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Alison Stewart: The Upper East Side is getting the popular Korean supermarket, H Mart. H Mart, which opened its first store in Woodside Queens has roughly 100 locations nationwide and 26 locations between New York and New Jersey. The grocery store is known for its bounty items like Korean chips, all kinds of buns, Jin Ramen, and K beauty items too. I love those textured washcloths. In a New York Times piece titled The Lure of H Mart Where Shelves Can Seem as Wide as Asia, columnist Ligaya Mishan wrote, "For decades in America, this king of shopping was a pilgrimage. Asian Americans couldn't just pop into the local Kroger or Piggly Wiggly for a bottle of fish sauce."

Musician Michelle Zauner, whose stage name is Japanese Breakfast named her 2021 memoir Crying in H Mart and called the store a beautiful holy place. New York Times Cooking writer Eric Kim joins us today to talk about the significance of the supermarket today. He is also the author of the wonderful cookbook, Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home. Welcome back to the show, Eric.

Eric Kim: Oh, thanks for having me. I love coming here.

Alison Stewart: Listeners, we would love for you to jump in on this conversation. Do you live near an H Mart? Have you been to one? How often do you shop there? What do you shop for: short grain rice, kimchi, roasted seaweed? Are you looking forward to a new location opening on the Upper East Side? Let us know your thoughts. Calling all fans of H Mart. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC, or hit us up on social media, that is Twitter and Instagram @AllOfItWNYC. It is an H Mart conversation to start the show today. All right, Eric, do you know what the H in H mark means or it comes from?

Eric Kim: Yes, it means han ah reum, it refers to an armful and it's referring to the groceries and that's where the H comes from.

Alison Stewart: Without ever having stepped in an H Mart before, what is it about the selections between the way they're presented or the array of them that you should know what you're getting into? Let's think about the minute you step in the store.

Eric Kim: The minute I step into the store, usually what I see first is the produce. I think what's lovely about the produce is it is familiar but slightly different. I don't know, I think the onions are twice as big and the scallions. The scallions are way fresher. There's something about a grocery store that's really dedicated to people who cook a certain cuisine. Certain cuisines, it represents many Asian ingredients, but you'll find better ingredients there for those cuisines, which I think is really special if you care about garlic, for instance. I really love that you mentioned Michelle Zauner because she talks about having that tub of ready-peeled garlic and that's something that only people who cook that kind of food would understand.

Alison Stewart: You're originally from Georgia and the first H Mart in Georgia opened in a city called Duluth about 22 miles north of Atlanta that happened in 2004. When did you first go to the H Mart?

Eric Kim: I remember that. That was about five minutes from my high school, so I would have walked there a lot. That's where I grew up. I remember just how big it was and recognizing that whole shopping plaza one by one being replaced by Korean businesses. It wasn't until later in life that I realized what a beautiful Korean American town that I had grown up in. I really took that for granted. I didn't know that that wasn't normal in the United States.

Alison Stewart: You said it was near your high school, did you go there with your friends or was this a family shopping experience? We know from your cookbook, from your time on the show how close you and your mom are.

Eric Kim: It was a few things. Usually, after school, you could go for a snack. I think one thing that's special about H Mart is it's not just a grocery store. There's a whole section of little shops, little restaurants, so it's like a cafe style. If you want a Jajanan, you could get that at that place, and then you could get mandu, those dumplings at another place and you could meet at the cafeteria tables. My mom, when that first opened up, her favorite thing to do was, during her grocery shopping, she would also get a little frozen yogurt. This is when froyo was super poppin and that was really special to her.

[laughter]

Because it wasn't too sweet and Koreans love desserts that aren't too sweet.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Jessica calling in from Dutchess County. Hi, Jessica, thanks for calling All of It.

