Before you hear her, you see it: smooth brown frosting spreads elegantly around its neat circumference, dark chocolate sponge peeking out from underneath. Joanne Molinaro, aka The Korean Vegan, slices open the dense cake to reveal its rich interior and adds two scoops of sparkling soy vanilla ice cream that drips over the cake. Staring directly into the camera, she intoned, "Love is powerful because you are powerful - and no one, not everyone in the entire universe, can take it away from you, honey." When she bites When she took the next bite, her whole face lit up. "Now, eat some cake before the ice cream melts."
The scene is from a February 2021 installment of Molinaro's ongoing TikTok series "Advice from Korean Aunts," in which she shares wisdom on issues like heartbreak, gaslighting and failure to her 2.3 million followers. Since launching in July 2020, the 42-year-old's account has exploded. The personal insights she shares when it comes to cooking vegan Korean dishes—from telling her fans that "the heart can be very stupid" in a video for gyeran mari to honoring her father while preparing jajangmyeon—that is the key to her popularity. As a practicing trial attorney, she uses TikTok to balance her chaotic schedule and has even created a cookbook, which is now available for pre-order. But in addition to the Korean vegetarian recipes that many users seek out on her account, Molinaro's videos express the love that many immigrant families, including hers, express primarily through food.
"I'm here to give you tough love and realistic advice that others may not be willing to share with you, but I end it with 'Eat this,'" she told me over the phone. "It's my way of saying, 'I love you, I'm here for you, and we'll get through this together.'"
“I personally give a lot and I hope people will reciprocate.”
Her vision has attracted a loyal following of fans and admirers. Each of Molinaro's videos gets between 500 and 21,000 comments, many of which come from people exchanging stories as personal as Molinaro's. Comments, she said, often come from immigrants or first-generation kids for whom the struggles she reveals on the page — such as an incident in which she faced racism as a result of her crush — resonate deeply.
"It's part of my identity, I've dealt with racial hatred my whole life, so I want to make sure my community understands that I support them and empathize with them," she said.
Molinaro's videos aren't just for those who have experienced trauma, though, as she firmly believes her message is "wide enough to reach almost anyone." She said this included people who reached out and told her, "I never realized eating plant-based could be so easy," or "As a Korean, I'm so proud of you because you're showcasing our food."
Molinaro said TikTok is her "beautiful, expressive, wild child" and that she doesn't feel the need to be "perfect, curated or eloquent" and that she is gomoh - a cool Korean aunt - Helping her fans deal with painful or worrying issues in their personal lives. “I personally give a lot and I hope people will reciprocate.”
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Molinaro, a vegetarian since 2016, cultivates her community by sharing recipes — a steaming pot of ramen bubbling in a vegetable-rich broth, or a rainbow of whole rice balls , garnished with purple cabbage and carrots—recipes she found time to develop and publish to her legal clientele. (She often finds herself editing TikTok videos while eating dinner, or using her spare two hours to film the making of noodles.) She says she sees health as a “360-degree surgery,” and that “without it,” health is Incomplete. Pay attention to your mental health and emotional well-being. ” On TikTok, that means sharing dishes she knows her followers will associate with love.
"Restricting yourself to foods that make you feel good, taste delicious, and remind you of your mom or grandma is simply not a good idea," she says. "I don't care if there are 500 calories per bite. Sometimes you need that."
Bringing these recipes and the people who love them together is the goal of Korean Vegan, she said. "I want people to feel invited. I want them to feel a warm hug when they come to my house."
