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Food for Thought: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (February 13 Noble Creature)

Writer's picture: Ashley DillonAshley Dillon


Join us for Lit Youngstown's Food for Thought book discussion, sponsored by the Raymond J. Wean Foundation.


We meet each month Sept.-May, at 5:30pm on the 2nd Thursday at Noble Creature, 126 E. Rayen. Haven't read the book yet? No worries.


The February title is the memoir Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. This book is available at the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County, and POP! Arts, Book, Culture via Bookshop.


"Ever since my mom died, I cry in H Mart. For those of you who don’t know, H Mart is a supermarket chain that specializes in Asian food. The “H” stands for han ah reum, a Korean phrase that roughly translates to “one arm full of groceries.” H Mart is where parachute kids go to get the exact brand of instant noodles that reminds them of home. It’s where Korean families buy rice cakes to make tteokguk, a beef soup that brings in the new year. It’s the only place where you can find a giant vat of peeled garlic, because it’s the only place that truly understands how much garlic you’ll need for the kind of food your people eat... you’ll likely find me crying by the banchan refrigerators, remembering the taste of my mom’s soy-sauce eggs and cold radish soup. Or in the freezer section, holding a stack of dumpling skins, thinking of all the hours that Mom and I spent at the kitchen table folding minced pork and chives into the thin dough. Sobbing near the dry goods, asking myself, 'Am I even Korean anymore if there’s no one left in my life to call and ask which brand of seaweed we used to buy?'"


Upcoming titles:

March (travel writing) Bad Lands by Jonathan Raban

April (poetry) West: a Translation by Paisley Rekdal

May (travel writing) Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide by Tony Horowitz

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