The Story of Kimbap

Kimbap is one of Korea's most iconic foods. Rice is seasoned with salt and sesame oil and rolled in nori seaweed with a variety of ingredients, including spinach, radish, carrots, eggs, ham, pork belly, and fish cakes. It's easy to make and portable, so it's often eaten at picnics and when traveling.

When I look at kimbap, I see a parallel to life.

Kimbap doesn't just taste good because you throw a bunch of ingredients together; it tastes good because each ingredient works well together. Similarly, life doesn't always work out the way you plan. Sometimes things don't turn out the way you expect, and sometimes things work out the way you don't expect.

예를 들어, 지금의 나는 몇 년 전에 상상했던 내 모습과 다를 수 있습니다. “이 정도 노력이면 되겠지”라고 생각했던 일이 잘 안 될 수도 있고, 큰 기대 없이 시작한 일이 오히려 좋은 결과를 가져올 수도 있습니다.

So there's only one thing we can do. Just as you prepare good ingredients for making kimbap, you make good choices and preparations in life. What happens next is what happens next.

Spread the rice on top of the nori, add the ingredients you've prepared, roll it up carefully, and you're done. And the flavor is out of your hands. So is the kimbap, and so is life.