Bread-based Innovations in South Korea

I have seen the future of pastry and baked goods and it's delicious beyond your wildest dreams. Plus recs for Courtney Martin on memory care, memes for the Chicago Pope, and AI research ethics.

I am wrapping up an incredible week in Seoul, South Korea visiting my brother and sister-in-law who have been living here. It’s been so fun to see them and get taken around to their favorite spots. Seoul is one of the most amazing places on the planet, in my opinion, and getting to wander the city, hike up its mountains, and explore the markets and restaurants has been a dream.

Seoul has futuristic fashion, design, and technology on every corner. But the part that’s been most amazing has been seeing what they are doing with bread. I did not expect my most jaw-dropping moments from this trip to take place in a bakery, but they absolutely did. My jaw dropped and then I immediately stuffed it full of baked goods.

Let’s take a look.

The current trendy item in Seoul’s bakeries is called “salt bread” which is basically a croissant mixed with a pretzel. It’s flaky and light but also salty and savory. I would be shocked if this isn’t a hot trendy item in U.S. bakeries soon.

Chocolate croissants on the left, salt bread on the right

But forcing croissants to breed with pretzels is just the beginning of what these pastry scientists are concocting. They’re pushing the boundaries of food science Jurassic Park-style. “You were so preoccupied with if you could that you never stopped to think about if you should!”

That’s how you end up with something like this:

That’s right, it’s a whole hot dog and cream cheese inserted into a croissant like a spine.

Fortunately, the vast majority of the envelope pushing in the lab are wild successes not hot dog-based abominations.

Getting ready for a formal gala? Treat yourself to a bowtie croissant!

Love corn? How about a bunch of fresh corn surrounded by a pocket made of cornbread?

Love potatoes? How about mashed potatoes stuffed into a potato bread that then has been decorated to look just like a raw potato?

It’s like a knish but if the knish was dressed up for Halloween as a potato.

Or maybe you just want an uncountable number of layers of flaky pastry so thin that it’s known as “tissue bread.”

Seoul is a city of miracles. I fully expect that for my flight home, I’ll be bringing my things in a piece of carry-on luggage that’s actually just an enormous croissant.

My projects and upcoming events:

LIVE IN LA: Wrong Answers Only - Dynasty Typewriter on Tuesday, May 20th at 7:30 p.m. Just over a week to go before this comedy show about LA’s wild parrots! Join me and comedians Joanna Hausmann, Rob Haze, and Rekha Shankar as we interview a bird behavior expert who runs a lab that’s genetically analyzed LA’s parrot population. Get your tickets now (also available for livestream if you live outside LA and still want to join in the fun).

PODCAST: How to Be a Better Human (TED/PRX) - Stephanie Yates-Anyabwile is a licensed marriage and family therapist who thinks a lot about how to make our romantic relationships better. This week on the podcast, she talked with me about how to let go of preconceived notions about partnership and instead find ways to make the relationship you’re in as strong, special, and unique as possible. Listen here (or wherever you get podcasts).

This week’s list

GREAT:

Courtney Martin has been writing so vulnerably and beautifully about taking care of her father with dementia. This latest piece is about what good memory care looks like, community, and support. It’s a must read piece about grief and how to love deeply even when it’s painful and things are not going well. Memory / care

FUNNY:

I can’t say I have strong feelings about who became or did not become the pope, but I do love the pope memes. I love that I learned that a man high up in the Catholic Church is named Pierbattista Pizzaballa and I am SO relieved he did not become pope and have to change his name. Pizzaballa remains Pizzaballa. A few of the memes that made me laugh the most: This one (even though I’m pretty sure it’s not true), this one, this one, and this one (h/t Alex).

INTERESTING:

This is a story about computer scientists experimenting on an unknowing population in ways that are clearly unethical. But it’s also a story about artificial intelligence and how it’s likely going to affect public communication in the near future. It’s a wild story that’s also very predictable. After reading it, I think the big question is what do we do? I don’t have a clue but we better figure it out soon. “The most persuasive ‘people’ on a popular subreddit turned out to be a front for a secret AI experiment.” The Worst Internet-Research Ethics Violation I Have Ever Seen

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That's it for this week. Thanks for reading! Please share Bright Spots with anyone you think might enjoy it.

Covered in butter and crumbs,

Chris Duffy

This has been Bright Spots, a newsletter.

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…wait, who are you?

I'm Chris Duffy, a comedian, TV writer, podcast host, and both a former fifth grade teacher and a former fifth grade student. I’m currently writing a nonfiction book about humor for Doubleday.