- 9 hours ago
- #marinelife
- #oceanconservation
- #ecosystems
Dive into the fascinating world of marine ecosystems with "Our Ocean Table" Season 1, Episode 2. This installment explores the intricate relationships that define aquatic life and the delicate balance essential for their survival.
Discover how various marine species interact within their habitats, from predator-prey dynamics to symbiotic partnerships. We delve into the critical role of biodiversity in maintaining healthy oceans and the challenges these ecosystems face in the modern era.
Gain valuable insights into the latest research and conservation efforts aimed at protecting our planet's vast blue spaces. Understand the interconnectedness of marine environments and the collective responsibility we share in their preservation.
#MarineLife #OceanConservation #Ecosystems
Discover how various marine species interact within their habitats, from predator-prey dynamics to symbiotic partnerships. We delve into the critical role of biodiversity in maintaining healthy oceans and the challenges these ecosystems face in the modern era.
Gain valuable insights into the latest research and conservation efforts aimed at protecting our planet's vast blue spaces. Understand the interconnectedness of marine environments and the collective responsibility we share in their preservation.
#MarineLife #OceanConservation #Ecosystems
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:07This is our food table.
00:09Seafood is the foundation of so many of our favorite dishes.
00:14And we love eating.
00:17Oh my god! Gorgeous.
00:20I'm Sonya. I'm a filmmaker and ocean nerd.
00:24I live on Vancouver Island and my favorite place is underwater.
00:29I'm Hannah. I'm a journalist and producer in Toronto.
00:33And I was a reporter on MuchMusic in the 2000s.
00:36Have you ever had anything live from the ocean like this before?
00:40Oh, they're from material.
00:43Koreans around the world are tied to the ocean through food.
00:48But overfishing and climate change threaten our oceans.
00:51What does it mean for our culture if our favorite foods disappear?
00:56Together, we're traveling across Western Canada to meet the harvesters and chefs behind some of the most iconic Korean dishes.
01:04Dive in as we learn more about the science, sustainability, and culture behind our favorite foods.
01:10Welcome to our ocean table.
01:18This is miyokguk, seaweed soup.
01:21Miyokguk is usually made with a rich beef broth, garlic, and of course, lots of seaweed, which gives it a
01:28delicious umami flavor.
01:30You'll find miyokguk served at traditional Korean spas or eaten as a casual home meal.
01:36It's a Korean health food full of iodine, iron, and vitamins.
01:41We also eat it on our birthday.
01:43It's like Korean birthday cake.
01:53Oh my god, this is my favorite food.
01:58That's good.
01:59I heard it was your birthday recently.
02:01It was my birthday.
02:02Happy birthday.
02:04My mom made me this every year for my birthday and even when I'm away.
02:08Me too.
02:08She's like, did you eat miyokguk?
02:10I always thought of it as a birthday soup until I had a baby and I realized it's actually a
02:15postpartum soup
02:17because my mom brought it to our front door.
02:19Every day I had miyokguk for a whole month.
02:22I see how integral it is to that childbirth experience for Korean women.
02:27The soup connects us to our moms actually.
02:31That's why it's a birthday soup.
02:33Most of the miyokguk I've had in my life, I've eaten at home.
02:37So whenever I eat it, I think about my mom.
02:40I feel like our Korean moms do so much for us that I think there's also a lot of expectations.
02:45Strongly communicated expectations for sure.
02:48As a teenager, I had a very hard relationship with my mom.
02:52She had really high expectations and she wanted me to do certain things and I just,
02:57didn't listen.
02:59Oh yeah!
03:01I mean, my parents definitely had very strong, high standards for me.
03:06All I want to do is tell stories and that's not really on an immigrant's resume of what they want
03:14their children to do.
03:15But I'm so glad that I do what I do because I'm always just trying to understand my own story
03:21and my family's story and my cultural history.
