- 17 minutes ago
Our Ocean Table - Season 1 Episode 1
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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 gosh.
00:20I'm Sonia.
00:21I'm a filmmaker and ocean nerd.
00:24I live on Vancouver Island and my favorite place is underwater.
00:29I'm Hannah.
00:30I'm a journalist and producer in Toronto and I was a reporter on MuchMusic in the 2000s.
00:37Have you ever had anything fly from the ocean like this before?
00:41We've heard 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?
00:55Together, 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.
01:21This is sundubu jjigae, which means soft tofu soup.
01:24It's a spicy broth that has big chunks of soft, silky tofu.
01:29And one way we love to eat it is full of seafood.
01:33Go to any Korean restaurant in North America and you can easily find sundubu jjigae on many menus.
01:39Koreans have been eating it for hundreds of years since the Joseon dynasty.
01:46It captures key flavors of Korean food in one pot.
01:50Salty, spicy, and piping hot.
01:55Salty, spicy, spicy, and spicy.
01:58It looks really good.
01:59It looks really spicy.
02:00Smell good.
02:02That is good.
02:03This is my cozy comfort food.
02:05Yeah.
02:06When it's raining, go for this.
02:08When it's cold, go for this.
02:10When it's hot.
02:12Absolutely.
02:13You go for an even hotter stew.
02:14Oh!
02:15Very Korean thing to do.
02:17I'm pretty sure this is what you ordered the first time we met.
02:20Do you remember?
02:22We had lunch in Toronto.
02:24Oh, yeah.
02:25Being asked by Sonia to be a part of this project
02:28and to come along for the ride,
02:30it means everything to me
02:32because it's about our stories, you know,
02:34and sharing them from our perspective.
02:37Koreans have a lot at stake
02:39when it comes to ocean conservation,
02:41and it's unfair that we're portrayed
02:43that all we're doing is pillaging the ocean.
02:47When I was living in Halifax,
02:49I didn't have a lot of choices
02:51when it came to going out for Korean food.
02:54Whenever I was craving Korean food,
02:56this is what I would make.
02:58This whole journey started when I was making Sundubu Jigae.
03:02I was learning about people's relationship with the ocean,
03:06and I was like, damn,
03:08it must be nice to have an ocean culture.
03:11While I'm throwing in seafood,
03:13squid, shrimp, mussels, clams,
03:15still contemplating,
03:17where does my connection for the ocean come from?
03:19And then I realize, oh, this is where it comes from.
03:23It's from Korean food.
03:25The ocean is in this bowl.
03:27The ocean is in this bowl.
03:32Growing up, I just loved white people's food.
03:35Like, that's all I wanted.
03:36I watched a lot of TV.
03:38I wanted to eat lasagna
03:39because I read the Garfield comic strips.
03:41I wanted to eat cabbage rolls.
03:43I do not know why, but now all I want is the Korean food.
03:47Over the years, I've been feeling disconnected from being Korean.
03:51I want to learn more about my culture
03:54and the ways in which ocean is a part of my culture.
03:58Yeah.
03:59I am really looking forward to learning more about sundubu.
04:03Not only how it gets made, what goes into it,
04:06but I want to eventually learn how to make it myself too.
04:11My favorite part of sundubu is the coveted pieces of shrimp.
04:17But shrimp have some of the worst environmental impacts.
04:23From destructive farming to unethical labor practices
04:27to trawl fishing that bulldozes ocean habitats.
04:31I was vegetarian for many years
04:34and sundubu without shrimp just felt wrong.
04:37I grew up eating it loaded with seafood
04:40and no shrimp was like chicken noodle soup without the chicken.
04:44So, how can we eat it sustainably?
04:47It is spot prawn season here right now
04:49and spot prawns are a sustainable shrimp industry
04:53on the West Coast.
04:55And I'm super excited to learn more
04:57about how they're caught, how it's sustainable
05:00and meet the harvesters and the fishers who are doing this.
05:05And I'm super excited to learn more about theinated fish.
05:18I've got to learn more about the fishers who're developing
05:19Here.
05:19I'm really excited to learn more about the fishers.
05:20I'm like, and I'm ready to learn more about the fishers.
05:21So, how are you?
05:22I'm ready for the fishers.
05:31The fishers and their ships in the past
05:31If they're represented, they're all moving to the fishers.
