# @thekoreanvegan on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DFasfviPldL
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/26318295-thekoreanvegan-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/8689f09c6f.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-01-29T17:00:00.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Joanne L. Molinaro, The Korean Vegan (@thekoreanvegan) — https://gondola.cc/thekoreanvegan

## Caption

If you have my cookbook, you already know this story, but forgive me for sharing it again. It’s just that every time I celebrate New Year’s (today is Lunar New Year’s or Seollal (Omma calls it the former)), I can think of little else. And every time I turn this story over in my head, it’s like discovering a new crevice in a stone I carry around in my pocket, a new crater I missed the year before.

For years, I thought the lesson was: “love isn’t enough.” And you’ve probably heard me say that many times. Because that was what I yelled at my parents that day, over and over: “love is all that matters.” But, love is NOT all that matters. Respect. Trust. Safety. You can love someone who is unable to provide those things to you and if you do, love will not save you.

But this year, instead of focusing on the parts of this story I was there for, I imagined those parts I didn’t get to see. The many conversations my parents must have had that ultimately led them to write me. My mother at the shop, picking out the perfect card for this particular New Year’s and then sitting at her desk to write the message inside. How often her pen paused, partly because she couldn’t think of the right English word to express her fears, and partly because the fears, themselves, were too heavy to shake off.

I thought about my father. The way he’d nod his head in agreement but also acquiescence because truth be told, he didn’t want to upset his daughter, he didn’t want to jeopardize the fragile cord that still tied them together, just months before she’d belong to some other man.

I thought about my mother spending hours preparing this tteokguk for me and then I thought about the soreness I left behind when I stormed out of their home, that warm bowl of soup getting cold.

I love my parents. Sometimes, it’s impossible to love them more than when I think about all the things they did for me when I wasn’t looking.

Comment “recipe” below and I’ll DM you this recipe for this tteokguk.

#tteokguk #lunarnewyear #koreanfood

## Stats

- **Views:** 31,609
- **Likes:** 8,331
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 245

## Tags

koreanfood, tteokguk, lunarnewyear

---
Copyright (c) Gondola