03:24I just want to rewrite the ideas of what it means to be Korean and I think a lot about
03:31who gets to tell which stories and why inclusion matters so much.
03:36Those questions keep me going.
03:38Hannah and I grew up eating miyokguk with beef.
03:41But beef can have big environmental impacts.
03:44Is it possible for our mom's version of this dish to be sustainable?
03:49I know miyokguk can have a beef broth and base, but miyok is basically seaweed.
03:56This is seaweed soup.
03:57Korea has one of the biggest seaweed mariculture.
04:01Not surprising considering how much of it we eat.
04:04Koreans have been growing seaweed since the 1600s.
04:08Now, Korea's seaweed farms are so big you can see them from space.
04:14The main ingredient in miyokguk is one of the most sustainable foods from the ocean.
04:19Seaweed and kelp are happy to grow with just sunlight and nutrients in the water.
04:24Seaweed farms are increasing on the west coast of Canada,
04:27and this humble food has unexpected potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cattle.
04:35We're heading to Alberta, the beef capital of Canada, to learn more.
04:39But first, we want to learn.
04:41Where do the Koreans hang out?
04:50This is the Calgary Korean Cultural Center.
04:54A place for learning and creating art and gathering as a community.
05:01What do you want?
05:02Hello.
05:04Today we'll learn what we'll learn.
05:07We'll learn the most famous włodong indie world,
05:09Kukkari.
05:11Kukkari?
05:12Like soup?
05:13No.
05:15Not that guk?
05:16The spilling is different.
05:21Oh my gosh.
05:24I have to keep going or I thought...
05:25No, no, forget it all.
05:29We didn't just come here to learn the janggu.
05:31We also wanted to meet Anna Ko, who was part of the first wave of Korean immigration to Calgary in
05:38the 1970s.
05:39That time, 1974, we don't have any grocery store, Calgary grocery store.
05:44For Korean food.
05:45Korean food, yeah. So we don't have any miyok, unless you can bring it from Korea.
05:51It would have been really difficult to figure out how to make miyokguk without your mom, without the internet, without
05:58the right ingredients.
05:59It would have been really hard.
06:00Yeah. When we were young and your mother made miyokguk, and you don't know how to do it, but your
06:07memory has that taste.
06:10Food is a memory, and you eat with your memory, and then you can be able to do it.
06:15It's like once you tasted your childhood, you were like, ah, yes, this is how you do it.
06:20Yeah, that's right.
06:20It's really cool to see places like this and play the drums, because it's the only stuff I've seen on
06:26TV.
06:27That's why we're starting to the art club, because we like to keep the generation to our culture.
06:32You're also running the Korean Women's Association.
06:37Yes.
06:37At the beginning, it was a few ladies, and what I think about in 1976, I believe, sharing information and
06:44sharing about food.
06:46You started it.
06:49How do you feel it supports Korean women specifically to be involved in community?
06:54As you know, Korean women is not involving other than family.
07:01They don't have an opportunity. They don't have anything.
07:03I talk to them. My experience, don't shame about the situation. That's not your fault.
07:10When you talk about it, you discuss about it, you can see the way you can learn, and you have
07:16a different life.
07:17Your life is your life, not somebody else's, even kids.
07:30Your one voice is not strong enough. If you have two, and more, you're going to be more stronger and
07:36better.
07:41It was so refreshing being in the cultural center surrounded by so many powerful Korean women, especially Anna.
07:49She's creating a space for Koreans to come together and enjoy our culture, and going against the expectation that we
07:57have to be a certain way to be good Korean women.
08:01I felt so welcomed and accepted there, exactly as I am.
08:06It was unexpected to feel so connected to my culture in Calgary.
08:28Do you remember the first time when you were telling your parents,
08:32I'm going to be a journalist?
08:34It was like, oh, art or writing, those things are for your hobbies.
08:40Nobody does that for a living, you know?
08:42In a really roundabout way, I say I did the thing that my mom didn't want me to do.
