Hmph! I told y’all, didn’t I? 😂

I said from the beginning that food featured in each episode isn’t randomly chosen. They’re meant to be metaphors and/or symbols of the theme of the episode. Any viewer, or poster for that matter, who simply gushes at the “ooooh, wonderful cinematography!” of the dishes and does not question WHY such attention is given to the production of the scene is halfwitted missing out on a lot of things. (And scares me frankly that this is the type of voter who’ll pick style over substance, perception over reality, feelings over facts. Sigh.) 

Let’s do better. Let’s think critically.

The rules of the cooking contest:

The Queen Dowager orders the cooks from the royal kitchen to “incorporate the spirit of filial piety” in the food they’ll present in the competition. Additionally, tofu and soybean paste (doenjang) must be also used as ingredients in the food.

The contestants and their culinary creations:

1. Cook Maeng

According to the Netflix subs, Cook Maeng has prepared steamed dumplings (eomandu) with thin slices of fish used as dumpling skins.

While the dumplings are delicious, the king objects to the absence of the taste of doenjang itself. Cook Maeng counters that he made a dipping sauce of it, instead of mixing it in. The king then tastes the sauce, and while he finds it good, he still nitpicks that it wasn’t mixed in with the rest of dumpling stuffing.

Then, the Cook is interviewed on filial piety. He speaks in general terms of the filial piety that citizens show to their king.

Queen: How would you say this dish speaks of filial piety?
Cook: His Majesty is the father of all his subjects. His people sent ingredients from all over as a child would to a parent, and with that, I have prepared a dish for you, Your Royal Highness. If that were not the pinnacle of filial piety, I would not know what is.
Queen Dowager: That’s a sensible answer.
Concubine Mokju: It is a wise answer.

😂 To me, it’s obvious that Mokju prepped her cook on what to say about filial piety. But as expected, the king can see through the trite response.

King: If it is as you say, that would apply to all the dishes in the palace since they are made with ingredients received as tribute. Tsk.

Mokju then steps in to defend her cook because it’s clear to see that the king only has disdain for the cook’s platitudes. However, the king isn’t wrong.

Given the cook’s logic, there’s no difference between the eomandu and the other food prepped daily at the palace kitchen. How is filial piety singularly and uniquely shown in eomandu when it’s regarded as a customary meal? The competition demands a more genuine and heartfelt display of filial piety.

Next up, the Queen Dowager’s favorite cook, Eom BongSik, 7th rank senior cook.

2. Cook Eom 

According to Netflix subs, he’s prepared a yeonpotang, or clear soup with tofu cooked in broth. (It looks like “hot pot” to me, lol.)

Right off the bat (or should I say ladle?), Cook Eom tries to establish his long relationship with the Queen Dowager by recalling how she enjoyed the same yeonpotang he made at the last banquet. He sounds like he’s trying to influence the judge and her cohorts, if you ask me. 😂

This time around, the king cannot fault the cook for omitting either the tofu or doenjang in the recipe as they were well-blended in the soup. The king even compliments the cook for the taste of rare mushrooms, and the cook eagerly discloses that he’s added Pyogo mushrooms from Jinan and caterpillar fungus to boost the energy.

But then, the cook is asked about filial piety. Unlike Cook Maeng who referred loftily to the king-and-citizen relationship, he appeals to family togetherness and nostalgia.

Queen: What is the filial piety that your yeonpotang represents?
Cook: According to the ancient Chinese book, Myeongsim Bogam, everything is accomplished when a household is harmonious, and the parents are filled with joy when the children are filial. I prepared this dish hoping that all the descendants of the royal family could gather and eat this warm meal together.
Queen Dowager: This is a warm dish that parents and children could sit around together and share.
Queen/Stepmother: Yes, that is true. I’m reminded of your banquet, Your Royal Highness.

