About Timothy Choi
I was born in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do — the province most Koreans point to when they talk about where the country’s food culture actually comes from. That was home. Then, for the better part of twenty years, it wasn’t.
“Twenty Years Away From Home“
I’ve lived in Japan, the United States, the Philippines, China, and Madagascar — more than a decade in some of those places. Every country taught me something different about food, about travel, and about how a place actually works once you live in it instead of just visiting. It also gave me a strange kind of homesickness: not just for a specific dish, but for the version of Korea I grew up in, before it got simplified for export.
Every country I lived in had its own version of “Korean food,” and almost none of it matched what I remembered. The flavors were softened, the dishes were narrowed down to the same five or six crowd-pleasers, and the culture around the food — who eats what, when, and why — usually disappeared completely. That gap is what First Korea Food is built to close.
Twenty Years Away From Home
I’ve lived in Japan, the United States, the Philippines, China, and Madagascar — more than a decade in some of those places. Every country taught me something different about food, about travel, and about how a place actually works once you live in it instead of just visiting. It also gave me a strange kind of homesickness: not just for a specific dish, but for the version of Korea I grew up in, before it got simplified for export.
Every country I lived in had its own version of “Korean food,” and almost none of it matched what I remembered. The flavors were softened, the dishes were narrowed down to the same five or six crowd-pleasers, and the culture around the food — who eats what, when, and why — usually disappeared completely. That gap is what First Korea Food is built to close.
What You’ll Find Here
This blog started as a recipe site, and cooking is still at the center of it. But Korea was never just a cuisine to me, so it’s grown to match that: recipes tested the way they’re actually made at home, restaurant recommendations from someone who knows the difference between a tourist trap and a genuine local spot, and travel guides — cycling routes, temple stays, neighborhoods — built for people who want to see the country beyond the standard itinerary.
Nothing here is a sponsored placement dressed up as a recommendation. If a dish, a restaurant, or a route is on this site, it’s because I’d genuinely put it in front of a friend who came to visit.
Why It’s Called First Korea Food
The name comes from where most people start: food. It’s usually the first real point of contact anyone has with Korea, whether that’s a bowl of bibimbap abroad or a first meal in Seoul. This site is meant to be a starting point too — the first step into a version of Korea that isn’t flattened for outsiders, written by someone who never stopped thinking of it as home, even after twenty years of living somewhere else.
No Compromises
Every recipe here is tested the way it’s actually made at home — not simplified for a foreign kitchen.
Not From a Search Result
These are dishes and places I grew up with, not ones I found by researching what’s popular.
A Place, Not Just a Cuisine
Food, routes, and neighborhoods — the parts of Korea that don’t fit in a recipe card.
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