08:47In the beginning, I kind of did what my mom wanted me to do, which was go into marine biology.
08:53But that's only because what I actually wanted to do was go into art.
08:57And now I do film.
09:00Until the day they saw me on TV, I think they were asking me to go to law school.
09:05I landed a job at Much Music, which was my first full-time job.
09:11You seem to have this over together.
09:13Oh, hell no.
09:14It was super fun, but it was also very stressful.
09:18And then on top of that, the racial representation pressure was not what I expected, I guess.
09:24People would talk about me and be like, you're the Asian one.
09:28Like, I felt like, is my name the Asian one?
09:32Someone's going to be very proud of seeing you on TV, but then other people are just going to reduce
09:38you to the racial stereotypes that already exist.
09:40I had all these rules for myself, like, I would never take pictures of myself with the people that I
09:47interviewed, the celebrities.
09:48I would never get their signatures, except for Usher from my cousin.
09:51I would never act like a fan.
09:55And sometimes I look back and I was like, girl, you should have had more fun.
10:00Okay, well, have you been to a cow farm before?
10:04I have not spent a lot of time at a ranch.
10:07In fact, zero time.
10:08I've spent zero time at a ranch in the past.
10:10I've also never been to a ranch.
10:12If I can cuddle a cow, that would be great.
10:15I'll get close if I must.
10:20Koreans love beef.
10:22So much that it's a gift for special occasions.
10:25But cows also burp methane, which is a greenhouse gas.
10:30As meat consumption increases around the world, this also means increased climate change.
10:36What if we could use the power of the ocean to reduce cow's methane emissions?
10:41Maybe we can have our beef and eat it too, but with less environmental impacts.
10:57I want to get on a horse.
11:13I am rarely not near the ocean, so I'm very out of my elements right now.
11:19How important is ranching to Calgary culture, Alberta culture?
11:25The cows will go out and graze in places where we can't farm.
11:28So in the coolies where the hills are too steep, you know, places where the ground is too dry,
11:33if you broke it up to raise crops, it would blow away.
11:37And that's why cattle are so well suited here.
11:40You've been in this business a long time.
11:42You were saying how long exactly?
11:43Our family's been in this business for 120 years.
11:48Wow.
11:48Yeah.
11:49My only contact with beef is as a very final product, right?
11:54I buy it at the supermarket or I eat it at a restaurant.
11:57And I'm wondering from your perspective at the beginning of the process,
12:00what do you wish people knew about beef?
12:03Anybody that I know in this business, they take very good care of their cattle.
12:07And it's part of why we love doing it, you know, just a love for animals.
12:14Looking back over all the years that you've been doing this, how has it changed?
12:18Like with our conversations on sustainability, how has the way that you do things, how have they changed?
12:25The livestock industry gets slammed for methane.
12:29And there's scientists that are working to find ways to have cattle create less emissions.
12:35And in everything, we look to improve.
12:39Kelp on the B.C. coast is making waves.
12:42Here in Alberta, on a farm.
12:46Koreans think of seaweed as a food.
12:49But scientists like Spencer are using seaweed in unexpected ways
12:53to look for innovative solutions for climate change.
12:56Kelp is a natural resource.
12:57It's sustainable, and it has a bunch of different uses that can be world-changing.
13:03Everyone is really interested in methane-reducing seaweed additives.
13:07Methane-reducing seaweed additives.
13:09So that's a thing?
13:11Oh, it's a big thing.
13:12It's a specific type of red seaweed that was found in Australia by a Canadian.
13:18Maybe.
13:18Canadians helped.
13:19But it was shown that 1% or 2% of this seaweed reduced methane 99%.
13:25So to zero.
13:26Wow.
13:27It's a big deal.
13:28So the kelp industry that's growing in Canada,
13:31have they been shown to do the same thing, have benefits to beef?
13:35So they're growing sugar kelp, Saccharina latissima.
13:38They're growing things like a winged kelp, Euleria marginata.