The other concubines, that is, concubines of the late king, join in and compliments the dish. Again, it’s obvious to see who is backing which cook. Earlier, Mokju spoke in favor of her Cook Maeng. Now, the Queen Dowager and the late king’s wives spoke up for their Cook Eom.

But the king shoots them all down with one simple question.

King: Hmmm. Are you saying that extravagant dishes represent a child’s love for a parent?
Cook: (awkwardly) Yes. That is so, Your Majesty.
King: (shaking his head)

What the king is saying is, given this cook’s example of extravagant food, no child can truly show filial piety. Because where can a child acquire those rare mushrooms? How can a child even afford such extravagance?

Then last comes JiYeong.

3. Cook JiYeong 

Compared to the feast Cook Eom prepared, the scantiness of her entrée surprises the royal judges of the contest. Even the king, who’s been so confident of her winning this competition, asks in dismay, “Just soup?”

She explains that she’s made doenjang soup for Her Royal Highness then confidently asks them to taste it. But their reactions — or rather, their non-reaction — worries her.

Only the king hides a smile, nodding in approval at her last-minute addition to the soup. The **** asterisk word, remember? Lol) She sees his smile and, in turn, she nods in amazement at his superior taste buds. She knows that he’s guessed the secret ingredient.

Without waiting for the Queen Dowager to begin the interview, Mokju goes on the attack.

Mokju: So, what filial piety does your food speak of?
JY: This dish represents filial piety in many ways. First, the doenjang soup made with stir-fried doenjang that has a deep flavor that calls to mind a mother’s cooking.

Note: I’m not Korean so I don’t know how doenjang tastes or smells like. However, I can guess that, when JY stir-fried the paste earlier, it produced a stinky smell, judging from horrified reactions of the Queen Dowager and Mokju. It’s this method of stir-frying the doenjang — despite the stink — that JY refers to as a mother’s cooking. Mothers don’t care about aromas emanating from their kitchens because they know they’re cooking nourishment for the family. Who cares if it stinks to high heavens when it’s the family’s favorite dish?

JY: (continuing) Second, the deep-fried tofu that enhances the flavor of the tofu. Inside—
Mokju: (rudely interrupting) Stop rambling and get to the point! Or I will have your arm cut off this instant!
Queen Dowager: Enough! This food…represents filial piety.

And she adds rice to her soup.

I explained this scene earlier so I won’t repeat myself. Bon Appetit, Your Majesty: Ep 4 My Takes

But I’ll add two things:

One, I like the silent communication between the king and JY. She gives him a thumbs-up when he correctly identifies the clams as the secret ingredient. When the king looks embarrassed by her hand gesture, she quickly tucks her hand away, and beams at him instead. She mentally praises him, “Nicely said, my tyrant.” I like that JY isn’t at all intimidated (or awed) by the king’s rank; she sees him as her equal. And I also like that she’s gotten under his skin. If a small sign of approval can fluster him, then he’s starving for big applause and encouragement.

Two, I like that JY explains her recipe to the Queen Dowager because it shows, not only her sensitivity to the Queen Dowager’s situation but also her filial piety.

Queen Dowager: By clams, do you mean the small shellfish that are used in regular shellfish soup?
JY: Yes, that’s right. That’s the secret to the refreshing savory flavor that you’ve searched for your whole life. The last bowl of doenjang soup your mother made you would have tasted of clams from the Seomjin River. I included that refreshing flavor in my doenjang soup.

And the Queen Dowager can’t help tearing up again. Instead of spouting insincere and fake banalities about filial piety, JY shows that she understands its true meaning. By evoking the Queen Dowager’s last memories of her mother, the Queen Dowager can acknowledge her gratitude for her parent.

The Queen Dowager then asks about the spinach to the soup. JiYeong is thunderstruck; she wonders whether she’s the original creator of the clam and spinach doenjang soup. She explains that she noticed that the Queen Dowager had problems with her balance and hand tremors. Since spinach is known for good bone health and anemia, she added it to the soup.

