Kimchi, Cooking Memories, and a Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom, with Sarah Ahn

Photo credits: Headshot by Jake Choi and Cover Shot by Kritsada Panichgul.

Kimchi, Cooking Memories, and A Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom — with Sarah Ahn

On the podcast, I recently chatted with Sarah Ahn, social media manager for America’s Test Kitchen, digital storyteller, and creator of Ahnest Kitchen. Through Ahnest Kitchen, Sarah shares the wisdom and recipes of her mother, Nam Soon Ahn, a former restaurateur, preserving their rich culinary heritage. 

Their authentic Korean recipes are now available in her cookbook, Umma: A Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom & 100 Family Recipes. In it, they guide us on how to find the best ingredients, perfect techniques, and pour our hearts into the food we share. 

In this episode, we chat about her mom’s wisdom inside and outside the kitchen, the importance of preserving traditional techniques, the unique experience of working with ATK on producing this book, and more!

Listen to the full episode or keep reading for some of the highlights from our conversation.

Where did you get the inspiration to start Ahnest Kitchen?

I am the voice and engine behind Ahnest Kitchen, and the heart of it is my mom. It started as a blog in 2018 when I decided to collect and preserve her recipes. 

As a Korean American, I knew that if we didn’t put in the effort to document these traditional dishes, they could easily fade from our daily lives. The recipes gained a lot of popularity, but it wasn’t until I started incorporating personal storytelling alongside my mom’s dishes on social media that Ahnest Kitchen truly came to life. 

It became a space not just for sharing food, but for building a community—one where people could connect through shared memories, cultural traditions, and the deep love that goes into cooking.

My mom has always been an incredible cook. She ran a restaurant throughout my childhood, providing for our family with food that kept customers coming back again and again. After retiring, she continued cooking at home—not for business, but for the pure joy of it. The difference is something you can taste. 

Restaurant food is made to be marketable and profitable, while home-cooked food is made with love. Both are delicious, but there is something deeply special about a meal prepared with no other goal than to nourish and bring joy to the people around you. That’s what Ahnest Kitchen is all about—preserving those flavors, stories, and traditions so they can continue to be shared for generations to come.

Tell us more about your book, Umma: A Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom & 100 Family Recipes

Creating this book was an unforgettable experience—challenging at times, but truly a blessing. It gave me the rare opportunity to intentionally collect my mother’s recipes and document the wisdom she has carried for decades. 

Working with America’s Test Kitchen made the process even more special. They provided incredible support, from food photography to copyediting, and even brought in a Harvard professor to help translate. Their team visited our home often, observing how my mom cooks, shops, and prepares food—from the way she shops for ingredients to the exact way she makes kimchi. Every detail was captured with depth and authenticity. The photos in this book don’t just showcase dishes—they recreate our home. The tablecloth, silver bowls, her apron, even her pink gloves and house slippers—all of it mirrors how she truly cooks.

The biggest takeaway from my mom’s cooking is that her recipes bring you 100% satisfaction. Many people try Korean recipes online and find them close—but not quite there. They’re often missing the little details that make home-cooked Korean food feel truly authentic. This book bridges that gap. It’s filled with my mom’s techniques and tricks, ensuring every dish captures the depth of flavor and balance that defines real Korean home cooking.

A large portion of the book is dedicated to banchan, traditional small side dishes often served with rice or soup. Banchan is wide-ranging and is essential to a Korean meal, creating harmony on the table. 

The book also features a dessert section, with contributions from my uncle, a professional pastry chef who has led Korean bakeries for years. Since my mom doesn’t bake, I knew I wanted his expertise to bring traditional and modern Korean pastries to life. The desserts are perfectly balanced—not too sweet, but visually stunning, each one telling its own story.

Beyond the recipes, this book became a way for me to connect with my mother and our family history. I learned stories about her life before she was a mom, about my grandmother, and about traditions that are slowly fading as convenience replaces home cooking. 

“The act and techniques of making these traditional foods are slowly fading as things become more accessible and convenient to buy. So, because of that, it feels incredible that I learned all these recipes that are so traditional and so special.”

Learn more

Listen to the full podcast episode here, learn more on their website, ahnestkitchen.com, and follow along on Instagram @ahnestkitchen.

Umma: A Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom and 100 Family Recipes

by Sarah Ahn
(America’s Test Kitchen, 2025)

Related posts

Cooking Traditional Korean Cuisine With Local Ingredients — With Chef Ji Hye Kim of Miss Kim