13:42And then they're growing giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrophera.
13:45There's been some really cool work even out here in Alberta
13:47that are showing that you can actually kind of take that seaweed and you can manipulate it and actually support
13:54the growth of the molecules that lead to reduction in methane.
13:58A lot of people are looking at kelp because to grow it is to create all of these environments for
14:03fish and that pulls carbon dioxide out of the ocean.
14:06And so there's environmental benefits.
14:08So everyone said, let's grow kelp.
14:10But nobody's buying fresh kelp on the West Coast.
14:13So there isn't an industry based around that.
14:15So I've been very fortunate to find, you know, innovative farmers who are willing to take a shot on a
14:22kind of crazy scientist like me.
14:23But it's early days.
14:27There's no seatbelt.
14:28There is.
14:29We don't use it.
14:31Then fine, I won't either.
14:39I know, you're thinking I'm silly, but I'm just, this is my first time, so what can I say?
14:45This is awesome.
14:46This is also the way I drive in Toronto.
14:53The world's slowest tractor driving.
14:59What do you think?
15:00I think you scared away the cows.
15:02It's not every day that I find myself on a cattle ranch.
15:06I just really wanted to hear from Rob.
15:09Everything he could tell us about what it's like to raise cattle.
15:12The higher on the food chain, the more special it should be.
15:16I want to eat more kelp.
15:18I want to eat more seaweed.
15:19It's my culture anyway.
15:21And I want to eat more of that.
15:26We're heading back to town to try out a fancy chef version of miyokguk.
15:31In a century-old heritage building in Calgary, chef Jinhee Lee is redefining a Korean woman's role in the kitchen.
15:43Because I'm Asian and a woman, sometimes it's really underestimated in the kitchen.
15:49So I just want to prove myself.
15:51So I do a lot of competition.
15:54I never plan to the Top Chef Canada.
15:57I just want to prove myself.
16:00Here I am, and I can do better than you guys.
16:05Previously, I just focused on the tweezer, really high-end food.
16:10This time, I just truly believe the flavor.
16:13So it's more simple, but it's a full flavor.
16:17People can come in anytime, and I enjoy the food.
16:21This is the fanciest miyokguk I've ever seen.
16:26It's so good.
16:28Oh my gosh.
16:29Welcome to Ibu.
16:30My mom also makes miyokguk with a beef broth.
16:33Is that the standard?
16:35As Korean relationship with the beef is a luxury.
16:39I think it is a special day.
16:42The mom usually puts a little more effort.
16:44Every year, my mom is making special miyokguk for me.
16:48I was in high school, and I think she forgot.
16:51To make miyokguk for you on your birthday?
16:54We prepared the exam for suno.
16:58It's a very big deal.
17:00Yeah, it's a bad deal.
17:01This one is really slimy, and she thought it's going to be really bad luck for your exam.
17:06I thought that she forgot, and I cry all day.
17:09So you thought because there's no miyokguk for you that she forgot your whole birthday?
17:13Every year, I kind of expect the miyokguk from my mother.
17:18It's like, okay, that is my love.
17:20That is my mom's love.
17:21Now, when I make the miyokguk, I'm always thinking well to my mom.
17:25Oh, I'm going to cry because...
17:26Oh my god, sorry.
17:28I used to come home once a year, and so I could only eat my mom's food once a year.
17:35This is the thing that my mom made every time I came home.
17:39And so, oh my god.
17:42Yeah, I guess it means a lot.
17:44It's like a big mom connection for sure.
17:46Yeah.
17:47I feel like I have a really weird relationship with my mom because, like, Korean moms, right?
17:55As I age, I appreciate my mom more and more.
17:58Different stages of life give you different perspectives.
18:02When I think about my mom coming here as a young woman, she had a lot of wonderful things at
18:11home in Korea.
18:12She had gone to a top university.
18:14She had a loving family.
18:16Canada was hard.