05:31Hopefully, it's the fishers.
05:37Hola, ¿cómo estás?
05:39Muy bien, estamos muy bien.
05:41¡Vamos a ir a ir a la frontera!
05:44La frontera es una frontera muy corta.
05:46En fin de mayo y se deslizan en junio
05:49dependiendo de cuando el flujo del flujo
05:51ha visto la frontera a un nivel de frontera.
05:5570% de nuestro rendimiento de la frontera
05:56viene de la frontera y la bulk de esa frontera
06:00es en los primeros meses de la frontera.
06:02Si hay un error o un descanso, en los primeros dos semanas,
06:05es decir, todo el año puede ser roto.
06:07Es interesante, no gamble en la vida.
06:10Mi esposa siempre dice que no necesitas ganar,
06:12porque tu vida toda la vida es a ganar.
06:18¿Has visto en pranjas antes?
06:21No, he visto en pranjas con mis chapsticks.
06:26Nunca he visto en el agua.
06:29¿Cómo hago eso?
06:30¿Cómo hago eso?
06:30No, no, no.
06:37Spaw prawns are a type of shrimp found off the west coast,
06:40from California all the way up to Alaska.
06:44These prawns are bigger than some of the other species
06:46and they are popular for their sweet, juicy meat.
06:52Spaw prawns have a four-year life cycle
06:54and they're hermaphroditic.
06:57In their first two years,
06:58they start out as males
07:00and then transition into females
07:01when they're bigger in their third and fourth year.
07:04I'm on another level.
07:09Alright, here it comes.
07:11First trap.
07:12If you want to put that trap just right behind you.
07:15Why is it so heavy?
07:17I might trade you then.
07:18She did these.
07:18I'll trade you.
07:19We have marks on our sorting table.
07:21Oh, okay.
07:22The line is just on the head still and not in the eye socket.
07:24So that one's like the smallest sort of legal prawn you can catch.
07:28So this is big enough.
07:29Exactly.
07:31As long as the seagulls don't get them,
07:32which they're not right now,
07:33it's actually quite good survival
07:34when you throw back the undersized.
07:40The Prawn Association try to time the season
07:42so that we don't have any egg-bearing females.
07:44Generally from like October until March or April
07:47is when they're egg-bearing.
07:49That's one of the reasons why it's sustainable, right?
07:51Exactly.
07:51We're sort of never catching those reproducing prawns.
08:02What we're always trying to do when we're fishing
08:03is to target the bigger prawns.
08:05Not only because you get better price for them,
08:07but also because these are the ones
08:08that are going to be dying off once they spawn anyways.
08:11Let the little guys grow.
08:12Let the little guys grow.
08:13They'll come back in a couple years.
08:15Exactly.
08:15Get them next year and target the bigger ones.
08:19So we're avoiding reproducing prawns
08:22and we're eating them when they're going to die off anyway.
08:26It's like we're working with nature.
08:36So this is a ruby octopus.
08:40Do you want to hold?
08:41I do.
08:42I've never held one before.
08:43In most fishing practices,
08:44we get what's called bycatch,
08:46which are fish and other ocean creatures
08:49who get caught accidentally
08:50and often die.
08:52R.I.P.
08:54Today, the bycatch is being thrown overboard alive.
08:58Wee!
08:58Be free!
09:00Hey, we're a basket star.
09:03Just floats.
09:05These are squat lobsters.
09:07The slang term is ass-flappers
09:08because they...
09:09that's how they swim.
09:11Hi, I'm a copper.
09:12Yeah.
09:14I heard squat prawns were sustainable,
09:16but I didn't know why
09:17and now I'm, like, doing it.
09:19Now I know why.
09:20You must be so fond of these guys.
09:22Whoa!
09:22Yeah, they've been a big part of my life for a long time.
09:25Do you guys want to eat one raw?
09:27Oh, my God.
09:28Whoa.
09:29Listen, I will try.
09:31Yeah.
09:34Okay, so just grab it right here.
09:35Grab it here.
09:36Kind of pinch.
09:36Hold on. I want to do it.
09:38Yeah.
09:38Yeah.
09:38Okay, let's do it together.
09:39There you go.
09:40Heads off.
09:41Twist.
09:42R.I.P.
09:42There you go.
09:43Thank you, prawns.
