THE SINGER AND AUTHOR MICHELLE ZAUNER is entering a season she’s dubbing “banchan-ajumma summer.” Banchan is the word for the small assorted side dishes served alongside Korean entrées; ajumma is a maternal middle-aged Korean woman. “You know what we need to do?” Zauner says, mid–kimchee bite at the restaurant Cho Dang Gol, tucked away three blocks above the hub of New York City’s Koreatown. “There needs to be a circle of women who make banchan, like a potluck.” Better yet, she says, make it a summer retreat where all we do is pickle and marinate assorted vegetables.
At all of 32 years old, Zauner jokes, she is ready to retire for the banchan-ajumma lifestyle. The front woman of indie-rock band Japanese Breakfast and the author of the just-released Crying in H Mart is coming off a whirlwind spring. When we meet, she is suspended between two press cycles: Her debut book has been out in the world for two weeks, and her new album, Jubilee, the band’s third, is due in a month. The record marks a slight shift in sound for Japanese Breakfast, but the book is a stratospheric event in Zauner’s career— a cultural sensation that debuted at No. 2 on the New York Times’ nonfiction best-seller list.
This story is from the June 7 - 20, 2021 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 7 - 20, 2021 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Good One: Ramy Youssef
The comedian on the first Israel-Palestine joke he wrote after 10/7.
Not Your Average Heartthrob
Nicholas Galitzine can play himbo, Prince Charming, and Gen-Z queer iconsometimes all at once. Now, he's coming
Northern Mexico, Just Below Canal
Corima has potential-and excellent tortillas
A Tree House for Two Architects
Phu Hoang and Rachely Rotem built the indoor-outdoor \"Mini Tower One\" extension of their Carroll Gardens home.
THE ERIC ADAMS SMASH - AND - GRAB
It's a brazenly transactional era of government here in New York City.| FRANK CARONE is its master practitioner.
JEFF ZUCKER'S FLEET STREET MISADVENTURE
The former CNN and NBC boss wants a new media empire. Is that even possible in 2024?
MECHANISMS of CONTROL
Andrew Huberman has attracted millions of acolytes by preaching self-discipline and healthy lifestyle habits. But those closest to him suggest there is a darker side to his appeal.
Streetscape: Mark Jacobson
Charging Ahead Baruch Herzfeld wants to end the rash of e-bike battery fires.
461 MINUTES WITH...Hanif Abdurraqib
The MacArthur-grant winner's unclassifiable new book is as idiosyncratic as the author himself.
Neighborhood News: The 'SNL' Guys' Ferry Isn't Adrift
Colin Jost and Pete Davidson's architect has a real plan.