The Korean – book review and interview with Africa Yoon

I tend to read a couple of books per month as a minimum. So for a book to leave an impression on me takes some doing. The Korean left an impression, enough of one that when I was given the opportunity to sit down to talk with its author, I jumped at the chance.

The Korean shares a brief journey of Africa Yoon’s weight loss, growth, and love with a running theme of Korean food. I say brief because what I get from the book is that Africa’s life story is far bigger, more complicated and eventful than the pages would allow for in one book. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I wanted to speak with her, to ask her why she left certain parts out after offering us readers a shiny glimpse into what was sure to be very exciting adventures.

I already knew that I liked Africa before I started speaking to her. The way she wrote, spoke to me. Then having a quick stalk of her Instagram page before our interview, I KNEW I needed to speak with her! I explained the concept of Africa’s book to my eldest and she was also excited by her. Something about Africa feels very unicorn-like. She’s a free spirit who knows who she is and isn’t afraid to share.

I won’t ruin it for you if you haven’t read it yet, but it shares Africa’s story of how twice embracing Korean culture transformed her life.  Starting with a decade-plus look back at how going raw vegan, enhanced by Korean side dishes known as banchan including Kimchi helped her lose one hundred and ten pounds. Africa meets a Korean elderly lady outside a Korean supermarket who calls her fat, then goes on to take her under her wing, recommending many traditional Korean foods to eat. Africa loses a lot of weight and goes on to accomplish many amazing feats from fitness to charitable and creative endeavors, whilst battling crippling health issues, falling in love and having children. Obviously, there is more to her story than this, but you’ll have to buy the book.

I asked Africa about the name of her book and its premise.

“My book was called Nabi, which means Butterfly in Korean. I learned it in a famous children’s song; at the same time, I was going through issues with my thyroid which is butterfly-shaped.  However as I began to heal using Korean food a second time, my writing teacher pointed out there was another theme that beat the butterfly, “you have a lot of Korean themes within your life, even before your husband”. . . . .The book is a love letter to Korean culture and the cover of the book represents all the women who have nurtured me. From the Korean grandmother, the one at H Mart and the ones in Korea, to my mother-in-law and my Korean mother friends. The name “The Korean” is because all of my choices led to love, self-love and true love. The Korean is my husband who isn’t mentioned by name mostly because he prefers a more private life, he works in technology which lets him stay that way. It is something I was very attracted to, but it’s trickier since I have public goals like racial harmony which you need to show up for. Activism requires well you know action, I like writing much more it grants more privacy, well unless you write about yourself.   Ha I’ll figure it out eventually, I’ll probably lean towards writing my experiences into characters in the future”

Africa touches on her colourful and privileged upbringing. A daughter of UN diplomats, she was in some incredibly powerful circles, learning about international diplomacy, cooperation and advocacy from a very young age. She took these skills and adopted them into an early career bridging her love of film and tv with her activism, most notably working with MTV which named her one of the top 40 Youth Activists in the world for her work on HIV/AIDS.

If you are searching for her online, to learn a bit more about her exciting career path, you will find out in the book she changed her name. Best to look for Suzanne Africa Engo who became Africa Yoon as a way to keep her African identity when she changed her sur name in marriage; and dropped her first name choosing to be known as just Africa, a nickname that followed her since a young age as she worked on African issues.

The Korean is about more than losing weight or the power of eating fresh, Korean food.

Africa summarizes it as it being just as much about learning to live your best life versus go on a diet. Oprah and Doctor Oz played their part in influencing her healthy eating and the raw vegan diet.  “Saying live your best life is so common now but it was Oprah Winfrey encouraging us all to look beyond the calories to what we needed a healthy body for, that stuck with me… I cherry-picked that part of her diet and also was moved by an episode where Dr Oz said you could lose weight eating raw food.” She ate at some raw vegan restaurants and all but one did not taste very good. She spoke of the experience of the cuisine as bland, and at the same time, she had begun to shop at the H Mart. Besides the pre-made sides, the majority of ingredients the elder woman gave her were raw. “She probably intended me to cook those, but I never did”

“So it’s as simple as I went to a new grocery store, and was exposed to new ingredients. All the official Korean food I ate at that time was pre-made, but I still was eating them with Korean ingredients, green onion, tofu, nappa cabbage, Korean radish, soybean sprouts, perilla leaves, and always kimchi every meal etc. I was making vegan food with Korean ingredients and I was seasoning that vegan food with pre-made Korean sides, which made it taste so good. I didn’t think of it as Korean food at that time per se, or dare to call my new creations Korean food; but looking back in this memoir and in my life, I thought those sides were just about flavor.

