Joanne Lee Molinaro

The Idea

A writing practice sits at the center of Joanne Lee Molinaro’s food work, and she says so plainly: “I consider myself a writer before anything else, even before a lawyer.” That frame carries into the bowl and the pan, where Korean cuisine is veganized and other foods are Koreanized with the same attention to voice. Born in Chicago, Illinois, to parents who were both born in what is now known as North Korea, Joanne Lee Molinaro launched The Korean Vegan in 2016 after adopting a plant-based diet, setting up a space where biography, appetite, and memory could share the same page. The label “storytelling vegan cook” fits because the work is built as much from narrative as from technique. Joanne Lee Molinaro treats recipes as a way to move between family history, the city where she was born, and the geography of her parents’ origins. In her hands, plant-based Korean food is not a replacement exercise; it is a change in medium that keeps the emotional register intact while shifting the ingredients. The kitchen becomes an extension of the desk, with flavor doing the work of language.

The Execution

Firecracker Broccoli shows Joanne Lee Molinaro’s approach in direct terms: gochujang, soy, and garlic give a familiar vegetable heat, salt, and depth without softening its edges. The dish works because it is clear about what it wants to do, and it does it with force. Pesto Tteokbokki brings her husband’s Italian roots into the frame, letting two family lineages sit in one bowl. Rather than collapsing one into the other, Joanne Lee Molinaro keeps both visible, so the dish reads as a meeting point instead of a compromise. The balance gives the plate room to hold multiple identities at once. That same method shapes her wider practice. Vegan cooking is not presented as a lesser version of Korean food, but as a way to widen what Korean flavors can carry. Joanne Lee Molinaro lets those flavors lead, while the rest of the plate follows their terms. The result is food that stays rooted in tradition while making space for extension.

On the Record

“I consider myself a writer before anything else, even before a lawyer.” The line explains the structure of the work: the recipes are written with pacing, emphasis, and point of view, not just assembled.

Signature

Joanne's signature dishes include Kimchi Mac ‘N’ Cheese, Firecracker Broccoli, Fried Rice Waffles, Janchi Guksu, and Pesto Tteokbokki.

In Their Words “The first one was supposed to be like an introduction—it’s like an amuse bouche to Korean food.” “I consider myself a writer before anything else, even before a lawyer.”