen food origins explained this accessibly on YouTube or TikTok. I love Busan and always began trips there with pork and rice soup. I found it fresh to learn that food culture brought by

This useful book explains why a dish became a regional specialty, rather than simply saying it tastes good. Food humanities books can be difficult for general readers, but this one is engaging and flows easily. I knew Busan was famous for pork and rice soup, but its history and social structure explaining how it became a local dish were enlightening. The section on Samcheok gomchit-guk was fascinating too, including the story that Samcheok was where Goryeo’s fall and Joseon’s beginnings