Umma: A Korean Mom's Kitchen Wisdom and 100 Family Recipes

James Beard Award winner * New York Times bestseller

Learn Korean cooking alongside social media star Sarah Ahn as her umma passes down 100+ family recipes and decades' worth of kitchen wisdom.

Sarah Ahn’s viral food videos of her and her mom have captivated millions of viewers with their behind-the-scenes look at Korean cooking and multigenerational home life. This collaboration is now a must-have cookbook blending the emotional intimacy of Crying in H Mart with practical culinary advice from Nam Soon’s lifetime of kitchen experience. The recipes are framed by mother-daughter conversations that are funny, profound, and universally relatable—plus all the food is backed by the recipe-testing power of America’s Test Kitchen.

Thorough ingredient guide: Walk through a Korean grocery store with a Korean umma for in-depth guidance on what pantry ingredients and fresh produce and protein to buy.
Recipes both traditional and contemporary: Learn to make everything from simple banchan, a variety of kimchi, and foundational stews to an assortment of yasik (midnight snacks) and inventive desserts.
Kitchen wisdom from mother to daughter: Shared confidences open a window onto a level of family intimacy rarely seen in cookbooks.

The Ahns understand that when generations come together in the kitchen, so much is shared: not only food, but also knowledge, advice, family history, and love.

Sarah Ahn is ATK's social media manager and the creator of the Ahnest Kitchen website. She records her experiences on Instagram and TikTok of living with her Korean immigrant parents, chronicling her mother’s cooking, grocery shopping trips, and more. Many of Sarah’s posts have gone viral with 10+ million views and they have sold grocery stores out of product. She has been featured on NBC News, ABC News, Yahoo News, and Good Morning America. Nam Soon Ahn learned to cook from her mother in Korea before immigrating to America in the 1990s. She owned and operated an Asian noodle restaurant for nearly a decade.