Sweet potato bundle
Aunt Junko and the UN Bath
Tteok ramen
Minju's Tteokbokki
Half and half, lots of it!

Author's Note

Sweet and salty, spicy and sour
Into the charm of stories that are more delicious than food

Seohaemunjip Youth Literature Volume 16.
《Half and Half, Too Much》 is a collection of five short stories about 'history and food' by author Kim So-yeon, who has demonstrated an exquisite combination of history and science fiction in her 'Hell Joseon Expedition' series ([Reconstruction of the Eulmildae Chegongnyeo Incident], [The Story of the Uiyoldan Female Warrior and Gisaeng Hyeon Gye-ok]).


The author divided modern Korean history into 10-year periods, from the Korean War in 1950 to the IMF era in the 1990s, and selected five new or popular foods from each period, and developed a novel that tells the story of food and history.
Through this book, readers can experience history in a new way, filled with stories as delicious as each dish.

Through five foods that were born and continue to be loved throughout modern Korean history, we attempted to look into the times from the Korean War to the 1990s in 10-year increments.
Thus, the five short stories in this book are stories about Koreans who find a way out of a broken world and the foods that give them energy.
- From the author's note

Sweetness that sustains life in the survival game of war_ Sweet potato

Youngjin and his mother, who lived in Seoul, fled to Daegu to escape the war, where his mother had relatives.
The road to evacuation is as painful as the battlefield.
This is especially true for young Yeongjin, who has injured his foot.
But what is more painful than physical pain is hunger.
During the painful and hungry evacuation, the mother and son stumble upon an empty house.
Another house abandoned by someone else who fled.
The mother and son, who happened to find sweet potatoes planted in the backyard garden of that house, forget about the war and satisfy their hunger. The sweetness of the sweet potatoes gives them great strength as they are exhausted from their refuge.


The next day, the mother and son set out on their journey again, carrying the sweet potatoes that were left over after solving their hunger and finding a place to sleep.
For Youngjin and his mother, sweet potatoes are now food and property.
Will the hat arrive safely in Daegu, allowing me to forget the pain of war, even if only for a moment? "Mom's going to light a fire right away, so let's grill this and eat it." I smiled and nodded.
I was busy eating sweet potatoes when I heard a rustling sound from over there.
My mom and I were so scared that our whole bodies froze.
There's nothing scarier than meeting a stranger in the middle of the night.
- [Sweet potato bundle]

A spicy stew filled with a burning passion that doesn't lose its dreams even in the ruins.

Nam-hee and her aunt Sun-ja, who were separated from their parents during the war, leave their hometown of Gaeseong and go to Busan to find their lost parents.
In the end, Nam-hee and her aunt, unable to find their parents, continue living in an unfamiliar, collapsed ruin, eating porridge to satisfy their hunger.
But my aunt, who was an elite who even studied abroad in Japan, had a dream greater than the sadness of parting or the burden of having to protect her nephew.
The goal is to open a Western-style restaurant and succeed.
In the end, the aunt decides to take Nam-hee to Uijeongbu to make her dream come true.
After struggling to reach Uijeongbu, where they endure hunger, the two eat a dish called 'United Nations Tang' for the first time in their lives. The spicy yet salty taste gives them strength, and Aunt resolves to protect Namhee and make her dream come true in the unfamiliar Uijeongbu, which is nothing but another ruin.
Will my aunt's dream come true?

“Oh my! What is all this?” Inside the pot, ham, sausage, kimchi, and green onions were covered in red pepper powder and steaming.
The smell of magic that entered my nostrils along with Kim turned my hungry intestines upside down.
At first glance, the untang looked like kimchi stew or yukgaejang, but when I took a spoonful, it tasted completely different.
- [Aunt Junko and the UN Bath]

The spicy flavor of ramen, brewed with hot blood, sweat, and tears

For Seong, who works hard, sweating and bleeding at a Dongdaemun clothing factory to support his family of six, the only thing that gives him strength is the ramen he eats with his family on payday.
At that moment, I don't envy any rich family's meal.
The first food that Seongja tasted after coming up to Seoul from the countryside was spicy ramen.
It is no exaggeration to say that I was able to endure the difficult life in the Cheonggyecheon shantytown thanks to that ramen.
Then one day, the shantytown where Seongja lives is demolished.
They said it was to cover Cheonggyecheon and make a new road.
Instead, the government promised to build a large complex in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, to provide homes for the displaced. But could we really trust that promise? And would the Seongjas ever sit down again to eat ramen? "Ramen?" "I saved the one my sister bought last time because I didn't eat it." Seongok pushed a steaming bowl of ramen toward Seongja.
It was pitiful to see my sister's body stretch like a boiled dishcloth from the war she fought to get to and from work.
- [Tteok Ramen]

Tteokbokki, chewy and reminiscent of a heart that doesn't give in even when covered in tear gas

Seonghee's house is often empty because her father, who works as a newspaper reporter, rarely comes home, and her mother, who is always busy with her hobbies outside the house.
Because it is located in the university district of Sinchon, Seoul, the smell of tear gas often fills the neighborhood.
For Seong-hee, chewy and sweet and salty tteokbokki is a food that makes her forget the stress of school and academy, as well as the smell of tear gas, and among them, 'Minju's Tteokbokki' is a hideout where Seong-hee can eat and chat without worry.
But for Seonghee, there is another time when she feels better than when she is eating tteokbokki.
It's time for my uncle Dong-ho, a college student, to come visit.
But one day, an uncle who had participated in a demonstration was arrested and taken to the police station.
And a fight breaks out at Minju’s tteokbokki food stall… .

Minju's Tteokbokki was doing business peacefully as usual.
I walked slowly towards the food stall.
“Ma’am, 50 won worth of tteokbokki.
Mrs. Minju, who had no idea that I was suffering alone, pointed to the fork in the spoon holder with that indifferent expression.
“Take a picture and eat it before you go.”
- [Minju's Tteokbokki]

Chicken, crispy like a heart that doesn't crumble even in a bankrupt nation or a broken home.

Hyunsik, who lost his job due to the shocking national bankruptcy, ends up running a chicken restaurant with his father.
And Jinwoo's family is a classmate of Hyunsik's, but unlike Hyunsik's family, Jinwoo's family is wealthy because his father is an executive at a financial company.
One day, Hyunsik goes to Jinwoo's house to deliver 'half-and-half chicken', a chicken lover, and feels a bitter feeling for a moment when he sees Jinwoo's family, who are in a different situation from him.
However, Hyunsik tries to shake off that feeling by helping his father and working harder at the chicken restaurant.
Meanwhile, Jinwoo, who heard the news from school that he had been accepted to college, heads home with an excited heart.
But when I arrived home in a hurry, strangers were busy sticking red stickers all over the house, and my mother was sitting on the sofa, sobbing with her face covered.
What on earth happened at Jinwoo's house?

“With the country in that state, how could I possibly enjoy ordering chicken?” Hyunsik felt the anxiety he had forgotten for nearly a year resurface.
A chicken restaurant must never fail.
My father must not taste failure again.
If I fall this time, my father may never get back up again.
Hyunsik's only remaining family was his father.
- [Half and half, lots of it!]