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The sounds of Jeju’s haenyeo divers after they surface from the sea.
This piece was selected as one of the winners of the AAA’s AnthroDay Student Unessay Competition. This year’s competition was inspired by the Annual Meeting theme, “On the Verge.”
Opening Bite
The Warming Ocean Soup
A local Jeju seaweed-based broth, sparsely garnished with small slivers of assorted wild shellfish, and finished with a turban snail (sora) and agar (umutgasari) seafoam cream, served warm in a volcanic stone bowl.
The warm soup and sparse toppings symbolize rising sea temperatures and the gradual depletion of marine life. The seafoam cream represents different pollutants affecting visibility underwater. As a whole, the dish presents a miniature sea that is still present, yet no longer abundant.
Small Plates
The Bulteok Communal Plate
Traditionally served for six, this oversized platter is intentionally presented with only two sets of utensils and served as individual, bite-sized portions. The platter features a crispy assorted seafood and scallion jeon topped with a citrus infused soy sauce foam; a hand-rolled rice ball wrapped in crackling seaweed crisps made from Jeju seaweed harvested in Ulsan, lightly dusted with toasted sesame seeds; and a small assortment of seasonal banchan.
The collection of small, traditionally shared dishes represents the diversity of voices and relationships once present within the bulteok, a traditional haenyeo resting and changing space, while the limited quantity and intentional emptiness of the platter highlight the gradual thinning of community bonds.
Main Course
The Traveling Abalone
A single abalone, originally caught in Jeju waters, exported to Japan, and re-imported to Jeju, prepared three ways– lightly poached and served with fresh sesame oil and sea salt; cooked on a charcoal grill and glazed with a traditional teriyaki sauce; and oven-baked with butter and topped with a local citrus cream sauce.
Prepared in a blend of international styles, the dish summarizes the global trade cycle, in which local labor, placed-based identity, and natural resources lose recognition and value as they move through external markets.
Dessert
Empty Net
A Udo Island (Jeju) peanut lace tuile, topped with a dusting of cocoa powder, gently placed on a clear, Hallabong citrus agar gelée, finished with a touch of seaweed yuja oil.
The cocoa powder leaves intentional marks on the plate after eating, representing memory, absence, and the generational decline of haenyeo divers. What remains on the plate becomes more significant than what was served.