Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee (born November 14, 1970) is a

Korean American Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian Americans ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

and

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

. Lee is most known for her

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

s and food writing. She was nominated for a

James Beard award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

in 2006 and has won numerous other awards for her cookbooks. Lee has written for

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

s, newspapers, and online publications. She also works as an artist in installation, photography, painting and drawing. Her work is displayed in many galleries and she created two public art pieces in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Early life

Lee was born in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. She emigrated to the United States with her family in 1977. They first moved to

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Reddin'') is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 as of the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philade ...

, and then to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1978. She studied Biochemistry and Visual Arts (specifically painting, conceptual art and site-specific installation) at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

. She decided against a medical career to pursue a life in the arts.

Career

Lee was the owner and chef of Nabi, a fast-casual Korean restaurant in East Hollywood.

Writing

Lee has written cookbooks, travel guides and numerous magazine and newspaper articles. Her book, ''Eating Korean: from Barbecue to Kimchi, Recipes from My Home'' was chosen as the Best of the Best by

Food and Wine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and season ...

magazine. Her second cookbook, ''Quick and Easy Korean Cooking'', was chosen as the cookbook of the month by the now-defunct '' Gourmet'' magazine. The book was reviewed in the ''Christian Science Monitor'' noting both the recipes and the photographs. The ''New York Times'' reviewed the cookbook and one of her recipes was featured in the Times cooking section. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' has written about her recipes. Her cookbook, ''Quick and Easy Mexican Cooking'' featured in ''

L.A. Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'', and was nominated for the Gourmand World Cookbook awards. Lee has written the first edition

Frommer's Frommer's is a travel guide book series created by Arthur Frommer in 1957. Frommer's has since expanded to include more than 350 guidebooks in 14 series, as well as other media including an eponymous radio show and a website. In 2017, the company ...

South Korea travel guide and wrote two successive editions. She also authored the 1st edition of Frommer's Day by Day Seoul. She has written and photographed for the ''Los Angeles Times'' since 1999. She is a freelance restaurant reviewer for the LA Times Daily Dish and contributed to a variety of other publications.

Artwork

She is also a painter, illustrator and a site-specific, conceptual and mixed media artist. She has created public art pieces for Pecan Park in Los Angeles and a memorial for

Cesar Chavez Cesar Chavez (born Cesario Estrada Chavez ; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merged ...

at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

(USC). Her work has been exhibited in numerous galleries, including the musée de l'Elysée Lausanne in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, Galeria de la Historia de Concepción in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, Piazza Risorgimento in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, Galería Asociacion de Bancarios del Urugua,

Centro Cultural de la Raza The Centro Cultural de la Raza (Spanish for ''Cultural Center of the People'') is a non-profit organization with the specific mission to create, preserve, promote and educate about Chicano, Mexicano, Native American and Latino art and culture. ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

Tacoma Art Museum The Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) is an art museum in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It focuses primarily on the art and artists from the Pacific Northwest and broader western region of the U.S. Founded in 1935, the museum has strong roots in the c ...

, Scottsdale Center for the Arts,

Neuberger Museum of Art Neuberger Museum of Art is located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is affiliated with Purchase College, part of the State University of New York system. It is the nation's tenth-largest university museum. The museum is one of 14 sites on ...

San Jose Museum of Art The San José Museum of Art (SJMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum in downtown San Jose, downtown San Jose, California, United States. Founded in 1969, the museum holds a permanent collection with an emphasis on West Coast of the United Sta ...

, Gallery 825, Artspace, Pierce College, Loyola Law School, Rita Dean, the Hatch Gallery and the Los Angeles Municipal Gallery at Barnsdall.

Bibliography

* ''Eating Korean: From Barbecue to Kimchi, Recipes from My Home'' (Wiley 2005, ) * ''Best of the Best Volume 9: The Best Recipes from the 25 Best Cookbooks of the Year'' (Food + Wine 2006) * ''Food + Wine Annual Cookbook: An Entire Year of Recipes'' (Food + Wine 2006) * ''Eating Well Serves Two: 150 Healthy in a Hurry Recipes'' (Countryman 2006) * ''Frommer's South Korea'' (Frommer's 2010, 2008, ) * ''Quick and Easy Korean Cooking'' (Chronicle Books 2009, ) * ''Quick and Easy Mexican Cooking'' (Chronicle Books 2011, ) * ''Frommer's Day by Day Seoul'' (Frommer's 2011, )

Awards

*Gourmand World Cookbook Award nominee, 2010 *Gourmet cookbook of the month, June 2009 *Food & Wine's Best of the Best, 2006 *James Beard Award nominee, 2006 *President's Call to Service Award from the President's Council on Service and the Beyond the Bell branch of LAUSD 2004 *International Visual Artist of the Year Nomination, 2004 *Hedgebrook residency, 1999 and 2004 *Top 10 Recipes of the Year from Los Angeles Times, 1999 and 2000

References

External links

Cecilia Lee's official siteKorean food siteZagat-Nabi Korean Restaurant
* ttp://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/vegetable-noodle-tangle Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee's Vegetable Noodle Tangle recipe in Food and Winebr>Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee's Spicy Udon and Clam recipe in Food and WineCecilia Hae-Jin Lee's IMDB page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Cecilia Hae-Jin 1970 births Living people American cookbook writers American food writers American travel writers American women non-fiction writers American writers of Korean descent South Korean emigrants to the United States University of California, San Diego alumni People from Seoul 21st-century American women