Jessica: Thanks for taking my call. My two daughters are of college age now and they're both in the New York City area. One of the things that we made sure we would find out is where was the nearest H Mart to their respective college campuses making sure that they'd be within walking distance to get because in Dutchess County, the nearest one that we have is down in Westchester. The other curious note was my youngest was shopping the other day and her grandmother called her on the phone, she picks up the phone and answers, "Hi, mama," and she had at least five older Asian women turn their heads around wondering who is calling out to them.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: I love that imagery. Jessica, thanks for calling in. Let's talk to Nicole from Mountain Dale, New York. Hi, Nicole. Thank you for calling All of It.

Nicole: Hey, how are you doing?

Alison Stewart: Doing great.

Nicole: I was just calling because I grew up in a town called Ridgefield in New Jersey and I remember we had one of the first H Mart that I remember in this area. I was probably in high school, we would walk down, it was a few blocks away from my childhood home. We would go to H Mart and buy these lollipops around these long white sticks and stationery and we're going and get all this interesting produce. Then later on, there were more H Marts opened in Fort Lee and Cliffside Park and Edgewater, New Jersey. I think it was just a really magical thing to grow up with.

I'm a white woman from New Jersey and it's just the experience of eating Asian food and experiencing that culture was just pretty magical and really defines how I cook now because I crave it so much because in Mountain Dale, we don't have that kind of culinary here. We travel back to New Jersey to eat that food and take get those pieces of produce and stuff. There are some really great Asian grocery stores up here as well, but just H Mart is part of my childhood.

Alison Stewart: Nicole, thank you for calling in. Let's talk to Beryl from the Upper West Side. Hi, Beryl.

Beryl: Hi. I have the good luck to live right across the street from the H Mart in 110th and Broadway. I love it. It's a trip. It's like going to another culture. I occasionally buy things just to check them out. Things I don't even know what they are sometimes. Also, the management is fabulous because occasionally, I've bought things and I'll ask the man overseeing the place, "What should I do with this? How do I cook it? What do I do?" and they've always been real helpful. It's just a trip and perfectly located for me.

Alison Stewart: Beryl, thank you so much for calling in. Listeners, we'd love to jump in on the conversation. We're discussing H Mart. Maybe you live near one, maybe you frequent it regularly. What do you get when you go there? Are you looking forward to the new location opening on the Upper East Side? Let us know your thoughts. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. My guest is Eric Kim from New York Times Cooking. Of course, his cookbook is Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home. Obviously, there are other Asian grocers. There is Mitsuwa Marketplace, 99 Ranch Market. From what you know, what's unique about the H Mart business model?

Eric Kim: I'm glad you asked that. First of all, I just want to say thank you to the callers. Those calls made me kind of emotional. It's really lovely because I think for Korean Americans especially and Koreans who are staying here or studying here, I also shop at that 110 location right by Columbia. I think what's really special about it is you walk in and it does feel like a safe haven. If ever you're feeling lonely or homesick, it's something that will conjure all those memories of childhood. I think that's special.

One thing about H Mart that is really interesting to me as an observer who's watched it for many years grow, they adapt to the neighborhoods that they are located in, and so each store is very different. The East Village location is very different from the Morningside Heights location, it's very different from any of the ones in Jersey which are huge. I think what's really lovely is the bigger the space the more possibility. There's so much potential for this store. I like that creativity. I like that they're not gentrifying the neighborhoods they enter. I think it's a really special model in that they seem to really want to adapt to where they are and serve the people. That's what I know just as a customer anyway.

Alison Stewart: All right, let's say someone is picking up your book, Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home and plans to make a recipe for it, what should they maybe pick up when they go to H Mart?

Eric Kim: Oh, man.

Alison Stewart: When they plan to try some of your recipes.

Eric Kim: My first thing I always say is get a bag of gochugaru, that's the Korean red pepper powder. I talk about it all the time. It's the thing that makes kimchi red. It's a really special ingredient that has so much potential. It's very versatile and it lasts for a long time. I keep mine in my freezer. You should also get a tub of Tojang. Tojang is a fermented soybean paste. People equate it to miso, but I think it's completely different. We have plenty of recipes on New York Times Cooking that use Tojang and it's a very flavorful, deep.

