- Part 1 -

The gluttonous princess of Maeil Market
My father's regular ingredient, tofu
Naengmyeon, the soul food of displaced people
A gluttonous instinct that transcends the boundaries of the home
A new taste, taste, taste that captured my tongue
A strange but charming pasta and hotteok restaurant
From newspaper to night school, then back to prison
A release notice, a pack of ramen I never finished eating

- Part 2 -

Soothe a weary soul
Days spent enduring the joy of eating and the strength of what I ate
Pickled radish, from disgusting food to the best in the world!
Body, put aside your hard life for a moment
Bosintang, its winding history
Everyone's eating preferences are different, standing before the gluttony of politics.
From 'fast and a lot' to 'slow and a little'
From spicy and salty to simple and bland

- Part 3 -

The world is wide and there is a lot to eat.
The Camino de Santiago: A First Step Filled with Fear and Excitement
Suki of Korea, Thinking About the Human Path
Alone in a remote village, Immerse yourself in free fun.
The master of dagumbari who amazed the world
Korean food even in Annapurna
Like a native on the streets of Hanoi
Miao cuisine and wine captivate four women

- Part 4 -

On the road of friendship
Unexpected food tasted through peeking and body language
Sapporo's "Gourmet Olle" and Okinawa's Sad History
Kyushu cuisine, a blend of meticulous care and originality
Seeing my hometown Jeju from Switzerland

- Part 5 -

Back in Seogwipo
Jeju's spring begins with bracken
The drink of the Olle hikers, the 'Shindari' of the Jeju grandmothers
The Story of Four Women in Seogwipo
Crab, the taste of heaven hidden in armor
Traditional markets are the source of my taste buds, a treasure trove of flavors.
Healing food, healing food

Before the road, there was food

A new book by Seo Myung-sook, the director of Jeju Olle, “The Woman Who Makes the Way,” has been published.
For her, there were three main themes in life.
Words, path, and taste.
Among them, the oldest desire was to eat and make delicious food.
So this time it's not about the road, it's about the food.
Known as the Yum Yum Princess or the Glutton Queen, she has an extraordinary appetite.
He is a man who risks his life for delicious food.
It clings to you with fatal and tenacity.
Diet is not in her dictionary.
Under the motto, “A meal that has gone away never comes back,” I eat three meals a day without fail.
Even when I was a reporter struggling with deadlines, I never skimped on meals.
I can bear a stomachache, but I can't bear hunger.


This book contains episodes about the food I tasted in Jeju as a child, while traveling around the country as a reporter, and while traveling around the world as the president of Jeju Olle.
She has an amazingly good memory, recalling unforgettable memories of food she has eaten over the decades.
I had been feeling disappointed with the 'food books' that had been on the market for a while.
Men mostly wrote essays about food their mothers made and restaurants they ate at, while women mostly wrote about recipes for food they had lovingly prepared for their husbands and children.
She has traveled the world, tasting as many things as men, and although below average for a South Korean woman, she has cooked more food than men.
So, for a long time, I've been thinking about writing my own food book.


Above all, this book is fun.
There are big laughs and smiles, emotions and tears.
The story of how he got involved in an outrageous incident because he had been obsessed with delicious food since he was young is vivid.
These are the North Korean foods that my father, Seo Song-nam, who was from Hamgyeong Province, the northernmost part of the Korean Peninsula, enjoyed after being released from the Geoje Island POW camp and drifting to Jeju Island, never to be able to set foot on his homeland again.
A boy in my elementary school class who brought home a fishy piece of dried pollack on the school picnic day.
A boy who shyly handed over a pack of ramen in prison.
Eunsuk, a middle school classmate who died at the age of 27.
When I was young, I was busy running away holding my nose, but when I was pregnant, I ate pickled fish and body soup, which were soul foods.
A story about how, as a reporter, I wandered around Gwanghwamun-dong looking for delicious restaurants and developed deep friendships with the female owners there.
Food shared with many people from Japan, Switzerland, and Nepal on the Camino de Santiago.
After returning to my hometown as the chairman of Jeju Olle, I met true experts in food and life.
In this book, she talks about life, not food.
Laughter, tears, and emotion mixed with food.
Be careful when reading this book in a library or cafe.
Even if you're giggling, you can suddenly burst into tears and look like a crazy person.


While creating the Jeju Olle Trail, she believed that the trail was a symbol of healing, reconciliation, and love.
As I was writing this book, I realized that food was also like that.
A meal of rice, a bowl of udon, can bring people together, ease old hatreds, and relieve long-standing sorrows.
A single meal can change your life, or even lift you out of your exhausted state.


I didn't think there was any need to be ashamed of one's gluttony.
Just as we admire outstanding art and scenery, it is only natural to be drawn to delicious food.
It is a different matter from eating expensive health food or eating a lot of it quickly.
True gluttony comes from wanting to enjoy well-prepared, seasonal food with like-minded people.
She says.
They say that greed is beautiful.


The cover and illustrations were drawn by veteran painter Han Jung-ok, an elementary school classmate of the author.
He is a full-time artist who has been stubbornly working to capture Jeju's nature and people with crayons for 37 years in a shabby atelier in Seogwipo.
Appreciating the author's elegant paintings is another pleasure in reading this book.