The power of kimchi

Now I that I am more educated about nutrition, I know Kimchi was more than flavorful we now know the power of it for gut health. I realize now that all those varieties of vegetables and fruits that I ate, especially the fermented ones, are hugely important for gut health. Korean food is actually medicinal, this book is my way of giving credit to what I thought was the power of vegan food, back to Korean cuisine, it is their healthful ingredients that saved my life. If you read my book you’ll see it did so twice, when I finally learned to make Korean traditional recipes myself .”

While Africa has had a majority of positive experiences; It is important she notes that for many Black people, historically, they haven’t had the same warm welcome when joining Korean families or the Korean population in general.  She adds that she sometimes feels a bit of guilt about it, but feels also that she should also be allowed to exist and share her story.

“It doesn’t erase other people’s experience, I’m just adding my story to the pot”

The Korean mum’s group she joined taught her a lot about friendship she says. Not that she has ever struggled to make friends. But having grown up within the UN and travelling a lot throughout her childhood (Africa went to school in the UK for some time) she made a lot of friends, but perhaps at arm’s length due to her moving around. Also she says her global life experience, in some cases becomes the most fascinating story to talk about; so while she shares her personal life, she does not always speak of some other experiences, she never wants to position her experience as better than someone else, because they travelled less.

“Also I want people to like me for me not for who I met, or where I went, because it’s where I have been not who I am. Some of the things I’ve done are pretty big deal to some people and take up the room and I don’t want that.  So at once people feel they know me and also don’t know me at all. In that group I have been just Africa and the mothers taught me that I could be loved without a story about that fabulous time in Rome. I never really even shared what a hard time I was going through initially, I have now to thank them. But they were sharing their culture with me and all those little shares, like how their mother made a dish. healing soups and stories about tradition were my life line.  I was creating a Cameroonian and Korean American life for my children. Them letting me in healed me, you can say what you want about it but they embraced a black mother in a group designed for Korean American and South Korean mothers. You can say well they should, but guess what a lot of people should a lot of things and they don’t. They were healing me and most of them had no idea I was even sick. “

“It’s hard to explain to people just how low I got. I decided to piece myself together.” The Korean Mommies group, their kindness and opening up to me was life itself at one point especially as I dealt with an anxiety post-partum, where I did not even want to leave the house, I logged into that group! My book is dedicated to them as a note that people should not judge entire races, because I can tell you this group of women are inclusive. Take people case by case not race by race”

But there should have been more!

Before we signed off on what turned into an epic 2-hour conversation, I shared my frustrations with her about her book. It could have been longer. So much longer. I asked why she didn’t go into more detail about some of the friendships and relationships she mentioned. More on her family. On her work. On her experiences growing up with the UN as a constant in her childhood. More about her time going to school all across the globe.

She said it could easily have turned into a 600-page book but learning about writing a memoir, editors told her it was too broad and it needed to be about a specific theme and time. I hope she makes a second edition that really is that long! I’d read it. After ‘meeting her in real life’ (over video call, she lives in much warmer, tropical climes that the UK) I’m conscious to how big and warm a presence she embodies. The Korean feels like a stepping stone in what has already been an illustrious existence and what will continue to be so for many more decades to come.

Bottom line? I’m a fan of the book and the person who wrote it. So buy the book at https://thekoreanbook.com . Once you’ve read it, come back here and let me know what you thought about it. Perhaps I should make it the official book club book for January. You know, of that book club I’ve just decided right now to create.

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Tinuke