Like I just made a pasta yesterday for my colleagues and they were really surprised because it's a flavor that is so deeply umami-rich. If you've never had it, it's a new experience and I think newness in food is what gets you excited to go into the kitchen.

Alison Stewart: Let's take a few more calls. Rachel calling in from Rockland County. Hi, Rachel, thanks for calling All of It.

Rachel: Hi. I'm the mom of three daughters and they are now all in their 20s, young 20s to upper 20s. When they were young, they grew up in Southern California. We are not Asian. They went to school, though, their elementary school, they had a lot of friends from Korea. Lunchtime was a big thing because they would trade their lunch with their Korean friends because they loved seaweed and rice and all the food that they had. They just were like, "Yay," and couldn't wait to come home and say what they got for lunch that day. Then sadly to them, I was recruited to a hospital in South Dakota and they moved to South Dakota for the middle ages of their lives where there was nothing.

There were no Asian people and it was not diverse. They're very diverse, in other ways it was, but we won't go there. Anyway, fast forward, I ended up having to move back east to take care of my mom because she had dementia. My youngest daughter was a senior in high school and as you can imagine, it's hard to move your senior year in high school and she did. She came out and it was hard making friends, although she's very personable and everything, but the couple of friends she had took her to an H Mart and she came back and it was like she had found comfort again.

Alison Stewart: Aw.

Rachel: She found her spot and she was like, "Mom, we've got to go to H Mart." She would all the time say, "Can we go to H Mart, Mom? Can we go to H Mart?"

Eric Kim: Aw.

Rachel: She'd go with her friends all the time. It was just she found her place, she found her childhood reclaimed. When her sisters would visit, the first place you'd take them would be H Mart. It's her life now. She's now 23. She came out when she was 17 and she's learned to cook Korean.

Alison Stewart: Rachel, that is such an awesome story. I love that. That was a journey. We've gone on her journey with Rachel in that story.

Eric Kim: Very lovely. Thank you.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Nick from Brooklyn who is a chef. Hi, Nick, thanks for calling in.

Eric Kim: Hey, Nick.

Nick: Thanks for having me, Eric. I'm a fan of your work as well.

Eric Kim: Oh, thank you.

Nick: [unintelligible 00:12:56] I cook all day for my clients mostly farm-to-table and French fair. When you cook all day, you don't really want to cook for yourself at night and the way that I've solved that is I make myself almost exclusively Asian American food. My work sits on the side all day while I cook to my normal clients, but at night, it gives me something else to be excited about. It's different, it's easy, it's fast, it's full of flavor, and it's so delicious. It's such a good way to feed myself and my wife in a way that keeps it interesting, and H Mart is where I find most of my ingredients.

Alison Stewart: Nick, thanks for calling in. Let's take one more call. Jason calling in from New York. Hi, Jason.

Jason: Hi. I'm married to a Korean woman and when her mother goes shopping in Queens, she goes to three separate H Marts because each one does what they do a little bit differently, so she needs to go to three separate ones to get what she needs.

[laughter]

Eric Kim: It's true.

Alison Stewart: Jason, thanks for calling in. Eric, did you want to respond to any of our callers?

Eric Kim: Oh my God, yes. That was my point before. They're all different. I think that's what's really cool about it. Each one has a different identity and a different layout, which is lovely. I think that's true about Korean food, Asian American food. Some of our most popular recipes on New York Times cooking are things that are just something simple over a bowl of rice. There's like a fried egg with rice, there's a tuna mayo situation with rice. It's just also how I eat. Oh, there's a really special product. It is microwavable white rice. There are many brands, but it's really a good technology. It's pure rice and there are no preservatives really. It's a really good option that Koreans really rely on and rice is special.