09:44Thank you.
09:51Have you ever had anything live from the ocean like this before?
09:55Hannah?
09:56No.
09:57No?
09:58No.
09:59They're from Ontario.
10:01Okay, what kind of sauce do we got?
10:02It's a chogochujang, which is a vinegary gochujang sauce.
10:09Cheers.
10:10Cheers.
10:11Thanks for coming out.
10:12Thank you.
10:14A strong boat.
10:15Oh, you ate it so ladylike and delicately.
10:19I feel very grateful to you and to the spot prawns.
10:22Yeah.
10:23Grateful to spot prawns for sure.
10:28Everything on Fraser's boat was very memorable.
10:31I really felt so privileged and lucky to be able to see how this particular food is being harvested.
10:42I felt like in this one afternoon experience, we get to bring in some more knowledge to our place.
10:49It's just like when you have kids in the kitchen and they're helping.
10:54We're helping.
10:57Thank you so much.
10:59It was great.
11:00Bye.
11:00Thank you for showing us.
11:03Bye.
11:27Thank you for showing us.
11:30Bye.
11:30You are bringing me so much joy.
11:31Yes.
11:32But at the same time, I had nobody to talk about it with.
11:36You were posting about BTS stuff and I was like, can I slide into our DIFs just about BTS?
11:42And I was like, screw it.
11:43I'm gonna do it.
11:44And then now we're friends.
11:45I would love to go back in time and see how fast I responded to you.
11:49I know.
11:50Oh yeah, hi, how's it going?
11:52I was probably like, was not expecting that.
11:55You said the magic words.
11:59Any way in which we can feel more connected to each other is such a win.
12:03In this world, everything is so disconnected.
12:07Who would have predicted that responding to me on Instagram would lead us here?
12:12I know.
12:14Tucked away in a strip mall off the highway, we're a long way from Koreatown.
12:19Here in Nanaimo, this chef is serving Korean cuisine his way.
12:24And locals are falling in love with his twist on classic Korean dishes.
12:31Oh my god, the first time I got to Horang, I wanted to introduce myself to Chef John.
12:36I couldn't get in.
12:37I couldn't even get a seat at the bar.
12:39I went twice.
12:40I couldn't either.
12:41Coming into your restaurant, we see so much success.
12:44What has been the hardest part?
12:46Nanaimo is a small city.
12:47Korean cuisine is smaller than other cities in Canada.
12:50Korean cuisine for the local market was the challenging part from the beginning.
12:55You have a long history in working in restaurants.
12:58Why did you start a Korean restaurant?
12:59I used to be a sushi chef for over 20 years.
13:03Korean food started to get really popular all over the world.
13:06I knew that it could be a higher risk than open up the same Japanese restaurant, but then I really
13:13wanted to try.
13:15Sundubu was one of the first dishes that I thought about for the menus.
13:19Whenever I go to other cities, if you want to eat Korean cuisine, then sundubu is always
13:26one of the first dishes that I want to order, because it feels like you're eating at home.
13:32Oh my god!
13:33That's gorgeous.
13:34Wow.
13:39We are in Vancouver Island, and it's surrounded by the oceans, and we've got lots of seafoods
13:48out there.
13:48Use of fresh ingredients is the main key to creating the delicious dishes, right?
13:53Usually, we use cuttlefish or tiger prawns.
13:58So you use spot prawns when they're in season, and then when they're not in season, you just
14:02change the...
14:03Yeah, we change the seasonal menu here, too.
14:05Sometimes I feel a little sad that I can get the good quality local seafood.
14:10I think it's a price point, too.
14:12It's a certain commercial season, and also limited quantity that you're able to catch
14:17a year-round, and a lot of seafood export to other countries, too.
14:21So we don't have much choices sometimes, no?
14:25Yeah.
14:25Oh, it's so spicy.
14:27It's just the way I like it.
14:29I've never had sundubu with galguk-su in it.
14:34Yeah, me neither.
14:36Yeah.
14:36This sundubu is with the noodles, which is not commonly served with.
14:41I think a lot of people now are so used to eating some of the foe, like Vietnamese noodles,
14:47and also Japanese ramen.
14:49Yeah.
14:49So I have to choose the noodle into the soup, so people more familiar to come and try this
14:55dish, no?