18:17My parents were hustling, hustling.
18:21There's no time to stop and talk about your feelings.
18:24Not that Koreans want to anyway.
18:27Yeah, you know, my mom is exactly a Korean mom.
18:29So when I started cooking, it was a secret for a long time.
18:35She thinks being a chef is kind of a tough job for the women.
18:38But in my mind, I'm going to just be a really good chef, and I'm going to let her know.
18:43Once she visits Canada, I tell her, actually, you know, why I have a lot of cooking books is, there
18:53you go, mom.
18:54I'm a chef.
18:56And then she cried for three days.
18:59I know, I think she was really disappointed.
19:05Chef, are you kidding me?
19:07It's like, why?
19:09It was the first time I say it.
19:10It's like, mom, it's my life.
19:12Just please.
19:14I will try it.
19:16If I fail, it's my choice.
19:18Please just let me do it.
19:19But how does your mom feel about your work now?
19:25Uh-oh, I'm sorry.
19:27I think she's supportive now, but she didn't admit, and I'm good at it.
19:37So I just tell her, like, see, I do the little competition.
19:41I got the little prize, and I own the TV show.
19:46And, like, it was totally different culture here.
19:49And I stood up, and I'm, please, can you say, good job?
19:54But in a Korean culture, moms always really hard on the keys.
19:59They think it's the way they're helping us.
20:00That's right.
20:01I think inside her mind, probably she really, like, cheered.
20:08And she said, okay, it's going to be a good experience, but don't forget, I'm here for you.
20:14So anytime you can come back, it is no problem.
20:16That's her way of saying yes.
20:18That's right.
20:18To support you, but also supporting in case, like, you need help.
20:25Yeah.
20:26It's really meaningful, for sure.
20:28You know what else I have to say?
20:30This is what my friends and I do for each other.
20:32If your mom never said good job to you, you just say it to yourself and each other.
20:37So I would like to say you're doing a very good job.
20:39You're so good.
20:40I'm so proud to know you.
20:42You too.
20:45We're all hurt because we had to upset our mothers to do what we're doing.
20:50And in that space, being able to talk about it was really, I think, special and unexpected.
20:58Overall, in my life as I age, I have a much deeper appreciation for what the hardships may have been.
21:06And I don't hold it against my parents because they were immigrants trying to survive.
21:12Did you send a message to your mom after?
21:14I saw her after the shoot, and I just thanked her for always making me meokuk.
21:21Meokuk is a dish that holds so much connection.
21:24Connection to our moms, connection to culture, and now a connection to other Korean women.
21:31Like the Korean women defying expectations, scientists, farmers, and ranchers are rethinking collaborations
21:38and looking for creative climate solutions.
21:43In our next episode, we're exploring what is authentic Korean food.
21:48Cheers!
21:51Diving in to Sonia's identity crisis.
21:55Tastes like the ocean.
21:56Tastes like my childhood.
21:57Mommy's dressed like me.
21:59Join us for our ocean table.
22:04I've always wanted to tweeze my food.
22:07Time's start now!
22:09Tweez, tweeze.
22:10I don't even know what many of these ingredients are, to be honest.
22:13Well, this is hard.
22:14One minute.
22:15Oh my gosh!
22:17Don't know what this is.
22:19Don't forget the sauce!
22:21Oh yeah, shoot the sauce.
22:23Five.
22:24No!
22:24Four.
22:25No!
22:25Three.
22:26Oops.
22:26Two.
22:27One.
22:28Darn!
22:28Hanna's over!
22:29Oh no!
22:32Mmm, it is hard to pick.
22:34Don't get personal, okay?
22:35Okay.
22:36You know what?
22:36I like the simple kind of clean the plate, so I pick Hanna.
22:42Congratulations, Hanna.
22:42Thank you!
22:43We did it!
22:44Good job!
22:45Good job!
22:45Good job!
22:45Good job!
22:46Thank you!
Comments