Alison Stewart: I'm talking to Eric Kim from New York Times Cooking of a cookbook author as well. We are talking about H Mart, listeners, if you want to get in on the conversation. If you've been to an H Mart, if H Mart is part of your life, let's hear about it, 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. On our team, we all went around the things we like when we go to H Mart, and our senior producer, Andrea Duncan-Mao, said she always looks for green tea Kit Kats at H Mart. How would you describe the snack availability? What's there? Also something that when it's your day, when you're thinking, "I'm going to treat myself," what do you get?

Eric Kim: I do have a favorite bar around the corner, so every time I have a drink, I end the night at H Mart, which is dangerous. I do peruse the snack aisle and I think there are just so many options. I think one that's really special is it has a whale on the label. That's the thing, and some of these don't even have English words on them, but as a consumer and a writer of Korean recipes, it's been lovely to watch the way these labels have slowly gained English lettering over the decade. That's what's really special about H Mart. It helps you see, you navigate the progression of Korean food in America. Oh, and then the ramen, the instant noodle aisle is really important.

It's like the snack aisle, so, so diverse and I think it's because there's so much demand. Instant noodles are something that many Asians eat once a week. I eat it once a week. I think it's a really good option to you go and just pick out one little packet, and then you try a new brand and it's relaying that way. It's very fun.

Alison Stewart: Oh, it has got me out of a jam on many a night with my teenage son.

[laughter]

Eric Kim: Yes, exactly.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to John from New Jersey. Hi, John, thanks for calling in.

John: Hi, thanks for letting me be on the show. I just wanted to call in because I find this segment a microcosm of what I see as going on with the Korean culture right now. When I was growing up, [unintelligible 00:17:07] was a very cramped and utilitarian grocery store that we went to and I'm Korean American, by the way. There's a story about H Mart on NPR. It's similar to all the dramas on Netflix and K-pop and all that, that's become part of our culture. I just wanted to comment on that and I find it very fascinating.

Alison Stewart: Thanks for calling in, John. Let's talk to Philip from Bed Stuy. Hey, Philip, thanks for calling All of It.

Philip: Hey, how's it going?

Alison Stewart: Going forward. You're on the air.

Philip: I was going to say that I had the opportunity to grow up in the suburb that Eric mentioned earlier and worked for a catering company that was working out of St Marlo Country Club, if you know where that is or rings a bell.

Eric Kim: Oh my God, I do a lot.

[laughter]

Philip: Yes, and it was, I would say, a family-run business out of someone's house, but when Super H Mart opened, that was a huge boon for the business because we didn't have to go all over town to scout for quality ingredients and produce and quality meat. It was just an interesting time to work in the catering business in Atlanta, and then see that store open. Thank you.

Alison Stewart: Let's go to Carla on Line 4 calling in from Gladstone, New Jersey. Hi, Carla.

Carla: Hi, there, how are you?

Alison Stewart: Doing great.

Carla: Thank you for taking my call. I was telling your screener when I was searching for homes, I actually set up a search term finder for H Mart in case there were any properties that were close to the grocery store.

Eric Kim: Oh, amazing.

Carla: I think it would take a pretty savvy real estate agent to put that in the listing, but I figured it was a pretty decent asset to have as part of my search.

Alison Stewart: Thanks for calling in, we appreciate it. As we start to wind down a bit, Eric, is there something about H Mart that I haven't asked you that you think is important that you really wanted to express to our listeners?

Eric Kim: I think just listening to all the calls is making me very emotional. I think what we're getting at is the ability for a technically ethnic supermarket to really extend and cross cultures and to increase empathy. I think when people eat another people's food, it's a way to understand them better. I think that's a really important message right now, especially with what's going on in California with the shootings and everything. I think this is a really lovely emotional thing for me. Thank you.

Alison Stewart: My guest has been Eric Kim from New York Times Cooking. The name of the cookbook is Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home. Eric, thank you so much for joining us, and listeners, thank you so much for calling in as well. Take care, Eric.

Eric Kim: Thank you so much.

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