Chae: Korean Slow Food for a Better Life

Not just a cookbook but an essential guide to Korean slow food and fermentation, Chae follows the seasons of a calendar year: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Each season forms its own chapter with approximately 15-20 recipes and foundations, presenting traditional Korean technique with locally sourced produce.

Breakout star chef Jung Eun Chae makes everything from scratch in her home kitchen on the outskirts of Melbourne, from tofu to gochujang, soy sauce to kimchi, makgeolli to doenjang. The meticulous, medicinal, minimal-waste recipes and techniques are inspired by Chae’s mother, who was born in the South Jeolla province of South Korea. Forget the usual Korean cookbooks of fried chicken, barbecue and bibimbap. This is a radical, restorative journey into the heart of an ancient cuisine.

Jung Eun Chae caused a sensation when she opened her tiny Australian apartment to six diners per night, four times a week, with a waiting list that exploded to over 8000 people. She was named Gourmet Traveller’s best new talent for 2021, and one of The Age Good Food Guide’s chefs of the year, thanks to her medicinal style of traditional South Korean cooking using from-scratch ferments and handmade sauces, enzymes, vinegars and kombuchas. She has since moved to semi-rural Cockatoo on the outskirts of Melbourne with husband Yoora and their labrador puppy, where she aims to reopen her six-seat restaurant in 2022.