“Why?”
“To get rid of the starch, to clean it, and because of the
spirituality of it. You won’t understand it, because you didn’t
grow up with it like me, but rice is everything to our existence. It’s
like a temple. That’s why we wash it five times.”
Choi cooks with his heart on his sleeve and with a deep
spiritual connection to his food. He may have been poor, but he
never went hungry, and the significance of that fact has never left
him. Food is more than just a meal. It makes us who we are; it
builds us up as people.
Which is why, in Choi’s kitchen, you respect your rice and you
don’t fuck with your onions. These things matter.