JY: Your Royal Highness. There’s that saying we all know. Sikyakdongwon. It means food and medicine are of one origin. Rather than with the help of bitter medicine, I hope you can maintain your health with tasty food.

Here, JY displays filial piety to the Queen Dowager. Not only was she paying attention to Queen Dowager’s difficulties earlier, she also thought of a way to remedy her ailments.

And with her final remark, she earns the Queen Dowager’s approval. The Queen Dowager’s request for another doenjang soup seals the deal.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

But the discourse of filial piety doesn’t end here. We’ve seen two so far:

First was the queen’s filial piety when she cried over her memories of her deceased mother. Second was JY’s demonstration of filial piety through her cooking. [Note also: while she was cooking, she had her father in mind. She thought of cooking the doenjang pasta in remembrance of her father’s comfort food. And when she won, she shared the good news with her father in spirit.]

Now, here’s the third. It’s the king’s RESISTANCE to observe filial piety to the late king, his father.

It’s all understandable. Remember: he witnessed his mother being hauled away on his father’s command. Given that he loved his mother so much, it’s just natural that he feels a lot of rage towards his father, the late king. [As I wrote previously, the HISTORICAL Yeonsangun killed two of his late father’s concubines during the second Literati purge. I’m sure this rage also accounted for his enmity towards his ministers and officials. He probably believed that they were still loyal to his late father/late king instead of to him, so he used the purge as a pretext to execute those who opposed him.]

To plea for mercy for the cooks about to lose their arms, the Queen Dowager reveals to the king her real motive for choosing filial piety as theme of the contest.

Queen Dowager: Your Majesty! Cook Yeon is right. Forgive the other two cooks. The fault is with me for failing to understand your will and intention in the first place. The truth is, it saddened me to see you despise deer and find enjoyment in hunting them because of the late king’s fondness for them. Then I heard that Cook Yeon had thoughtlessly served you deer meat, which is why I came up with the theme of filial piety to scorn her.
JY: (thinking to herself) Oh! So that was the story behind this? He really is something else, isn’t he? How could he do that even if he hated his father?
Queen Dowager: However, Cook Yeon, who is now the chief royal cook, has made me rethink the notion of filial piety with her food. I see why you value her so much. Your Majesty. How about you leave it at this for today?

The key points here:

a. King YiHeon’s late father liked to keep deer as pets.

b. Because King YiHeon couldn’t kill his own father for what he did to his mother, he hunted and killed his father’s pet deer instead. He displaced his rage from the actual source (i.e., his father and his ministers) to a safer, more acceptable target (i.e., deer). From the Queen Dowager’s perspective, her grandson’s frequent hunting expeditions are a sign of his being unfilial. But to me, it’s King YiHeon’s unconscious defense mechanism.

c. The Queen Dowager wanted to teach JiYeong a lesson for enabling/abetting in YiHeon’s lack of filial piety. But the competition changed her perception of JiYeong. The Queen Dowager realizes that JiYeong isn’t at all the type to encourage filial ingratitude and disrespect because she understands filial piety very well. Moreover, the Queen Dowager can see that JiYeong doesn’t tolerate cruelty and injustice by the way she defends the other cooks from King YiHeon’s punishment.

d. The Queen Dowager appears sincere in her desire for mutual understanding and family harmony.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

To wrap things up then, what does this episode tell us?

Episode 4. Course Number 4 **** and Spinach Doenjang Soup

Well, I don’t know about you. Each one of us can have his/her own take. You think about yours.

But for me, it’s this:

Personal pains, wounds, and scars aren’t always visible to the world. So for healing, the king and his grandmother seek comfort food from whoever, wherever and whenever they can. To me, they actually have more in common than they think they do.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Ok, I’m moving on from this kdrama for now.

Must continue my review on “Legend of the Female General” and will join @agdr03 shortly on “The Coroner’s Diary.”

Enjoy!