14:56That's so interesting, from your chef's perspective, how other Asian cuisines have kind of opened
15:02the door for familiarity, for being open to a Korean dish.
15:06And then it's like you're taking steps towards, like, you're teaching people.
15:10Thank you.
15:12Chef John has such a warmth about him that, as a Korean, I feel like, yes, I want you to
15:20be Sally's conduit to their first Korean meal.
15:24My regular customers, our friends, send me a lot of love.
15:28You know, Korean people have a jeong.
15:29Sticky relationship, like, that's like a jeong.
15:32You're stuck together.
15:33You're stuck together.
15:34Yeah, yeah.
15:40It's all about the memory.
15:41I mean, food's a memory, right?
15:44When you're with the good people and the good food, that's the best memories ever, right?
15:49When you have a memorable meal somewhere, it makes your feeling of closeness with that
15:55place even closer.
15:57It's like what he was saying about jeong.
15:59I feel jeong for Nanaimo now through Chef John and Horang.
16:04I recently moved to Vancouver Island.
16:06I didn't really know where to find the Koreans.
16:10Chef John, he's representing really hip Korean culture and food.
16:16In a city on the island that I wouldn't think that a Korean restaurant would be popular.
16:21It made me really proud.
16:23I recently saw somebody do something like this.
16:28Like what?
16:29Oh!
16:30I watched the teacock, yeah.
16:33That's my way.
16:33I've never seen that.
16:35Yeah, yeah.
16:40Spot prawns are delicious and sustainable, but not cheap.
16:43In fact, cheaper shrimp comes with a hefty cost to the environment.
16:49One way we can eat seafood tsundubu forever is to save prawns for special occasions and celebrations.
16:55If you can help me dice up the onions.
16:57Can do.
16:58Never let Chef John see my knife skills.
17:02Our spot prawns.
17:04Thank you, Fraser.
17:08It's a big act of knowing yourself to eat like this in public.
17:14Growing up, I would not have wanted to bring anyone home for dinner and have this.
17:20So making a picnic like this in a public space, I think, is an act of resistance.
17:24And when I think about the rise of Korean food, it makes me feel very hopeful.
17:31It's about acceptance and connection.
17:35Food really connects us.
17:41Thank you for making such a wonderful meal.
17:44You too.
17:46Man, that sesame oil does it at the end, eh?
17:49It's perfect.
17:50Sundubu Jigae is such a perfect meal for like a rainy, cold, wet day.
17:56As Koreans, we are inherently so connected to the ocean because it's on our table.
18:02And you can see it.
18:04And you can see it.
18:05Nobody's hiding what this is.
18:07It's an incredible feeling to be that connected to your food beyond just the very end stages
18:12of bringing it home and to cook it in your kitchen.
18:15And that's what I want to help people see a little bit more, even my own family, just
18:21being able to connect that back to, we love the ocean, but if we don't take care of it,
18:27we can't have this on our table.
18:29This is like a really beautiful thing.
18:31It's not just an enjoyable meal, you know, it's so much more than that.
18:34I just am so happy right now.
18:37I love that.
18:40To eat our favorite foods forever, the first step is to learn where our food comes from
18:44and to explore sustainable options.
18:47No matter where we live, the ocean connects Koreans through our shared favorite dishes
18:52around the world, even in the prairies.
18:56In our next episode, we'll be learning about the surprising connection between seaweed and
19:01cows.
19:02I want to get on a horse.
19:04My money!
19:05Time's dark.
19:06No!
19:07Oh my God!
19:08Oh my God!
19:09How did that happen?
19:10Join us for the world's slowest tractor driving!
19:18Chef John said this is where he comes to crab.
19:22Okay, chicken in and then let's shut this.
19:26I feel like I'm sending a love letter.
19:28It is raw chicken in this envelope to the crabs deep below.
19:32Have you done this before?
19:34No.
19:35I think you're supposed to throw it?
19:39What do your kids do?
19:42Drop it?
19:43I don't know.
19:44Okay, how about you drop it and I'll throw it.
19:45Okay.
19:45Okay, I'm gonna do one toss.
19:48This is the first and only.
19:51Okay.
19:52Okay.
19:56I'll do that again!
19:58Whee!
20:00Nice!
20:02Who's gonna check the traps?
20:03I'll do it because I want to go inside as quick as possible.
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