My daughter kept plugging a Korean historical drama on Netflix about a cooking competition, and I couldn’t understand the appeal.

I’m a reader, and not much of a cook. Why would I waste time on a fantasy cooking show in a foreign language?

Until my brother, a media aficionado, started plugging the same show.

The cast was fantastic! The king outrageous, yet charmingly earnest. The story engaging! (Will a feminist from the future win the king’s heart with her gimbap?) The food competition exciting! The romance! The intrigue! The drama!

Bon Appétit, Your Majesty was my gateway drug.

I hurriedly ordered Korean cookbooks, bought gochujang, and researched the Joseon era.

The Koreans, I was learning, like the Jews, were a people with a long history, respect for scholars, without many natural resources, often invaded.

They even had a similar version of their golden years, though their Joseon era ended in 1897, while our kingdoms were conquered just a few thousand years back.

We all have good memories.

Next came Business Proposal. Families expecting their kids to marry and carry on their traditions. The kids wanting to respect their families but also chart their own paths. Hmm, I had to do that in my own Jewish community back in Brooklyn…

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